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John Grant School


		11-16 schools

		6th form schools

		Colleges

About the case study

This case study illustrates the benefits of working with mainstream schools, colleges and employers to widen the opportunities available for special needs students in the areas of design technology and enterprise activities. It also describes a pilot project now being developed that links National Skills Profile Accreditation courses with work-related learning placements. Future plans include applying to the European Social Fund for finance to support students on work experience.

The school

John Grant School is a school for students aged 3-19 with severe learning difficulties and is situated in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. There is a high percentage of students with autism, complex medical needs and epilepsy.

Work-related learning provision

As part of the school’s community involvement with a local specialist technology college, a group of key stage 4 students from John Grant School linked with their peers from Lynn Grove High School in Gorleston (aged 12-16). The students took part in a series of design technology lessons, making use of the latest technology in computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided machining (CAM).

Students put their name into the design program and used it to produce a label for their bedroom door. The information that was programmed in was reformatted into code to inform the milling machine where and how to make the cuts into a piece of acrylic plastic. The students were excited at the results of their work and took great delight in watching their names appearing when the milling cutter travelled across the surface of the plastic. The students from Lynn Grove have developed an understanding of the abilities and expectations of the students from John Grant and have highlighted how their own knowledge and understanding has been enhanced when supporting the learning of others. Engineers from a local company worked alongside the students.

All the students from John Grant School have been able to use more advanced IT (for example videoconferencing, CAD and CAM) than would normally be available at their school. In addition, they are more able to understand their own achievements by making informed choices. The skills they learned on this project were then transferred onto a mini enterprise scheme where students produced a series of personalised key fobs and took on various supported roles in order to run their own company. This involved setting up a simulated factory in the classroom, mock interviews for positions within the company and marketing strategies.

The school is now developing a pilot project to link National Skills Profile Accreditation courses with work-related learning placements. The project focuses on students aged 16-19 with a range of disabilities whose learning needs are more appropriately met through work-related placements. Through structured and supported community placements, students will learn key skills relating to the National Skills Profile in a real-life situation. This modular approach means they can build on their skills, reinforcing them and subsequently transferring them to college or eventual employment.

Future developments

Work experience placements are currently extremely limited and unsupported for the students. To enable them to achieve more than the current provision allows, the school is applying for funding from the European Social Fund. More support would then be available for more appropriate work-related placements. Staff will work on a one-to-one or one-to-two basis in a work placement (for example, chambermaid) as a partner alongside the student, to develop the skills that have already been taught in school. Students will learn through their contact with people from different employment sectors and experience work practices and environments first hand. This will then be accredited through the National Skills Profile. The classroom-based learning element of the National Skills Profile Accreditation will enable students to recognise, develop and apply their skills so that they can make informed choices based on their own abilities and achievements.