Join Us

Transition is a time of uncertainty, and we are committed to addressing this with a person-centred proactive approach. We achieve this by proactively working together with the local specialist schools in West Northants and being available to meet with parents/carers.

We ensure a co-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 regularly hosted visits by school staff and students.

From running the tuck shop at our William Street Centre to selling house and garden plants at our Berrywood Road Centre, we actively engage in planning what we will do, identifying roles so everyone who wants to can be engaged, and then making and selling the product.

Together we ensure the budget works and that we can make a small surplus which we can reinvest 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.

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 lambs and do 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.

Our gardens are designed along with service users. We place emphasis on creating friendship space areas to relax. When weather permits, we use it 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 a short walk from our centre. Our service users gain great satisfaction from growing fruit, herbs and vegetables from seed to harvest and then using them in the cafe and cooking sessions.

We made a positive environmental contribution; both venues have solar panels, and service user activities include recycling products, litter picks, nature trails, and promoting reuse through our charity shop. We are always open to new ideas on how to promote the message of being green.

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 mock flat, where service users can learn to make the bed, to hoover and dust, to do some washing, to load the dishwasher, to make drinks and to iron. Each is a key skill in learning to be independent.

In each of our venues, our service users are active in the kitchen with cooking sessions, which include purchasing the ingredients or harvesting from the garden. We regularly go out into the community to the shops and cafes and hold sessions accessing public transport.

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 mock flat, where service users can learn to make the bed, to hoover and dust, to do some washing, to load the dishwasher, to make drinks and to iron. Each is a key skill in learning to be independent.

In each of our venues, our service users are active in the kitchen with cooking sessions, which include purchasing the ingredients or harvesting from the garden. We regularly go out into the community to the shops and cafes and hold sessions accessing public transport.

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 & crafts, cookery, dance, exercise, gardening, sport, and practical tasks to develop independent 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 Skills, Maths and Photography. New course topics are introduced each year to provide new opportunities to learn.