Learning Support Student Testimonials

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hi my name is ahmed ismo i’m 17 and i’m

doing level 3 extended diploma in

business

after my gcses which i completed at the

end of 2018

um i decided to

have lots of visits around different

secondary schools in derby

i had many visits to derby college to

make sure the building and the overall

environment suited my needs college

conducted

risk assessments to make sure that i was

safe while i was at college

right so students

attend college

during the transition period in order to

complete support plans a support plan is

a plan which identifies specific support

needs for the student and and how the

college are able to

cater for their needs a support plan

allows the members of staff who will be

with the students to identify exactly

how they’ll be supported this support

plan is shared amongst all the lecturers

and different members of staff they’ll

be working with

after achieving my gcses and getting the

grades i did

i could have gone on to the level 3

business course straight away however i

decided to

do the level 2 business course this is

because i’ve never studied business as a

subject derby college allowed me to

create and go through with this

personalized study program to

get to know the college get to know

how using assignments

and different forms of submission

over exams

college offer a wide range of support an

option is to have in-class support

available this support will allow

students to achieve the best possible

outcome on their course

college promotes independence this is

done by offering a wide range of

technology that students can access this

technology includes laptops ipads and

livescribe pens okay so students can

access a wide range of support outside

of the classroom whether it be personal

or academic a good example of this is

the base room the base room is available

to all students in which they can use to

get one-to-one support

during the transition period an exam

arrangement is brought up with the

student from their previous educational

provider

this allows students to ensure that they

can access their normal way of working

college offer a wide range of

technological services for students

access

a good example of this is the derby

college onedrive

allows students access their onedrive

from home or within the college in order

to help them complete work college also

allows students to complete printing

from their mobile phones this technology

is put in place in order to promote

students independence

after completing the level two business

course in which i achieved two merits i

was initially going to go to the joseph

right centre to pursue a levels however

after extensive advice and guidance i

decided to progress onto the level 3

course this level 3 course will allow me

to achieve my future goal which is to

study

law at university in order to pursue a

career

in the legal

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sector you

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we build personalized study programs

with and for our young people for whom

standard off the peg curriculum model

that we have in place wouldn’t

necessarily work and meet their needs

so building a personalized study program

allows us to use the flexibility in

curriculum design

to put a program together where the

structure the content the delivery and

even the assessment methods are all

adjusted and flexed in order to meet

individual needs so the first thing that

we would look at would be the core

element of the study program so as

simple as thinking about whether that’s

going to be driven by qualification or

whether the focus is going to be on

rapper to develop and prepare for

further education or possibly for

employment

english and maths we would be looking at

whether it’s gcse

it might be more appropriate for a young

person to be working towards functional

skills depending on the level of their

prior qualification and in some cases

we’d also be considering exemption from

english and or maths

either through a young person having an

ehcp or using tolerance within

conditions of funding

we would think about the sorts of time

scales that we’re working to so whether

we’re extending a qualification over a

longer period of time for a young person

we would think about whether there’s

anything in terms of specific content

that we would need to build in for the

individual and we might think about

things like assessment methods and how

those might need to be differentiated

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you

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hello i’m will i’m 20 years old i’m

