We accept trainees aged 16-25 with an EHCP and a strong desire and commitment to attend plus assurance from The SAND Project that we would be able to support you in a meaningful way. We encourage people to come for as many taster days as they like to determine whether we are the right place for them.
It is also important that the decision to join us is discussed with the educational assessment team from your county (eg SENAT in West Sussex) to determine their commitment to fund the placement.

The decision to attend The SAND Project will be discussed in your annual review and we will be named on your EHCP. We will then receive an official consultation notice to confirm your place.

It is very hard to get a sense of what we do just from the website alone. We recommend at least two visits before committing to a place with us. Or more taster days if you need them!

Once a placement has been confirmed, new trainees are invited to attend as many visit days as they need to feel ready to join us. On these days, there will be the opportunity to join different groups to get an idea of where you might like to be and what you’d like to do. It is also a good time to meet other new trainees who are also feeling anxious!

You will attend college three days a week 8:30-2:30. Your progress targets will be personal to you and all activities will be centred around these targets in work skills sessions, personalised Pathway sessions and Life and Living.

Work skills are the general tools needed for any work place: listening, speaking, teamwork, creativity, leadership, problem solving, positivity and aiming high. These will be tailored to your specific needs and set within your personalised pathway.

The Personalised Pathways are centred around the work related interests of the trainees and focus on industry standards for different careers, such as cooking, hospitality, working in a café, painting and decorating, multimedia, illustration, art, IT, photography, creative writing, production and manufacture… the list tends to grow depending on what each individual wants to explore. And if we don’t currently teach it, we will find a facilitator that can!

Life and living skills are the tools needed to move towards independence, and each trainee has different areas they need to focus on. We offer a selection of courses to choose from, including building relationships, healthy lifestyle, sex education, practical housekeeping, cooking in the home, travel training, finance and staying safe in the community.

Many trainees come to us not knowing what they like doing, let alone what they want to do in the future. The Exploration Pathway creates enterprise based projects based on the interests of the trainees. Examples of previous projects include woodwork projects, setting up a bookselling business, board game design, DJing, music production, planning and managing events (including a woodland festival!) and forest school - and more ideas are always welcomed!
Once trainees have built confidence and explored these different areas, they can choose to access the more specific pathway routes when they feel ready.

At The SAND Project, we believe actions speak louder than certificates! We promote trainees and their work related skills, rather than focus on exam or coursework based courses. If, however, a specific qualification is relevant to a role we will support the trainee in achieving it. For instance, all of our trainees working in the kitchen or café hold a Food Safety and Hygiene certificate.
We also ensure all necessary literacy and numeracy is embedded in the training, rather than teaching them as discrete subjects.

Trainees choose the pathways they want to access on each of their days. Some choose a different pathway each day, whilst others like to do the same path each day (this is especially true of our artists!). We encourage trainees to commit to the pathway for at least a half term before deciding if they’d like to change. We believe engagement and motivation is key for learning so it is vital we find a pathway that works for you.

Every place is reviewed year on year by the SEN team in your local authority. If you want to stay for another year, and we feel this is right for you, this will be discussed at your annual review and your case will go to panel and the Local Authority let you know. We are keen for people to move into paid employment and independence as soon as they are ready. We are aware that safe learning environments like ours can make trainees too comfortable and we take as much time as necessary to support the transition into a real life environment.

The world of work can be a daunting and intimidating place. And that is why we have a team devoted to introducing our trainees to businesses and employers in a carefully managed way.
The first step is offering our trainees work visit days where they can sign up to join the visits that are on offer, depending on their interests. Recent examples include The Grand Hotel, Waitrose, HISBE, Gemini Print, Gardner Scardifield, Gatwick Airport and the Connaught Theatre. Businesses are engaged and approached by our team when specific trainee interests have been highlighted so we are always excited to see where they will visit next!

The next step is a work placement where trainees can apply to work in a local business for a set number of weeks, again, centred around their interests. Our most recent placements have been in Waitrose, Piglets Pantry, Bluebird café, Browns Pet Store, Gemini Print and Gardner & Scardifield, with trainees exceeding expectations of the business and themselves! Each placement is carefully prepared for, with trainees matched to a suitable job coach who will accompany them to the placement and support them for as long as the trainee needs – sometimes this could be for the whole placement or, in some cases, no more than 10 minutes!

The ultimate goal is for the trainees to be fully transitioned into paid employment in one of our partner businesses.

It is very important to us that trainees do not leave The SAND Project without moving into something else relevant and meaningful. And this will look different for every graduate. For some, this will mean a successful transition into a paid job, for others, signposting to a relevant service that supports continued access to work related skills and independence. Our pastoral team are devoted to supporting the whole family, and this means working together to secure positive outcomes for both trainees and their immediate support network, even after they leave us. Some trainees may be confident enough to access a mainstream college to gain more formal qualifications.