Independent Living Skills
The Independent Living Skills Programme is designed to stimulate personal growth and development while providing meaningful individual learning opportunities that allow the individual to maximise their potential. 
Independent Living Skills objectives are developed during the first college term through consultation between the student, Personal tutor, Head of Independent Living Skills and the Extended Curriculum Manager to establish an individual programme designed to promote self-confidence and greater independence.
The programme involves structured and unstructured elements that are formally appraised and recorded. Skills of Life: literacy, numeracy and communication Key skills, including working with others, and problem solving, are imbedded within each programme.
Support is provided to develop self-advocacy and social skills, and through these develop the abilities to function as independently as possible. Students gain the confidence to make their own decisions, take personal responsibility for their own actions and gain knowledge of their rights as individuals. Emphasis is placed on developing effective relationships with others, together with taking responsibility for their own welfare and leisure time. Road safety and the use of public transport forms an integral part of the work.
Community Access, Healthy Living, and Lifestyle sessions are an essential element of each student's programme. Community Access sessions concentrate on introducing students to, and integrating effectively into, the local community. In Healthy Living sessions students work on issues concerning diet and exercise. Lifestyle sessions provide a holistic approach to student wellbeing. Some students also undertake Survival Skills sessions with emphasis on topics such as home security and household emergencies.
The home management element of the curriculum teaches students the skills needed in the home, including cooking, basic cleaning, laundry, money handling and shopping.
Accommodation has been designed to allow carefully planned progression from residences with a high level of supervision to bungalows and houses with decreasing levels of support. There are also opportunities for some students to move to accommodation within the local community to experience maximum independence using budgeting, shopping, cooking and general housekeeping skills.
