M.O.R.E

MEANINGFUL OPPORTUNITIES REALISTIC EMPLOYMENT

The MORE project is our dedicated work experience programme. As from September each year we start actively profiling students and looking for work experience placements. When we secure a placement, hopefully within the area the student lives, we will take them along for an interview and we will agree terms with the employer. We will then assign a job coach to the student to support them during the placement. This support is a very fluid arrangement. If and when the job coach, student and employer feel the support can be withdrawn we will do so gradually. For some students this may be very quickly, for others they may need continuing support. Placements vary in length and this is advised on an individual basis. There is ongoing assessment by the job coaches and myself as to the suitability and success of the placement. If at any time it is thought the placement is not correct we will withdraw the student and begin the process again with another placement.

Some students will be out at work very quickly, as early as the first week in September, others will take a little longer to place. We have to be sure the placement is correct for the student. As the academic year progresses the students will be increasing their days out at work, this may be on one or a number of placements. This starts the transition process very subtly. On at least one day per week we would hope that the students are accessing work placements from home and not coming into Petty Pool at all. By the time the students are ready to leave we aim to secure some kind of meaningful employment whether it be voluntary or paid for the student to continue in once they leave Petty Pool. In the academic year 2009-10, 68% of students leaving continued in the work place, 25% progressed onto main stream College and 7% progressed to day service activities.

Whilst on the project the students may be offered the opportunity to access travel training if appropriate, also part of the MORE project. This involves making the journey to and from work from home using a convenient mode of transport be it bus, train or walking etc. This will again be supported by either the job coaches or project manager and works in a similar way to the work experience process. The student will be fully supported initially by a staff member making the journey with them. When it is felt they can make all or part of that journey unsupported we will withdraw physically but will observe from a distance. Once this step is achieved we will move on to the next step and so on until the complete journey is being made independently. The student will only be signed off as competent once we are all confident they can travel safely. Of the students travel trained in academic year 2009 – 10, 55% are now independent travellers.

Parents/guardians/carers as well as the students are encouraged to take an active role in the work of the project. We ask that they look in local newspapers, shop windows, ask anyone they know who may have a business, ask at their own place of work, follow up any jobs they may hear of by word of mouth, let us have contact details and we will approach the employer regarding work placements. This is often imperative to the success of the project. We draw students from a huge area. We cover the whole of East and West Cheshire, from as far as Wilmslow and Poynton in the north to Malpas, on the Shropshire borders, in the south. From Macclesfield in the east and west as far as the North Wales borders, Ellesmere Port and Neston on the Wirral. We also take students from Halton and Warrington. People in those areas are more likely to hear of opportunities that we are at Petty Pool. We, as a College and the MORE project, as part of Petty Pool, are here to help and support the students into future meaningful employment but each individual also needs to take ownership of their own future aspirations.