Welcome to Blueberry
The Blueberry Academy team provide specialist support for young people and adults with learning differences, autism, social, emotional and mental health needs and/or other disabilities. The main aims of Blueberry are to promote employability and independence. We offer education and employment services in York, Selby and Scarborough.
We offer Personalised Learning Programmes for students aged 16-25 years, who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). We also offer Supported Employment services for adults funded through Social Care.
Contact Blueberry
Academy
Blueberry Vision and Mission
In agreement with the “Preparing for Adulthood” agenda we believe that young people should have equal life chances as they move into adulthood and we work to ensure that “young people with SEND achieve paid employment, independent living, housing options, good health, friendships, relationships and community inclusion.”
In agreement with the British Association of Supported Employment (BASE) we believe that people can achieve employment, or engage in meaningful vocational activity, with the right level of support from supported employment services, support networks and the employer.
Blueberry aims to:
- provide quality teaching, learning and working experiences
- lead on (or contribute towards) good educational, health and social care planning to set and work towards suitably challenging outcomes, building in the right support for individuals
- assist in enabling people to live and work as independently as possible
- support employers to provide real working outcomes for people
- raise awareness of equality of opportunity and promote the recognition of the skills and talents of people with diverse needs
About
Blueberry Academy
Blueberry was formed in 2007 by Andrew Cambridge and Andy Bucklee. The service was set up to support people who had an aspiration to work and who needed practical support to develop their employment skills and work experience.
From the beginning, Blueberry began to set up working partnerships with local employers to ensure that people would have real opportunities to prove and develop their existing skills and talents. Initially, Blueberry delivered City & Guilds Employability Skills training and job coached people on placements at My Eco Cafe and in other work experiences in the community, funded by Social Care.
Within 6 months of supporting people, Blueberry had placed 3 long term unemployed adults into sustainable paid employment, also providing their ongoing support. The organisation began to deliver education programmes in 2012 as part of City of York Council’s local learning offer for 16-25 year old students with education, health and care needs.
Blueberry Today
Blueberry continues to work in a holistic way with individuals, always aiming to look at “the bigger picture” to ensure that each person has the best opportunity to succeed in working towards their independence and employment goals.
Our team builds strong working relationships with the key partners and support networks who must be involved to successfully support people to make progress: parents and carers, support workers and Personal Assistants (PAs), health professionals (Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapy, Educational Psychology, Mental Health teams), Specialist Careers Advisers, Transitions and Social Care Managers, JobCentrePlus and other Supported Employment Services.
Always being pro active in seeking opportunities which match peoples’ skills and aspirations means that we have set up strong working partnerships with a wide range of local and national employers. We continue to make links with new employers all the time. To find out more about this please look at our Supported Employment and Working with Employers pages.
Our Staff
Staff specialisms and experience include:
- qualified Functional Skills tutors
- session leaders with Cert Ed or Level 3 Award in Teaching and Learning
- practitioners with Level 3 Certificate for Supported Employment
- NVQ Level 3 and 4 in Information, Advice and Guidance - IAG workers
- Dyslexia Specialist
- Training in Systematic Instruction
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Drama, Arts and Music Therapy
- Arts Award assessors
- Intensive Interaction and Sensory Integration
- Mindfulness tutors
- Sports, Rugby coaching, Personal Training, Zumba, Pilates and Yoga Instructors
- staff with professional backgrounds in teaching in schools, colleges and community settings; hospitality; catering; retail; mental health; specialist autism support; social care; landscape gardening; creative enterprise; careers advice; project management; administration and IT.
We aim to link staff and job coaches with the right skills to match a persons’ specific needs and interests in order to get the best possible programme for the individual.
