Potential, independence & life skills

By Miranda Robertson miranda@westdorsetmag.co.uk

Incredible work is being carried out in Moreton to equip young people with special educational needs (SEN) for work and independent living. Employ My Ability welcomed its first students in 2015, after taking over the former village tearooms and walled garden. The facilities have since gone from a rather wild set of gardens to a lovely café surrounded by cultivated gardens with sculptures and a children’s play area, some animals and reptiles and a garden centre.

Up to 50 young people aged 16 to 25 with a range of SEN are here – working in the café learning how to deal with customers, money and more, working in the gardens and learning life skills alongside more traditional English and maths along the way. The aim is to help the students – who come from as far away as north of Salisbury – be able to live independently and enter employment.

“Some of the students arrive not being able to speak to people,” said marketing executive KelsiDean Buck.

“Through their work here, and on external work placements, they learn so many things, such as speaking to customers, handling money and much more.

“It’s a unique place.” The students also gain qualifications here. Kelsi said: “We don’t shout about the work we do enough –so much so visitors are often unaware it’s an educational setting. We like the students’ work and progress to speak for itself and they are as visible as anybody else on the staff.” Students work alongside paid staff in the gardens and café, which is open 9am-4pm seven days a week. Some also do paid work here in the holidays.

The Walled Garden is now open all year round, with just a suggested donation of £3 for adults to enter the five-acre site. Even in winter the gardens, overseen by head gardener Martin Mellersh, are lovely – though in summer the colour bursts forth. The French head chef at the gardens’ Dovecote Café presides over a lovely menu for breakfasts, lunches and afternoon teas.

Kelsi said: “Keeping the café open in winter is incredibly expensive, but keeping the whole site open throughout the year benefits the students. There’s more for them to do.”

Students learn animal care, horticulture, retail and more. Crucial life skills, including how to use banks and CV writing, are also part of life here.

Kelsi said: “We are always looking for students to connect with employers in the local area. We help them gain the skills and confidence to get work and live independently. Some come here so lacking in confidence.”

By the end many students are even driving, as well as living independently and in employment. It can be a spectacular turnaround in fortunes for the young people in this scheme. “We try to be authentic,” Kelsi said. “It’s a unique opportunity we have here.”

A few years ago Employ My Ability took over a second site in Gillingham –Thorngrove Garden Centre. The garden centre had opened in 1967 and the