Employers3 March 2025
Work Experience For All
Through LEBC’s Work Experience placement service, we have placed over 300 students with additional learning needs into workplaces this year alone. We recently caught up with managers at Saffron Acres to find out about their experience of hosting a student with additional needs.
- What is your main motivation for hosting students with additional needs?
By hosting students, our project gives young people access to a wider community they
may not have previously been able to be involved with or have available to them to
access, which is great for the students and wider community to be able to work
together. This also gives opportunities for students to see what it would be like to work
as a part of a larger team. All students that attend, experience working with others,
peer learning, tool training, soft skills such as time keeping, communicating with
others, which is beneficial to them overall. It gives them access to the community
safely, alongside meeting a diverse range of people of different age groups who also
have different abilities and needs. - Do you make any adjustments when taking students with additional
needs?
We tailor our activities to the need of the students as required, understanding a need
of time allowances for processing / quieter working areas, we talk with the student,
tutors and/or parents that sometimes attend interviews. We also look at any student’s
EHCP to gain more insight to support the student. We have hosted students who are
non-verbal or have selective mutism and have used a speech app or gestures to
communicate with the student to check understanding of tasks and or instructions with
them. - How do you support your colleagues to effectively interact with students with
additional needs?
Staff regularly refresh and take any additional training as necessary such as behaviour
that challenges, autism awareness, mental health first aid, safeguarding and first aid.
Staff also are made aware of any additional support needs where appropriate. - What do you find are the biggest differences when supporting a learner
with additional needs vs mainstream, if any?
Everyday is a learning day for both the students and us as staff. We have found that
what is seen as additional needs actual has the advantage of giving staff a chance to
think outside the box on how to help the student to learn a new skill. - What does success look like?
Success looks different for each learner, whether it is regular attendance, learning new
skills, new interest, gaining confidence or going on to complete additional hours.
Feedback from tutors where they have been surprised that a student with selective
mutism chatted and communicated with members of staff and other volunteers on site
also shows success for students attending.
For more information on hosting a student on Work Experience please contact:
Gina Horton, Work Experience Manager.