Increased support for young people in Dorset

The mobile classroom is going to be used primarily for learners in rural parts of the county and for learners without transport. With the mobile classroom, SWRAC won’t be limited to their fixed locations.

SWRAC frequently engage with learners out and about in the learner’s local area already in cafes and other public places. Some learners are too far from the fixed locations to be able to attend group sessions or they are unable to attend or get to group sessions due to a disability.

“Everyone involved in post-16 education in Dorset recognises that residents of the more rural parts of Dorset, particularly in the West and North of the County, do sometimes struggle to engage in Further Education simply because of the difficulties of rural transport in the County. We do have a can-do ethos toward training and it was very easy to decide to provide mobile classroom facilities to turn on its head the idea that students always have to go a campus made of bricks! Instead, we now have the facility to go to students. Our education offer is primarily to people with special educational needs (#sayYEStoSEN) and those who are more disadvantaged or unemployed, so we believe that the vehicle will have great appeal.”

While having 4 fixed locations across Dorset, SWRAC recognise that not all students are able to get each campus either on their own or at all. SWRAC provides a taxi service for local students to get to their nearest campus and as part of the Supported Internship programme, teach travel training to SEN students. The mobile classroom will make it easier to deliver education and training to students in areas where this is not possible.

41% of Dorset’s population live in rural areas. Barriers to housing and essential services are significant in Dorset reflecting rurality and distance from services. 23 of Dorset’s neighbourhoods are in the 20% most deprived nationally in relation to education.

Across Dorset, 5.7% of 16 and 17-year olds are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and around 20% of the South West of England have a disability. 1.5% of primary children and 1.3% of secondary school children in Dorset have a Special Educational Needs plan.

SWRAC is a training organisation offering Traineeships, Supported Internships, Construction Skills Training and Alternative Education Provision across Dorset. The mobile classroom is in addition to the four teaching locations that SWRAC already deliver their programmes from in Dorset. The locations include Merley House in Wimborne, Sea Road in Bournemouth, The Quay Foyer in Poole and The Old Ferry Terminal in Weymouth.