The Glenoaks School in Kensington has opened a vocational academy for children from the age of 13 years old.
“Two properties adjacent to the school in Kensington have been acquired and the first group of pupils have been accommodated. The vocational academy will grow incrementally by a class each year, and pupils may stay until they are 18 years old,” said the principal, Mr Kevin Barnes.
Glenoaks School has served the community for the past 40 years.
It is an independent school, accredited by UMALUSI, which caters for children with wide-ranging barriers to learning.
The curriculum includes functional English and mathematics, following the adult education and training curriculum, world knowledge – which integrates current affairs, history, biology, geography, science and basic IT.
Mrs Nicci Hurvitz, the director of Oak House Vocational Academy, said the curriculum further incorporates five important vocational areas – corporate, care-giving, hospitality, gardening, and entrepreneurial skills.
It is planned that pupils will be incrementally exposed to the world of work, initially with a job-coach and mentor from the school.
The job-coach will accompany the pupils to the work-place to assist with any difficulties that may arise and then to practise the necessary skills and procedures when they return to the academy.
An occupational therapist is also employed by the academy to facilitate the necessary skills.
“It is the intention to place the pupils in part-time jobs by the third year, increasing their time without a job-coach until they can be employed in a full-time capacity,” said Mr Barnes.
The academy accommodates the pupils in three streams, according to their learning barriers and their potential as identified by a multi-disciplinary team of therapists which include psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and remedial therapists.
Mr Barnes said the aim of the school is to diminish learning gaps as much as possible and then refer the children on to mainstream education. However, this is not always appropriate for all the pupils, and historically, it has been difficult to place those pupils who need a more practical, vocationally-orientated curriculum.
The academy also prepares the pupils for the work-place; the academy is run on work and office protocols, the staff are designated as supervisors and managers, a board meeting replaces the traditional school assembly and the pupils are subjected to term appraisal meetings, with self-appraisal being an important aspect of this process.
There are vacancies for year 1 in 2016.
For more information, phone 011 624-1160.
