What we do
At the Together Trust, we deliver individual care, support and education services across the North West.
A Supported Internship is a programme that helps to bridge the gap between education and paid work for our students.
The programme is designed to support young people with additional needs who have an Educational Health Care and Plan (EHCP) in place and are aged between 16 - 24, who want to gain paid employment but would require additional support to do so.
The main goal of an internship is to help a young person with learning difficulties to develop the skills they need to be able to gain paid work.
We currently have two amazing opportunities for young people through our Supported Internships at Sodexco and Gullivers World.
The length of the course is one academic year, and the aim is to secure paid employment on completion along with developing other meaningful skills.
Interns will have access to specialised therapeutic input including speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. They will also have access to expert travel training professionals to support their independence when travelling to and from work.
Three talented students from Bridge College—McKenzie, Jamal, and Bayley—have embarked on a learning journey with Sodexo through Bridge College’s Supported Internship Program in September 2024. Read more about their adventure!
The programme is based directly in the workplace at Sodexo to provide an on-the-job experience for interns where they can discover exciting placements in health and safety, food preparation, security, and administration. Before diving into their hands-on experiences, they have honed their skills in a classroom environment, learning what it takes to be an outstanding employee and mastering the skills needed for success in different areas.
Sodexo has around 30,000 employees and has more than 2,000 sites where they provide facilities management and food services in environments including office buildings, hospitals, schools, military sites, sports stadiums, prisons, and more.
The Supported Internship will be based at Sodexo’s Head Office site in Salford, and interns will have opportunities to work at sites across Greater Manchester.
Our brand new Supported Internship programme at Gulliver’s World, Warrington offers supported work opportunities to match indiviual skills including: Retail & Stores, Catering, Rides, Park Care, Hotel, Upkeep and Grounds.
Starting from September 2025, the new programme at Gulliver's World will give young people the chance to grow their skills and experience an exiting work enviroment with the end goal of paid employment.
Gulliver's World is a family-based theme park in Warrington that offer a fantastic selection of rides, attractions and shows to see each day. The park's attractions were designed for children between the ages of 2 and 13. A hotel opened on the site in 2012.
Gulliver's World has sister parks at Matlock Bath (Gulliver's Kingdom), Milton Keynes (Gulliver's Land) and Rotherham (Gulliver's Valley). Gulliver's World also offer a range of fantastic accommodation options available at Warrington - from themed hotel suites, glamping tents, lodges and cabins.
A supported internship is unpaid, there is no cost to the employer in offering an extended work placement to a young person. The young person will be constatly supported whilst in placement by a job coach from Bridge College, funding for this and reasonable adjustments would be in place prior to starting in the workplace. As the employer, you will receive support and guidance throughout the placement from our expert team, that includes people who are Designated safeguarding leads (DSL).
Our programmes last for one year, during term times. Students come to work full time, Monday to Friday and spend the first and last hour of their day with staff from Bridge College setting up goals for the day and de-briefing, as well as teaching maths, english and employability skills. There will be a tutor to provide the sessions in the Education hub. We can discuss a schedule with employers that fits both your business and our students' schedules.
Our mission is to make sure this is a beneficial collaboration between you and our students. Our Job coaches can help assess the whole business to make sure the programme will work and identify areas where our students will thrive. We are flexible willing to adapt the programme as we go along.
Bridge College collaborates with the employers to ensure the best job match between the intern and the employer, according to the roles you have available. In order for the programme to be a success, for both the employer and the young person, it is crucial that we match the right young person and their skill set with the right role and employer. The aim of the programme is to benefit both the employer and the intern.
Accepting a young person on a Supported Internship can not only be rewarding by giving a young person the opportunity to grow in confidence, but also to ensure they benefit from completing a Supported Internship in a real working environment, it is also beneficial to an employer in the long term by helping with their recruitment of staff.
How does your business benefit:
DFN Project SERACH believe in empowering all young people to enter the workplace with confidence.
DFN Project SEARCH is a business-led, one-year transition to employment programme for young people with a learning disability and autism or both.
DFN Project SEARCH is based on the most successful transition to work programmes in the world and has been has recognised by the UK government as a model of good practice within the national learning disability strategy “Preparing for Adulthood pathways”.
At the end of the programme, on average 60% of DFN Project SEARCH gradates move into full-time permanent roles and 70% of DFN Project SEARCH graduates gain jobs in total.
