Supported Internships
Supported Internships are work-based programmes for young adults aged 18-25 who have an EHCP. Our SIs aim to empower the young people to confidently and positively enter the world of work – and consequently, equip them with the necessary skills, knowledge & self-advocacy tools to step into independence.
Our trained Job Coaches work alongside students at our employer hosts, where our interns will work as part of a small team with dedicated work-based buddies for 3 or 4 days a week. The remaining 1 or 2 days of the week are spent at our college site in Headingley working on a varied and engaging curriculum.
Our Employer Placements
We’re so fortunate to work with an incredible range of supportive and game-changing internship hosts with Diversity & Inclusion at the heart of their organisations. Our internship hosts include John Lewis & Partners, NHS Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, NHS SBS, HMRC, Arla Foods, Sodexo, KPMG and Johnson & Johnson. Interns are based at these employer sites either 3 or 4 days a week, gaining skills in real-life work placements. We also offer a bespoke internship programme called Branching Out which focuses on gardening, landscaping & horticulture skills – rather than being based with an employer or in an office, you would be based at a variety of locations for 3 days a week.
We’re proud to offer a wide variety of internship placements spanning a range of sectors, including; ‘Catering & Hospitality’, ‘Finance & Administration’, ‘Gardening & Horticulture’, ‘Sales & Operations’ plus many more.
Intern Testimonials
My Supported Internship with Lighthouse Futures Trust has changed my life. I’ve gone on to do things I never thought I’d be able to. I now work for the NHS doing a job I’m really proud of, with a team who understand me.”
Josh, LFT Supported Internship Alumni
I have graduated Lighthouse Futures Trust with a job, and I've made my best friends here too."
Megan, LFT Supported Internship Alumni
My Supported Internship with Lighthouse Futures Trust is the best thing I've ever done. I've left with great friends, I finally passed my Maths qualification, and I'm in a job I love."
Joe, LFT Supported Internship Alumni
Content & Curriculum
Students access an engaging curriculum whilst at college and in the workplace, delivered by expert Job Coaches and Tutors. Our approach is to use “expeditonary-led” learning which encourages interns to take greater responsiblity for their own learning. Many have found themselves alienated and uninspired in previous learning settings and have found traditional models not to be effective for their way of learning. This is why we believe in a ‘hands on’ & person-centred learning experience.
Our Supported Internship curriculum is based in the following core areas:
At the core of a Supported Internship is the real-life, hands on experience students will gain while on placement at their employer site. Students will be working with a real work team and on real work tasks. What differentiates this from “work experience” is the quality of experience gained – meaning tasks are not created for our interns, but rather real tasks are adjusted (when & if required) so as to become more accessible as well as to ensure our interns are gaining valuable transferable skills.
Students will receive close support from job coaches & work-buddies throughout their internships – with their aim being to enable students to gain the key skills and experience required to professionally progress.
Developing an understanding of our feelings and building resilience within the context of the world around us is essential to a positive experience. Accordingly, our in-house counsellor and wellbeing manager has developed a wellbeing curriculum which addresses the specific and prolific challenges many neurodivergent young people are faced with today.
Our wellbeing curriculum is rooted within the following ‘pillars of wellness’:
- Social Wellness
- Mental Wellness
- Physical Wellness
- Financial Wellness
Trained job coaches creatively explore these areas via a person-centred approach, adjusting and adapting when required. Our aim is to ensure a positive and safe environment to explore pathways to improved wellbeing.
Our Employability curriculum is focused on imparting accessible, practical and actionable knowledge and advice. Our trained job coaches deliver sessions from the following areas:
- Team Building
- Workplace Safety
- Technology at Work
- Self-Advocacy
- Social & Communication Skills in the Workplace
- Finance
- Preparing for Employment
- Maintaining Employment
All of our sessions are delivered with an innovative and person-centred approach, where job coaches will adapt and adjust sessions to ensure students are able to positively access and action the sessions’ content.
We live in a complex, complicated and at times confusing world. Developing a voice within this context can feel challenging, especially if students have not been included in discussions about current affairs before. We believe that listening to the voices and opinions of our young people is of vital importance – to us, and to them.
This is why we deliver weekly discussion sessions from ‘Votes For Schools’ – an award-winning organisation amplifying the voices of young people in order to genuinely affect change. These sessions are adapted in order to make challenging topics of conversation accessible to the young people we work with.
Innovation is at the core of who we are here at Lighthouse Futures Trust, and accordingly we recognise that some of our students may have entrepreneurial ambitions outside of traditional employment. That’s why we work with the Realistic Business Consortium who deliver ‘Be Your Own Boss’ – a programme focused on exploring the skills needed for self-employment.
The programme has already nurtured a range of student-led businesses and projects, including:
- Blossom & Light: Candle & Wax Melts business. The products have been developed, designed & marketed by our very own students. Check out and support our students’ work here.
- Eco-Games: Sustainable gaming business looking to tackle overproduction within the gaming industry by encouraging the re-using and re-discovery of old game classics.
- Pre-loved clothing sales: Our students have run and promoted pre-loved & vintage clothing sales, all in the name of raising funds for us as charity.
Many of our students think outside of the box – this is a skill we recognise as incredibly valuable and as something to be celebrated and nurtured.
Some of our students come to us having achieved the required level of qualifications in Maths & English, but many do not. Our Maths & English team recognise that for many of our students, these are lessons they have felt alienated from and have struggled to access in past settings.
That’s why we do things differently. The Maths & English curriculum team devise engaging and accessible sessions, delivered with a person-centred and compassionate approach. Sessions incorporate practical, cross-curricular, ‘real-world’ exercises, which students can practically put into action.
Programme Structure
- Our Supported Internship is a 1 year programme and follows the Leeds City Council academic year. The year is split into 3 terms, Autumn, Spring, and Summer with holidays every 6 – 8 weeks.
- The internship begins in September. Students spend their first weeks completing their induction with us at our college base in Headingley, as well as participating in our placement ‘Inspiration Days’.
- ‘Inspiration days’ allow students to experience a variety of our placement options by visiting employer sites, as well as participating in role-taster tasks. This allows students to determine which specific placement is right for them.
- Once students have completed their college-based induction & have attended at least 3 Inspiration Days, they will then receive an official offer of an internship with one of our host employers.
- Students then begin their internship placement in mid to late October. Our Job Coaches support students at every step – both in their work-placement and college-based work.
- The internship ends in July with a graduation on completion. Our aim is for students to be moving into paid employment upon completion of the programme (with additional support in this transition if required).