HSDC Alton Independence Hub

We’re recruiting!

Are you passionate about educating and supporting young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities? Would you like a career in a brand-new custom-built facility that has been designed to enable young people with severe and complex needs to progress into meaningful adult lives?

What is the HSDC Alton Independence Hub?

The HSDC Alton Independence Hub has been developed with Hampshire County Council to provide a new type of provision for young people moving into post-16 education, including being centrally located in our main college campus to aid inclusion.

The Independence Hub will provide five days’ provision per week for the first three years, based around the four Preparing for Adulthood outcomes: Independence, Employment, Better Health and Community Inclusion. The curriculum will include lots of practical life skills activities, including:

• Cookery and hospitality using our full adapted kitchen
• Living skills using our kitchen, lounge and bedroom area
• Horticulture with a dedicated sensory garden and access to an allotment
• Social communication skills programmes co-delivered with a specialist Speech and Language Therapist
• A dedicated therapies room for Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy as required by individual students
• A large, well-resourced sensory room with hoist
• A low-stimulus quiet room
• A medical room and Duty Healthcare Assistant
• A wet room with shower, changing bed, electric and manual hoists
• Accessible WCs
• A student social area for breaks and lunch times, plus access to the main college campus facilities such as the Refectory, Theatre and Learning Hub

We will be building a new, specialist team who will have the opportunity to develop an outstanding provision for young people with severe and complex SEND. The right candidates will receive specialist training where necessary, including input from our Speech and Language Therapist, Makaton training, PECS/Widgit, AAT, personal care and other individualised training dependent on prior experience and student need.

Employment Opportunities

New employment opportunities will include:

• Independence Hub Manager/Teacher (teaching for up to 39 weeks a year with curriculum and future staffing management responsibilities)
• Learning Support Assistants (32 hrs a week x 39 weeks a year, school hours, no shift work) to support with all aspects of the student experience, in and out of class
• Health Care Assistant/LSA (32 hrs a week x 39 weeks a year, school hours, no shift work) to lead on personal care, administration of medication and other relevant care duties, under the supervision of the College Registered General Nurse

For further information, please contact Debbie Collinson-Bolles, Director of SEND at debbie.collinson-bolles@hsdc.ac.uk or Tozzy Bridger, VfL Manager (Alton) at tozzy.bridger@alton.hsdc.ac.uk.

360 Tour of the Hub