A group of autistic young people are celebrating success after graduating from our supported internships programme based at Chessington World of Adventures.

Earlier this month, Harish, Jesse, Julie, Lewis, Lydia, Nikhil and Zack completed the work-based study programme at the resort which launched in September 2024.

Supported internships are courses aimed at young people aged 16-25, who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and want to move into work but need extra support to do so.

The programme offers valuable work placements to autistic young people in a range of roles at the resort and provides classroom learning to interns focused on improving their employability skills and independence.

The first year of the programme has seen the seven interns work across several departments at Chessington World of Adventures, including retail and admissions, park presentation and the hotel team.  

Following this, three of the interns have secured paid roles at the resort. Lewis will be taking up a position in the park presentation team, where he will be responsible for keeping the site clean and tidy; Lydia has a job in the retail admissions department which will see her work in the gift shop and sweet shop; and Nikhil will be working in the commercial business warehouse where he will take care of deliveries and ensure stock goes out to the on-site retail outlets.  

Jesse, the fourth intern to secure a paid role, is following his passion of working in bike mechanics and will take up a job doing this in the community.

The other three interns, Harish, Julie and Zack, have been putting the skills they developed on the programme to good use, and are currently perfecting their CVs and interview techniques ahead of several upcoming job interviews.  

Intern Harish, aged 19, said: 

Before taking part in the supported internships programme I felt lost, isolated and stuck. But my time at Chessington World of Adventures has changed everything. I have rediscovered the joy in teamwork, developed new skills and built up my confidence.

Stacia Neverson, Supported Internships Lecturer at Ambitious about Autism, who oversees the programme, said: 

We are so proud of everything this brilliant group of interns has achieved this year. They have brought so much to their roles at Chessington World of Adventures, and we know they will do the same in their future jobs.

We are thrilled with the success of the first year of this supported internships programme and want to thank all the teams involved at the resort for helping the interns reach their potential.

This programme creates vital opportunities for autistic young people that enable them to be themselves and realise their ambitions.

Sarah Johnson, Accessibility and Inclusion Manager at Chessington World of Adventures, said:

The supported internships programme has been transformative for the teams at Chessington World of Adventures who have had autistic young people working with them. 

Thanks to the success of the first year of the programme, we are delighted to have new departments joining from September, offering more exciting roles to autistic young people across the resort.