Student Careers, Education, Information. Advice and Guidance

Career guidance

Careers learning centres on working with our partners to enable our students to understand themselves, obtain information, explore opportunities and develop the skills they need to manage their own development and make life choices and decisions about their future. Student destinations range from supported living options, supported internships to full-time jobs or Higher Education. These life choices benefit their own mental health and wellbeing and contribute to the wellbeing of others.

Students complete a personal vocational profile as they focus more on action planning and breaking down the barriers to future positive outcomes that include employment. Students use vocational profiles, skills audits, advice and guidance (internal and external through Careers Connect), talking mats, communication aids, PECS, Makaton to identify options available to them.

Regular student tutorials are timetabled and incorporate impartial advice from Career Connect Advisers.

Ascent College’s robust employability/careers programme (including work experience) provides our young adults with an understanding of the world of work and empowers them to gain the knowledge, skills, understanding and most importantly the resilience to achieve (wherever possible) work-related post-college destinations.

Breaking down the barriers to employment

Ascent College strives to ensure that every young person is inspired and prepared for the world of work. Students achieve this through the provision of taster opportunities and bespoke visits to local employers/businesses, work experience, enterprise education, independent travel training, access to leavers who act as role models and inspiring speakers.

Our robust employability/careers programme (including work experience) provides our young adults with an understanding of the world of work and empowers them to gain the knowledge, skills, understanding and most importantly the resilience to achieve (wherever possible) work-related post-college destinations.

Ascent College breaks down the barriers to accessing work through its excellent collaborative partnerships with local businesses and community groups. All students take part in real-life work experience opportunities and work towards identified personalised accreditation outcomes within their programme that will develop the skills needed for progression onto identified ambitious post-college destinations.

Embracing a diverse range of partners from all occupational areas helps us share an understanding and knowledge of autistic young adults, benefiting all parties by breaking down barriers to employment, reducing students’ vulnerability and increasing their resilience. 

Our partners

Other partnership placements include:

• hospitality at the local Mercure Hotel (Haydock) and Holiday Inn (Wigan)
• managing and maintaining a bespoke landfill country park at Lyme and Wood Country Park with Enovert for the benefit of local people
• animal management at a local farm
• the RSPCA
• Little Bears Day Nursery
• habitat management with local rangers
• working with the Hope Centre Foodbank
• hospitality at Haydock Races with the Jockey Club
• developing circus skills with ‘Stiklings’ and building on their employability skills

particularly following health and safety protocol and making dynamic risk assessments

• developing communication skills, social interaction and flexibility by serving customers in community centres (e.g. Newton family and Community Centre) and charity shops.