New Guideposts Skills Academy
This year has seen the introduction of a major new initiative in the way we support people: the Guideposts Skills Academy. We are now providing nationally approved courses to help people with disabilities acquire essential life skills, while enhancing their confidence and independence.
Since our foundation over 50 years ago, Guideposts has recognised how much people’s lives are improved by learning skills for independent living and the confidence that these skills bring. Guideposts’ day opportunities for adults with disabilities has always included activities to help develop these skills, but we decided to bring in courses to formalise the work, and to ensure that people get the due recognition for what they have learned.
Even better than expected
Taking a course for certification has enormously added to the pride and confidence in the students, much more than we had expected.
The Life Skills courses are nationally accredited, with some to GCSE-level. Accreditation is from ASDAN, an education charity that promotes personal, social, and employability skills among learners of all ages, empowering them to lead more independent and fulfilling lives.
The first students graduating from the cookery course in July hailed it a great success. The subjects include meal preparation, budgeting, shopping, and healthy eating. Many of the participants started struggling to cook a jacket potato and graduated being able to cook a healthy vegetable Rogan Josh curry made from scratch, with not a cook-in sauce in sight.
The course broke down the complex tasks into manageable steps, incorporating strategies to work with each individual’s learning styles. The participants’ range of motor skills, spatial awareness and sensory processing, which make a seemingly simple task much more complex, all had to be taken into account.
Proud moment on Graduation Day
The first participants graduated and received their well-earned certificates at a ceremony, with big smiles of pride on their faces. All of them had grown in confidence, knowledge and picked up many life skills along the way.
One course participant said “I am so proud of my certificate. All my friends want me to cook for them now!”
“We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn and grow, and we are dedicated to providing an inclusive environment where adults with learning disabilities can thrive.” said Sharon Baker the Support Worker leading the course.
The Guideposts Skills Academy launched at Guideposts’ Community Hub in Stroud in spring, and as well as further cookery courses we are starting courses in creative living, relationships, self-esteem and identity.
We are delighted to have received funding from Barnwood Trust to enable the Guideposts Skills Academy to expand across Gloucestershire to Cheltenham and Cirencester this year. We have further plans to take the scheme to Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire too.
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