The World of Work

‘Career Clusters’

From time to time and often from an early age, most children are asked: "So what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Some have a ready answer, others just shrug their shoulders, but at least they start to get the message that there is an expectation they are going to "be" something.

For most children with learning disabilities, that question is often not asked. They drift from school (special or mainstream) into specialist college or further education where they often repeat the same courses year after year.

Over the last two years Springhallow took part in Career Cluster activities that focused on supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) within the Ealing borough.

The aim of the programme is to help SEN learners in experiencing the world of work with the aim of future employment.

Springhallow students explored different career paths, and learnt about the pay and education needed for different careers.

The first step in planning a career is to know what your options or possibilities are. To make good choices, you will need to know how to compare your career options.

Springhallow students prepared a short presentation of activities they took part in.

Visit to ASDA By Alex Bell

First we went to the staff office and they told us about sign in to check the hours they work.

They said how we had to behave like staying calm and being respectful.

They told us to stay as a group with the leaders.

We went into the bakery and learnt how to make bread and slice it.

We had to wear hairnets on our heads for hygiene regulations.

We learnt how to lay out food like fish to make it look appealing for customers.

We learnt they have to keep the fish cold so it doesn’t go off or turn rotten.

We were able to take a photograph of ourselves and used the photo computer to order a cake with our picture which we shared.

We had to give instructions for the ASDA staff to make our pizzas.

We learnt how to communicate and give clear instructions to people.

Then we got to make our own pizza upstairs in the staff area.

We learnt how to make pizza.

We learnt how to keep clean and hygienic.

We learnt how to communicate better.

We waited for the pizzas and ate them together and got to have a chat with each other.

This was the best bit of the trip!

My visit to Heathrow Airport

First we went into the building and got

a tutorial about the T5 in Heathrow

airport.

We marked the buildings and symbols

on a map.

Then we went through a secret passage and we end up in Heathrow lobby.

We asked the lady

questions about how they

do their jobs at Heathrow

and help the costumers.

We are looking at the timetables to see the departures and arrivals.

We learnt about the different jobs at Heathrow airport:

carrying luggage up to the plane

fuelling the plane

welcoming people

and how to be a pilot assistant…

Premier Inn

Eagle class went on a class trip to the Premier Inn

to learn about hospitality. We were given a tour of

the hotel. The students enjoyed going into the

staff only areas and learning to be quiet walking

along guest corridors. They especially loved the

luxury of the rooms and many wanted to work

there just to stay at the hotel. We discussed how

hotel employees might get a discount for staying

at the hotel chain and we thought of which places

we would like to stay.

Stefani

Student interview:

We had fun taking turns role playing being the guest, receptionist and bellboy. The students especially loved putting their baggage on the baggage cart as a guest and pushing the cart to the ‘room’ as a bellboy.

Stefani

Robin Class completed work experience week at

The pupils used PPE (personal protective equipment) when

working.

Learning to handle soil with care.

Finding out about how plants grow.

Every day pupils and staff ate their lunch together. The vegetables were grown at Green Corridor and encouraged healthy eating. All pupils were happy to try all the different dishes that were available. Nicky

“We talked about work while we ate our lunch” Sam.

Pupils made plastic bottle terrariums and planted cress seeds in them and decorated plant pots.

The pupils planted up their pots when they

were ready.

Mark gave our pupils tool talks so they learned how to use tools safely. They used a fork to prepare the ground for planting.

Smita

The pupils learned about protecting crops from pests. They made Scarecrows to keep birds away from the plants.

Our pupils used wood slices to make a Christmas decoration. Can you guess what it will be?

Do you like my Snowman?

Visiting YMCA

KidZania - an indoor city, run by kids

All Osprey and Eagle students got a fun and realistic insight into the adult world by taking part in a choice of ‘jobs’.

KidZania is a indoor city run by children where you can do different jobs and earn money.

There are many types of jobs in KidZania, for example:

Chocolate Factory: in the chocolate factory you melt the chocolate and then put it in the mold and put it in the fridge. When you leave show your card and you get the

chocolate!

Aviation Academy: You can pretend you are a pilot or part of the cabin crew.

Newspaper: When you sign up for the reporter job you get a nice jacket and a clipboard so when you go out to get information then you come back and type it up you get a big printout.

Hotel: When you enter the hotel you ask for a job and they give you a red jacket. You go into the room and memorise where everything is. You leave the room and it becomes messed up and you have to put everything in its right place.

We joined KidZania police force to help maintain law and order in the city. Tommy

It was an exiting day when we left we went via a gift shop where you can spend leftover Kidzos there were different things to buy and in that shop you can show your chocolate card. Abdullah

Our trip to Sky by Luka and Justin

We visited sky studio at Brentford for a day.

We had a tour of the building to help familiarize ourselves with our environment and while we were looking around the building there was a lot of product placement i.e. statues of iconic characters.

After that someone took us to the Sky Academy where we were going to make a video together and be on TV.

Whilst we were there some of us went to the dressing room to get changed for the special News video and that was when I met my Uncle because he works at Sky.

My role in the video

While we were in Sky Academy there were four rooms and all of us were in each room, I had the role as the video editor meaning that I can add sound, voiceover and connect individual clips together. Justin

Then they showed us a video of Kay Burley presenting a News story, and we were going to make a video like that with me being the News Anchor-man. Luka

It took at least 4 takes but eventually I managed to read the script I was given properly. It was so much fun and it really improved my listening and communication skills. Luka

After watching the video and deleting a fourth wall joke we were given a wrist band USB with the video inside of it and a tag with the role that we did in the video. I really enjoyed the trip to sky it was impressive to actually be part of a (unofficial) news program.

Justin

Heathrow Special Needs Farm Heathrow Special Needs Farm has recently signed up as one of the employers on the schools Careers Cluster programme.

The farm offered us an opportunity to see what it might be like working within the animal care industry.

The class was split into two groups.

Group 1 was in charge of clearing the paddocks.

Group 2 had the opportunity of cleaning out the stables, pig pen, rabbits and guinea pigs .

These are some of the tasks we undertook:

Taking the Rabbits and Guinea pigs out of the hutch

For each hut, removing the soiled newspaper and shredding and put them in a bin bag.

Using dustpan and brush to sweep up any loose pellets.

Refilling the hay racks

Washing and refilling the water bottle in each hut

Sweeping up the benches and the floor.

What were the benefits ?

It gave us an insight into the world of work.

We gained the experience to work with other people, and enhance our social and communication skills

We understood the skills we needed to look after animals.

We overcame our fears and were not scared of the animals.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to take part in Career Cluster Activities.

We learnt the following skills:

Communication skills

social skills

how to coordinate

what the jobs were available

how to create pizza

health and safety in the kitchen