Rotherham College Attends Careers and Supported Internship Event

As part of National Careers Week, Rotherham College recently attended the Rotherham Careers and Supported Internship Event at Magna Science Adventure Centre to provide local people with special educational needs or disabilities with advice and guidance on courses and study options available to them at the College.

The bustling event, which was organised by Newman School, attracted a large audience with a mix of parents, with their children, young people and school groups.

Rotherham College Learning Support Coordinator Clare Earnshaw was on-hand at the event to provide information on the range of Additional Learning Support available to learners with complex and high needs at Rotherham College.

Clare said: “I’ve been providing information on the support available at the College, from one-to-one classroom assistance to assistive technology, as well as talking about the range of social and emotional support we can provide.

“The service we provide is often designed with a view to learners achieving a level of independence.”

Newman School’s Headteacher Paul Silvester organised the event and delivered several talks to visitors at the event around the range of options available in the local area.

Paul said: “We identified that there was no careers event specifically targeted at young people with special needs. We felt that gap needed to be filled so we put on this event to tie in with National Careers Week; I’ve been really chuffed with the amount of people that have come to the event.

“The employment rate for special needs children is very low; about 7% of young people with special needs go into employment and that number could be even lower. We do some terrific work in Rotherham to provide opportunities for these young people including supported internship programmes.

“Today was about outlining the number of options that young people with special needs can access if they knew about them – whether that’s study options, supported internships or eventually paid employment.”

Rotherham College Recruitment and Events Officer Rebecca Hepworth was on hand at the event to offer valuable advice and outline the opportunities available at the College.

Rebecca said: “We’ve had a lot of interest in our courses with both parents and young people hoping to understand more about the transition from school to college and the support available.

“We’ve also been able to advise on our supported internships at Dearne Valley College which offers people with disabilities or high needs the opportunity to undertake an unpaid placement with an employer and gain valuable work experience.”

Find out more about the range of support available for students at Rotherham College.