Simon, Head of Curriculum shares how learner Sandra is learning to live independently...

"Sandra started college in the summer term of 2018. Since then, she has been focusing on improving her independent living skills in line with her Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan.

At first, Sandra didn’t want to go into the kitchen and would opt out of these sessions. We worked with her, along with speech and language therapists, and occupational therapy professionals. We discovered she enjoyed washing up, which gradually became something she could do on her own. This gave her a sense of independence and purpose.

We built on this to encourage Sandra to carry out other kitchen tasks. Soon, she was cooking and cleaning up after herself much more independently. We then got Sandra to go out into the community and find and buy cooking ingredients on a visual shopping list. Here, too, she has shown increasing independence and also uses this time to work on her road safety skills.

This term she has enjoyed cooking bruschetta, pancakes and microwave mug cakes. An added benefit of Sandra’s growing love of cooking is that she spends more time in class with her peers – another EHC plan goal. This helps her to understand, in a safe and supportive environment, that learning with peers is fun."

Find out more about our curriculum.