studying i t at derby college and i’ve

got the opportunity to say that i’ve got

a diagnosis of asd

today i’m here to talk about

the curriculum my adaptable curriculum i

call it the free year thing

my three year thing was my level three

it qualification which would have

normally been two years

but for me it’s been adapted over a

period of three years

in year one i did three units year two i

did five units and year three i did five

units with a total of thirteen units

altogether

this three-year study problem that’s

been successful because it’s made it

more it’s made the world manageable it’s

given me less anxiety

it doesn’t everyone it’s still been

challenging but it’s made it it’s made

it so i can manage my time it’s made it

so i’ve got a longer period of time to

it to achieve what i want to achieve

i’ve become more relaxed and i always

know i will achieve

everything in the end it just takes me a

bit longer so when i finish studying in

june i’ve applied to the university of

south wales to study

bs the honors degree in it

so in 220 days i’m happy with cardiff

which

something real

the difference that coming to derby

college has actually made

five years a day i couldn’t imagine my

life the way it is now

it’s changed incredibly when i first

came to derby college i wasn’t very

confident i didn’t even talk to members

of staff in the past three to four years

i have developed confidence

in december 2019 i was invited to london

taught in front of 200 people in terms

of how confident i’ve become and the

person i am today

i feel that curriculum can be adapted

whatever area you’re gonna study in it’s

all about the learner and the students

needs it’s all about what they want ask

them how do you want to do this course

you want to do over two years or three

years and that is how it should be

adapted that question should be built in

to an interview like when a a student is

applying for college

one of the strategies that i’ve

developed while at college

running in my spare time because running

is so important it gives you the mental

break from everything you’ve got to do

my strategy is to continue on at

university protecting myself that mental

and physical break from coursework and

just life in general if i was to thought

my time at derby college it’d be

excellent amazing emotional

incredible adventurous and thankful

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you

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i’m hope and i’m not currently 98 years

old and studying level animal care

school i must say was awful for me it

was not a

present time at all socially and

academically

i joined college in 2017

at the oxton campus of derby college

and i was left two years

on a pathway to working life course

and now i’m at broomfield hall derby

college summer it up

i’d say that it’s the transition i

needed

since i’ve come to broomfield gained a

lot of confidence and independence and

hands-on experience

i’ve started catching both the college

bus and public buses

college are

very supportive in that they’re very

involved in that and

i definitely say that anyone

that comes into college would be in

good hands

my support plan has all of my needs

involved in it such as meet and greet in

the morning off of my college bus and i

get taken back to my bus when the

college day is finished

breaking lunch support base room support

where there’s space

to learn with additional support and

resources

and sort of much more quiet area as well

and one-to-one sessions happen

within that room as well

i definitely couldn’t come to college if

i didn’t have

the support that i have

guaranteed anymore the support i must

say is very there’s a lot of heart that

goes into the sport it’s very

personalized we

do what’s called a rag sheet

and we color code it to

our strengths and how we feel

in lessons and how the lessons are going

and we update it very regularly

it’s always tailored to us

and we have these wristbands and rude

bands on one side it says okay with a

smiley face which represents we’re

feeling okay and on the other side not

okay but a non-smiley face so however

we’re feeling relates to this band

yes it’s a struggle sometimes i won’t

lie but

with the support that i have

it’s it’s doable

and i i can come to college with it i

don’t let it stop me

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you

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let me stop by introducing myself my

name is david torrington i’m the

managing director of sky recruitment

solutions so we’re a derby-based

multi-sector recruitment company

we’ve worked with derby college actually

for

four or five years now

through a variety of means so we have an

academy with derby college

but we also provide lots of other

support in terms of

employability for students

the group interviews came about

initially through the academy program so

there was a discussion about derby

educated students having an education in

derby i’m moving away from derby which

obviously is a drain on the resource so

i decided to set an academy up hoping

that my involvement with students would

then lead to them staying in derby

through my academy working in my

business and avoid

a drain of talent if you like moving out

of the city

as a business sky recruitment solutions

um

we’re quite non-traditional in that we

don’t

look for a particular type of person in

terms of work experience qualifications

or anything else so we rely purely on

personality

background irrelevant education

irrelevant

character is what we’re looking for so

in that respect uh being an

all-inclusive company fits in really

well because we get students from a

variety of different backgrounds

different levels different um

society backgrounds etc so yes we with

uh with engage with with a lot of people

with a different background

part of the group

in our current academy one particular

student

approached me

so we did the the presentation we did a

group interview where we explain what

the academy is about specifically

one particular student wanted to apply

for the academy but wanted to know a bit

more about it and how we could help them

in particular to settle in to the group

in the business so they approached us

initially

with their own personal specific needs

which were based around familiarising

themselves with my business with my

staff with the location

really with the end aim of making them

feel comfortable once they actually

start working in the academy itself

i personally recommend the academy

system through derby college to any

employer in the area the only cost

is your own time

but i genuinely believe if you put your

own time into it and

embrace the opportunity embrace the

people that apply for the academy and

put the time in yourself you’ll get the

benefit from it in the long term

you