Inclusivity in practice

Recently, we have seen progress made around breaking down barriers and building a more inclusive society. This is both wonderful and necessary, as many marginalised communities face disproportionate adversity, especially in the workforce. One of these groups is young people with SEND.

According to the Department for Work and Pensions, the employment gap for disabled persons reached 28.4 per cent in 2021, painting a harsh reality for pupils with SEND who want to enter the workforce upon finishing school. Having worked previously as a teacher at a special school, I wanted to create an opportunity for pupils with SEND in my community.

To do this, I decided to open a high street shop, The Plane Tree, that would serve its local area by offering employment for young people with SEND as well as stocking goods from artists in the region. It was important to me that this was not seen as a good-deed shop, but rather a valued business in the community that bolstered inclusivity and creativity.

Now up and running, the shop stocks 25 local artists and employs five young people with SEND as interns, with the aim of increasing these numbers in future. The central location ensures high footfall for the shop, which translates to more engagement for the interns to build their confidence and social skills.

Most of the interns at the shop are also pupils at Nethergate Academy, the SEND specialised school I previously taught at. My experience at Nethergate gave me insight into how to engage and encourage our interns to build their skills and confidence in the shop. They each work two days a week, taking on tasks including using the till, helping customers, light cleaning, organising stock and bringing the open sign in and out each day. Ultimately, the aim is for them to have the opportunity to gain work experience that will aid them going forward as well as develop their social skills by interacting with many different customers.

Another goal is to break down barriers in the workforce to enable greater inclusivity for young people with SEND by showing other businesses how much of an asset they are. Working in the shop builds work experience for the interns and sets them on a path to potentially gain employment in other local shops or similar. As The Plane Tree grows, we also want to arrange mini-secondments for our interns, which would allow them to spend small portions of their shifts at other nearby businesses to further develop their wider skillsets and gain more exposure to the community.

Shelly has a strong background in the arts and mental health sectors through her early work as a community artist and arts facilitator in psychiatric units. Shelly went into teaching and became a specialist leader in education (SLE). Her most recent role gave her 12 years’ experience in leadership at Nethergate Academy, (5-19 special school) where she was head of Upper School. Following this, she established The Plane Tree, an Independent CIC. The company trains people with SEND in workplace skills and aims to break down barriers to inclusion within her community.

Impact For Young People With Send

Even though the shop is only a few months old, we are already seeing benefits for our interns. Prior to working, many of them were shy and anxious in social situations, but now we have seen them blossom through interacting with customers.

Having the opportunity to engage with the wider community outside of school has built up their social confidence significantly and they are excited to talk to new people.

Working at the shop also gives our interns a glimpse of working life, teaching them important skills such as work as they have taken their roles very seriously and made it a point to always strive to be professional and engaged. Not only have our interns benefitted from this experience, but so too have our shoppers. For those who have not spent much time around people with SEND, the shop has given them a way to have meaningful interactions and has shown them pupils with SEND can thrive and add great value to their community.

Moving Forward

readiness, professional behaviour and responsibility. We hold them to a high standard and teach them to remember to clock in and out and arrive on time each day. The impact of this has been wonderful

I am thrilled to see how far our wonderful interns have already come. Given that we are classified as a Community Interest Company (CIC), we can support young people and adults with SEND with workplace training on a bespoke basis. This means we can increase opportunities for pupils as we expand and work as a service to the SEND community to bridge the gap between school and work. Additionally, we hope that soon we will not be the only business in our area with this vision and operation, inspiring others to follow suit and raise the standard for inclusivity in the region.