05 Feb 2025
Demand has never been higher for one of Oaklands College’s most specialist provisions, a life-changing facility for people with very profound, complex, multiple learning difficulties or disabilities.
LIFE (Learning for Independence and Future Employment) provides young people aged 16-25 with the support needed to make the next step in education or employment.
It includes three departments which have different specialisms and cohorts based around students’ needs, which means the model is very flexible and can change year-on-year depending on the type of young people they are working with.
The three departments are:
Springfield: Caters for students with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), including those on the autistic spectrum.
Supportive Learning: Designed for students with Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD), working from Entry Level 1 to GCSE in Maths and English.
Foundation into Vocation: Dedicated to supporting young people with moderate learning difficulties, disabilities, and Social & Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) needs.
Director Roxanne Lowe has recently celebrated 20 years with the department: “We are oversubscribed and very popular because of our specialism, and attract young people from as far afield as Barnet, Brent, Enfield, Bucks and Central Beds.
“For students with moderate learning difficulties, we help them with everyday life skills and provide a stepping stone to get into mainstream education, where possible.
“We also have a cohort for young people with social and emotional mental health issues, where there may be no associated learning difficulties, but their ability to self-regulate means they need support.”
The college effectively acts as a gateway for LIFE students, helping them with life skills such as turn-taking, managing anxieties, being able to regulate and to be part of the community in an appropriate manner.
“This might involve getting the public bus into town, going around Morrisons to buy their lunch, and coming back and learning how to cook it on site.
“Ultimately it’s all about getting them ready for life after college, whether that’s moving into social care, supported employment or semi-independent living.”
As well as students with Education Health and Care Plans (ECHPs), LIFE offers bespoke support to mainstream students who have missed out on their education due to different circumstances, such as anxiety, bereavement, the break-up of their family or personal trauma.
“There are different levels of support we can offer, including supported internships, which are like an apprenticeship but more streamlined and aimed at students with an ECHP, doing everything we can to support these young people into employment.
“They’ll have a job coach who trains alongside them, and we really build up their CV and their experiences before they start at an entry job.
There are a lot of flexible employment opportunities for local people at LIFE, including the role of student support assistant. Contracts can be three to five days per week and term-time, making them a good option for parents.
“The provision is quite unique in that the college itself provides all the training, which means the staff are almost all home-grown. There is community feel within the team, with several colleagues having been with Oaklands more than 20 years. It’s life-changing work that the team do here.
“Our recruitment process is excellent, but a lot of our candidates say they didn’t know we were there, and typically you wouldn’t unless you were a parent looking for a post-16
provision.
“The message I really want to get across is to make everyone aware of who we are, what we do, and that there are recruitment opportunities for term-time jobs within LIFE at the college.”
Moving forwards, the college has aspiration to enhance their high-needs provision and increase capacity to meet the growing demand for their services.
Find out more about current roles and opportunities at LIFE :
https://www.fejobs.com/careers/oaklands-ac/job/student-support-assistant-1463709?src=Jobs%20widget
