Sense College Loughborough

Sense College Loughborough is a small friendly college offering specialist support to people with a wide range of disabilities.

Our main aim is to prepare you for as fulfilling an adult life as possible by maximising independence.  Through our in-house enterprise curriculum and our partnership with Loughborough College, we will support you to achieve your targets and goals.

Needs we support

• Learning difficulties and disabilities

• Autistic spectrum disorders (ASD)

• Physical disabilities

• Vision impairment

• Communication difficulties

• Mild hearing problems

• Additional healthcare needs, such as epilepsy

• Additional emotional and behavioural difficulties

We support students from Leicestershire and surrounding counties.

Our Further Education (FE) offers you opportunities to:

• develop your independence

• prepare for work, volunteering or training

• build your personal life skills

• learn about looking after yourself

• get out into the local community

• achieve a qualification at Loughborough College.

You can either learn through our enterprise-based programme or we can support you to study a mainstream course at Loughborough College, located next door.

Our College enterprises are student-led businesses where you can do meaningful jobs in real settings:

• eBay shop
• Arts Centre
• Craft Studio
• College Office
• Bell Bar café (inc. conference centre hosting)
• Media Hub

Our specialist facilities include tactile flooring, an easy to navigate layout, high contrast seating and door frames, and adjustable lighting. We also have personal care rooms with electric ceiling track hoists, adjustable worktops in the ILS kitchen for students in wheelchairs, and equipment to help students with physical disabilities access computers. 

Our specialist resources ensure everyday tasks are accessible and that everyone can get involved. These include low vision resources, liquid level indicators, recordable talking objects and signage using symbols, large font, braille and braille technology.  Signs and symbols are used across college, such as a picture menu in the Bell Bar.

We have a sensory tent and chill room for students with sensory needs or who may need a quiet space and various sensory equipment for students with sensory needs such as weighted blankets and ear defenders. 

Students at Sense College Loughborough will have a dedicated tutor as their first point of contact. We also have a literacy and numeracy teacher, IT tutor, mobility officer and braille tutor who can provide specialist support in these areas.

The College has a successful Supported Internship programme, which is a work based education programme. We have developed relationships with a number of employers  and are well known to the local community. This helps us to find external work placements based on students' individual skills and interests. We have a Placements Officer who helps develop students' employment skills, find suitable work placements and support employers during placements.

Colleagues within the College work together to develop a number of internal placement opportunities, such as in our College Shop or on the College reception. Students also receive independent advice and guidance to support them with their options. We also have a member of staff dedicated to transitions and preparing students for their journey as they finish their education with us.