Practice Independent Living Skills
Learning at Spectrum is fun
Shop, Retail & Charity
Looking after your health
Spectrum supports Working with Schools
Transition is a time of uncertainty, and we committed to addressing this with a person-centred pro-active approach. We achieve this by pro-actively working together with the local specialist schools in West Northants and being available to meet with parents/carers.
We ensure a cp-ordinated and smooth transition for students who choose to attend Spectrum, which includes our staff visiting the school to spend time with the staff and the student. Our contribution is warmly recognised and appreciated, as evidenced through the increasing number of young adults joining our provision.
We partner with Speakers for Schools to promote care as a career option, have derived weeklong projects with schools, hosted class and individual placement opportunities and regular host visits by school staff and students.
Spectrum supports Social Enterprise
We use social enterprise as a tool for creativity and budgeting skills
From running the tuck shop at our William Street Centre, through to selling house and garden plants at our Berrywood Road Centre, we actively engage and planning what we will do, identifying roles so everyone who wants can be engaged, then making and selling the product.
Together we ensure the budget works and that we can make a small surplus which we can reinvested in our future ventures. We did running small-scale social enterprises as rewarding for our service users and staff, with everyone having a real sense of achievement.
Spectrum supports Out in the Community
Making community links are an important part of our timetable.
We are delighted to work with Upton Parish Council in our planting and maintaining the flower bed at the amazing Tree War Memorial.
Among the many examples we could share, we attend Chester House to feed the lams and arts and crafts, Barrett’s Snooker Club for professional training on full-size snooker tables, sport sessions at various locations, one-off visits to local Museums and Events, attending the cinema, going ten-pin bowling and visiting nearby towns using public transport.
Spectrum supports Gardening and the Environment
Gardening is therapeutic and a great souce of calm.
Our gardens are designed along with service users. We place emphasis on creating friendship space areas to relax. When weather permits, we use for outdoor learning.
Both our venues have gardens where we make best use of space. In Duston we have a greenhouse on-site and an allotment in a short walk of our Centre. Our service users gain great satisfaction from growing fruit, herbs and vegetables from seed to harvest and then using in the cafe and cooking sessions.
We made a positive environment contribution, both venues have solar panels, and service user activities include recycling products, litter picks, nature trails, and promoting re-use through our charity shop. We are always open to new ideas on how to promote the message of being green.
Spectrum supports Looking after your health
We believe in unlocking potential and support each person to build their confidence.
Increasing the ability of each person to look after themselves and contribute to their individual self-esteem is seen in sessions throughout the week at each of our venues.
At William Street we have a mack flat, where services users can learn to make the bed, to hoover and dust, to do some washing, load the dishwasher, to make drinks and to iron. Each are key skills on learning to be independent.
In each of our venues, our service users are active in the kitchen with cooking sessions, which includes purchasing the ingredients or harvesting from the garden. We regulary go out into the community to the shops and cafe and hold sessions accessing public transport.
Spectrum supports Practicing Independent Living Skills
We believe in unlocking potential and support each person to build their confidence.
Increasing the ability of each person to look after themselves and contribute to their individual self-esteem is seen in sessions throughout the week at each of our venues.
At William Street we have a mack flat, where services users can learn to make the bed, to hoover and dust, to do some washing, load the dishwasher, to make drinks and to iron. Each are key skills on learning to be independent.
In each of our venues, our service users are active in the kitchen with cooking sessions, which includes purchasing the ingredients or harvesting from the garden. We regulary go out into the community to the shops and cafe and hold sessions accessing public transport.
Spectrum supports Learning at Spectrum Northants is fun
Our approach is to make learning fun and to be inclusive through drawing upon the many different styles of how people learn. Sitting down with each service user, we agree to set goals and regularly review to measure progress. These goals are specific to each person, with examples being social skills, communication, money skills and cooking.
The timetable provides choice, with options available to cater for individual preference. The subject range is broad and includes, English, Maths, History, Arts & Craft, Cookery, Dance, Exercise, Gardening, Sport, and practical tasks to develop indecent living skills.
Our learning is both accredited and non-accredited, with the former being offered through ASDAN. Current courses operating are Accessing Public Transport, Cookery, Sensory Baking, Horticulture, Independence, Money Skill, Maths and Photography. New course topics are introduced each year to provide new opportunity to learn.
