Hello again from South Thames College. In my previous Blog I briefly described our 2013/14 project based on the premise that disability is no obstacle to employment. We aim to encourage our learners who happen to be disabled or have a learning difficulty to be confident enough to apply and successfully attain an apprenticeship through work experience with local employers. At the same time we aim to support local employers by negating and removing the myths and perceptions surrounding the employment of people who have a disability. We plan to have the agreement of employers to organise work experience opportunities. So, we are in the process of organising 2 seminars at 2 of our college campus and inviting local employers and learners who will be interested in the apprenticeship scheme. We have dates arranged for the end of February 2014, a facilitator has been identified for both seminars and we are in the process of finalising the inviatation letter and questionnaire for employers. Then we will make personal contact with identified learners to establish their interest in work experience prior to applying for an apprenticeship scheme.

Ian Aldridge (project co-ordinator), email : ian.aldridge@south-thames.ac.uk  or telephone 0208 918 7482.