Mencap Training Academy

About the students

As a provider of supported internships, we work with young people aged 16-25 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The only other eligibility requirement for young people to join our programmes is that they must want to find a paid job. There are no requirements for learners to have any qualifications. 

Catchment

We deliver supported internships and pre-internships in London (with classrooms in Barnet, Ealing, Islington and Kingston), Birmingham, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. We are able to take referrals from other neighboroughing/nearby local authority areas where people are able to travel to our classrooms. 

Curriculum

Learners on our supported internships attend sessions at one of our classrooms for 2 days a week. Here they learn about a range of skills and behaviours needed to find a job and succeed in the work place, including: how to make a CV and cover letter, preparing for interview, communication in the workplace and health and safety. We also cover English and maths as part of the curriculum and can support learners to obtain qualifications where they want to do this. 

Supported internship learners spend the remainder of the week in a work experience placement. We have a wide range of relationships with employers across lots of different sectors who offer work experience to our learners. These include: Greene King, Bella Italia, Cineworld, Fair Shot Cafe, Mitie, Tesco, Travis Perkins, Sanctuary Care, Wincanton and Evri. The aim is for supported internship learners to complete 420 hours of work experience over the academic year between September and July. 

On our pre-internships, learners spend more time in our classrooms (3 days a week). These programmes focus more on developing learners skills and confidence. Pre-internship learners only complete 45 hours of work experience in the year, and they also do other types of employer engagement activities like visiting employers' premises. The aim of a pre-internship is for learners to move on to a supported internship the following year.

Specialist facilities

All our classrooms are well connected in terms of transport links with train stations and bus stops located nearby. Our settings have good physical accessibility and provide small, calm environments with low class numbers. 

Other information

We can provide some travel training during the first 6 weeks of supported internships, to help learners learn the routes to their work experience where this is required.