Vocational Education

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At The Meadows School, Vocational Education helps to prepare the young people to experience activities connected to the world of work and employability skills, which take place both within an outside of the classroom. Examples of activities which have been available to the young people are:

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• Animal Care. Young people are given the opportunity to visit and gain experience on working farms/sanctuaries. This is a hands on experience which the young people enjoy and thrive on by completing a wide variety of roles.

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• Leisure. One of the most popular of the vocational activities. The young people take part in a number of sporting activities such as Football, Free Running, Trampoline and Basketball and try to connect this to opportunities available in the leisure industry.

 

• Outdoor Education. The young people get the opportunities to work with a local outdoor centre and take part in activities such as Rock Climbing, High Ropes, Canoe or Kayaking, Ghyll Scrambling and Bush Craft.

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• Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. The school is excited about working alongside the scheme to help develop young people achieving the bronze award through a number of stages. Prospective colleges look in favour when young people have achieved an award through the DofE Scheme.

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• Photography. The young people are given hands on experience where they learn skills about the subject by visiting a number of local venues such as Durham City and gain skills from experienced staff within the field.

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• Carpentry. Using the onsite facilities, the young people get to use a number of carpentry techniques in order to build a number of bespoke items such as bird/ferret boxes, signs, benches and a guitar.

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• Motor Vehicle & Brickwork. The school liaise with a local college in which the lecturers educate the young people with the basic understanding of motor vehicles.

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In order for the young people to thrive in the activities, they are given the opportunity to select 3 activities that they will have the most interest in. The chosen three activities are spread over the school year and each activity runs over a school term.

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This option is available from year nine onwards. The Meadows School objective is to give the student the opportunity to broaden their skills and to create future career options such as Outdoor Instructor, Motor Mechanic, Dog Behaviourist, PE Teacher.

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Staff have given positive feedback from these sessions which have shown the young people working together as a team and engaging with others.