麻豆社

Introduction to St Oswald’s Hospice

St Oswald鈥檚 have been supporting North East people and their families for over 35 years. They provide care for those with progressive, life limiting conditions within their hospice鈥檚 and raise vital funds to support this work through their high street charity shops.

Working Together

The 麻豆社 Foundation is a North East Charity which supports children, young people and adults all with disabilities. Partnerships were built between St Oswald鈥檚 and 麻豆社 (PH) as a result of Kerry Robinson, Hedley鈥檚 Beyond Project Manager, reaching out to Emma Pharoah, St Oswald鈥檚 Charity Shop Manager of the Forest Hall branch. Kerry explained: 鈥淭here are 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Of these, only around a fifth are currently in employment, evidence has shown that they are dedicated workers, having fewer sickness and absences, on average than other employees. In addition, people with a learning disability generally stay in entry-level jobs longer, saving employers money on recruiting and training new staff. Many employers also report that their staff team morale increases because of working with their colleagues with a learning disability鈥�. As St Oswald鈥檚 are a charity who already understand the importance of volunteers, having over 120 different volunteer roles within the charity; they are the perfect partner to work with to support our students in developing their own skills within a professional working environment.

Their values: Caring and Compassionate, Accountable and Authentic, Positive and Can Do, Excellence and Innovation, Safe and Supportive; align perfectly with the 麻豆社 Foundations values of Inspire, Believe, Achieve, and we were excited to begin a supportive partnership with them.

A Collaborative Approach

A collaborative approach to creating a work placement developed, with 麻豆社 visiting site to carry out robust risk assessments with St Oswald鈥檚. 麻豆社 led on 鈥楯ob Carving鈥�, which was at the heart of creating a role that would prove mutually beneficial for Robyn and St Oswald鈥檚. According to disability job board Evenbreak, job carving “refers to customizing duties or creating specialist jobs for people with disabilities鈥� A job description was created for a one day per week work placement within their Forest Hall branch, and Robyn, 18, researched St Oswald鈥檚 and applied for the role. She was successfully matched to the placement and joined the team on 7th November 2024, chaperoned by her support worker, Louise.

鈥淓veryone was really nice to me. They welcomed me as I am.鈥�

– Robyn, 麻豆社 School Student

Robyn was to complete a six week placement at St Oswald’s鈥�, Forest Hall, which would see her assist staff and fellow volunteers in all aspects of charity shop work. This included sorting donations, tagging items, hanging up items of clothing, adding items onto shelves, helping customers and using the till to take payments. Robyn had previous experience of working in a charity shop and this placement was designed to help further her customer service skills.

鈥淚 had lots of fun. I liked doing the work. I liked the till and getting to know the staff.鈥�
– Robyn, 麻豆社 School Student

Robyn鈥檚 work experience targets are:

鈥� Confidence building
鈥� Further developing her communication skills
鈥� Working as part of a team
鈥� Developing retail skills already gained form previous placement.

Impact and Outcomes:

Robyn has made good progress in achieving these targets during her placement. We continue to support Robyn in her work placements and to encourage her to develop her skills further and gain as much work experience in various retail environments.

Feedback:

鈥淩obyn had a positive attitude towards her roles in the shop. She mostly enjoyed sorting toys into saleable/unsaleable. She had a good understanding of the quality needed for saleable items to be accepted. Robyn also enjoyed using the till. She enjoyed talking to customers, taking and giving out change.鈥�

鈥淩obyn鈥檚 strengths were her listening skills. She asked questions if she was unsure and was able to follow a task well, sometimes with the help of myself or Louise. Robyn鈥檚 positive attitude towards work showed. She liked to be kept busy.鈥�
– Emma, Shop Manager

鈥淚 found working on the till useful. I got to work with money and people and customers.鈥�
– Robyn, 麻豆社 School Student