Mark Lennox, Head of Estates and Ryon Dunbar, Buildings Information Manager spoke to the students about the College’s redevelopment plans and showed them a ‘flythrough’ of the proposed new buildings before asking what they felt should be included.
Special Needs lecturer, Angela O’Neill explained that as part of this year’s Inclusive Learning Summer Scheme, students took part in different activities designed to help develop their communication, decision making and teamwork skills through creative learning.
“Students are at the heart of the College and we felt it was important to take their ideas into consideration to let them feel they had contributed to this exciting time in the College’s development.”
Angela continued: “The class was divided into groups and each group was given a scale model of a classroom - a blank canvas for them to design and decorate.
”The wooden classrooms, which were made by the College’s Joinery Department, were painted by the students who worked in teams to decide what they wanted in their room.
“The students designed the layout and then made furniture, beanbags and other accessories as well as creating wall displays and selected colour schemes and flooring. This was great fun for the students and very interesting to see their ideas and designs.
“They demonstrated great teamwork, excellent decision making skills and organisational skills, all of which will really benefit the students and help their confidence and self-esteem.”
Angela adds: “The success of the project shows how different departments across the College work co-operatively and creatively for the benefit of our students. We combined traditional skills training, such as woodwork and painting, with the latest technology like building modelling and virtual reality to give them a uniquely rewarding land enjoyable earning experience.
“The final stage of the project will be to create a virtual reality tour using our top of the line headset and advanced software packages to incorporate some of the students’ ideas to let them see what it would be like to walk around the rooms that they helped design.”
Students who successfully complete the Inclusive Learning Summer School will achieve an NOCN Entry Level Certificate in Independent Living for this project over the six weeks they attend the Summer Scheme.
The Inclusive Learning Team recently won a Staff Recognition Award for Outstanding Curriculum Team of the Year and deliver a wide range of courses. Transtion2College, Route2Work, Aspire2Work, Workready, Transition2Work and Life skills programmes are all available.