Community and Careers Education
Our curriculum is focused on the Pursuit of Happiness. A key focus of this is to think about fulfilment, purpose and reaching one’s true potential. At Riverside School we pride ourselves on a personalised approach to education and our Community and Careers Education is no different. Our Community and Careers Education is centred upon the interests and aspirations of our young people. Through our programme we aim to improve the possibility and probability of paid work, raise the level of work-related skills to improve independence and enrich life experiences and emotional wellbeing.
We are passionate about providing the highest quality community and careers education. Below details what to expect from our curriculum and through this and, as detailed within our Community and Careers Education Policy, you can see how we are meeting the Gatsby benchmarks of:
- A stable careers programme.
- Learning from career and labour market information.
- Addressing the needs of each pupil.
- Linking curriculum learning to careers.
- Encounters with employers and employees.
- Experiences of workplaces.
- Encounters with further and higher education.
- Personal guidance.
What to expect from Community and Careers Education:
All pupils from years 7 to 14 will participate in a personalised programme which tracks their interests and aspirations and provides them with the resources, skills and knowledge they and their families need to make informed choices about their future.
Years 7 to 9:
The focus is on identifying specific interests pupils have and providing them with a functional meaningful curriculum. This is heavily centred on personalised learning to support emotional wellbeing and social skills, giving pupils the voice to contribute to their learning and future in a meaningful way. At the end of Year 9, discussions will take place with pupils and their family about future education or work opportunities they may wish to explore once they leave Riverside at 19 years old. This will form part of their Year 9 EHCP review. EHCP outcome and PLP focus areas will move to preparing for adulthood outcomes. Pupils within Years 7 to 9 will have a minimum of two meaningful encounters with employers. These will typically take place through our community experience fortnight in the summer term. There is a two-week period when pupils are taking part in different activities related to the community and the world of work and are able to meaningfully engage with different employers.
Years 10 to 14:
Within years 10 to 14 there is an increased focus on the skills required to be part of the world of work and/or wider community. A minimum of two specific meaningful encounters with employers take place within years 10 to 11 and another two within years 12 to 13. This will take part in our community experience fortnight but also throughout other points in the academic year. Through bespoke Career Guidance, pupils and families will explore a range of pathways; this could be future college/education and training placements, volunteering and employment. All pupils will continue to engage in a meaningful independence-based curriculum and will gain AQA unit awards to build their Record of Achievements. For those for whom it is appropriate, CV writing, interview skills and vocational profiling will form a big part of their curriculum and they will have ample opportunity to develop the interpersonal skills required to make a positive contribution to their community in the most appropriate way for them.
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Community and Careers Education |
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Blue A Pathway
R1-R3 Approx. |
Years 7 – 14
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Blue B Pathway
R3 – R4 Approx. |
Years 7 – 14
Years 10 – 14
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Orange Pathway
R4 – R8 Approx. |
Years 7 – 14
Year 10 – 14
Years 12 – 14
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Yellow pathway
R9+ Approx. |
Years 7 – 14
Years 10 – 14
Years 12 –14
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The Riverside Lounge
The Riverside Lounge is an integral part of the curriculum for pupils specifically in years 10 to 14. Pupils are involved in all aspects of the running of the Riverside Lounge. Pupils choose and put together the furniture. Different roles for pupils include making food items, designing the art work for The Riverside Lounge, waiting on customers, working in the kitchen; washing up, supporting with food preparation, making hots drinks and being a cashier. Pupils working in The Riverside Lounge all develop their employability skills and customer relations through specific focused sessions and working towards appropriate AQA unit Awards. Pupils all have a staff t-shirt which they wear when on shift.
The Riverside Lounge is not only an integral part of the school for our pupils in years 10 to 14, it is also a stable part of the wider school community. Pupils and staff from across the school frequently visit the lounge. For pupils, being able to practice the skills needed for visiting a café or similar environment, is an important life lesson where there are opportunities to learn valuable skills which can be generalised in the wider community.
Each term, a range of dates will be available for families and friends to reserve a table at The Riverside Lounge. Please watch out for an email link when these opportunities arise.
Enterprise Projects:
Classes throughout our secondary phase have joined together to form Enterprise Projects. These include:
Zen Bags - This is an environmentally friendly, wellbeing bag containing a range of homemade products.
Riverside Style - Handmade accessories, such as personalised keyrings and bracelets.
We Grow! - Home grown fruit, vegetables and herbs.
Enterprise Entertainment - Hosting on site film experiences including snacks.
Community Experience
Community and work experience opportunities are made available throughout the school year in the secondary phase. They are an opportunity for classes throughout the phase to focus on developing a wider understanding of the world around them and the world of work. This is achieved by engaging in meaningful encounters with employers through in-house workshops, visits to the work place, and personalised sessions which focus on independent skills and enriching experiences.
Our links include: Lyca Health, Metro Bank, Ambassador Theatre, Maritime Museum, Red cross, Scallywags pet shop, PS Analytical, Waitrose.com Fulfilment Centre, Cudham Environmental Centre, Strata, Care Mark and Bromley Football Club.
Information for Employers:
“When employers support the early career development of young people with additional needs, they improve the possibility and probability of paid work and enable that young person to live a fulfilling life - without that support it is unlikely to happen. 65% of adults with learning disabilities want a job, only 6% have one” – Talentino
We actively encourage a range of different employers to work with us in a variety of different ways this could include:
- Visits into your place of work. All pupils would be accompanied by a member of staff who know the pupil well, and they would be closely supervised. This could initially be a short visit and then could be extended to a weekly or regular commitment.
- Coming into Riverside School to lead a workshop to show and demonstrate your line of work. All pupils would be fully accompanied and supervised. Discussions can take place with regards to your requirements on the day of the visit. This could be a one-off visit during community experience fortnight or a regular commitment.
- You could support us by filming a tour of our place of work and setting challenges for pupils. This has been successful previously. Coca-Cola and Marks and Spencer have produced videos for us which have been very thought provoking and meaningful for pupils.
- You could provide an online experience, through speaking to pupils, touring your place of work or providing a question and answer session.
We are very open to any experiences you are able to provide.
Although our pupils at Riverside School have additional needs, with small reasonable adjustments our pupils could impact positively upon your workplace and provide you will additional skills and knowledge of how to support young people with additional needs. If you would like to know more about how you can support our pupils and if you are open to prospect of learning more about individuals with additional needs and how they can impact positivity upon your place of work, please get in contact.
Here are a few resources which may support you:
Same and Different - an early career development model for Career SEND Group One who typically do not take Level 2 qualifications/GCSEs. Our pupils at Riverside School are careers SEND Group 1
Tips for Engaging with a School, Special School or College
Careers Leader: Clare Collett, Assistant Headteacher
Tel: 01689 870519
Email: Clare.collett@riverside.bromley.sch.uk