First steps towards Independence
Many Lincolnshire learners will be having their first experience of living away from home at Linkage College’s Work Skills Week which takes place at Linkage’s Toynton Campus near Spilsby between 18th and 22nd October 2010.
All are young people with learning difficulties and other disabilities who attend specialist schools in Lincolnshire.Learners from Sandon School in Grantham, Queens Park School in Lincoln, John Fielding School in Boston, Willoughby School in Bourne, and Garth School in Spalding will be staying for the five days and four nights in Linkage’s residential care accommodation, That has been graded excellent by the Care Quality Commision. Learners from Eresby School in Spilsby and St Bernard’s School in Louth will also be visiting for the days.
It is not just the accommodation that the sixty learners will be enjoying but also an impressive selection of workshops to choose from; horticulture, health and beauty, painting and decorating, catering, office, woodcraft, media, car maintenance, drama, building and cottage crafts. Linkage College has been graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted!
Anna Parsons, post 16 class teacher at Willoughby School, who is attending with her learners this year as in previous years said “Work Skills Week is such a wonderful experience for all the learners that participate. They have the opportunity to undertake a wide range of work areas and be grouped with peers from other special needs establishments. The evenings are also a valuable learning experience for the attendees with them having the chance to be involved in entertainment activities that they may not have access to on a regular basis. Much fun is had by all…and some wonderful outcomes are achieved.”
One of the Linkage staff working for Work Skills Week himself used to be a learner at Toynton Campus. “Having been a learner at Linkage College previously, I am very proud that I am able to say that I am now a paid member of the Linkage staff helping to run Work Skills Week, a week which is a brilliant opportunity for younger learners” also it gives me a chance to meet the pupils from other schools in Lincolnshire and I will be able to tell them that I used to be a learner at Toynton Campus but I'm now living independently on my own in the community with a paid job.” Said Neil Mcphee.
To find out more about the event, please contact:
Jen Brown - Marketing Manager or Bob Suich - Events Co-ordinator
Tel: 01472 372402 / 372359
E-mail: jennifer.brown@linkage.org.uk
E-mail: bob.suich@linkage.org.uk
