Skills for Life
Building independent living skills, confidence and friendships
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Live and learn with the Gateway Awards
Gateway Awards are designed to challenge boundaries, create new experiences, and broaden horizons. They increase skills, confidence, and independence —
and good times are guaranteed!
The Outreach Academy is proud to be a registered Gateway Awards centre.
The Awards focus on five sections:
Hobbies: From creating an exhibition of work with our Artist in Residence to challenging yourself to go abseiling or kayaking, you'll discover new interests, talents and confidence.
Fitness: Explore a range of sports and exercise activities and find the ones that help you to be healthy and happy.
Lifestyle: Develop independent living skills, from shopping for and cooking a
meal to knowing how to stay safe and well.
Volunteering: Build life, work and social skills by taking part in community volunteering projects.
A project or challenge: Use all the skills you've learnt to plan and achieve a personalised project or challenge.
Cooking
Our popular Cooking classes are delivered by AlphaBake Cookery.
You'll make two dishes to take home and learn cooking skills, safe
food preparation and healthy eating.
The Cooking classes cater for every ability, from those who benefit from a therapeutic sensory approach to those wanting to develop functional and independent living skills.
When you've developed your cooking and baking talents, you can progress
to our In!Catering enterprise to gain hospitality and work skills.
Music
Music is a fun way to learn important social and communication skills.
Our Music sessions explore lots of different styles of music and give plenty
of opportunities to play, compose and perform.
We even have our own choir, Awesome Beats Collective, which sings and
signs a range of popular songs.
Wellbeing
Enhancing health and happiness
Dance and movement
Our Dance and movement classes are tutored by professional dancer Helen Cridland and encourage physical activity, social connections and self-expression.
We cater for all physical and learning abilities and students experience a wide range of dance styles.
Our classes provide lots of opportunities to exercise, gain confidence and perform.
Enable Me
Enable Me is a programme of occupational therapy, mindfulness gym, specialist yoga and health education sessions.
Students develop their coordination, core strength, emotional resilience and health awareness through a range of fun and therapeutic activities.
Enable Me sessions are tailored to the needs of the student group, ensuring each individual receives support to cope with life's challenges and achieve their personal goals.
Well Me
Our Well Me programme focuses on encouraging physical activity and increasing awareness and understanding of health and wellbeing.
Gentle Gym sessions help develop coordination, strength and stamina through fun activities and games.
We are proud to be a Beyond Words Book Club, enabling students to explore health, wellbeing and relationships through wordless books, facilitated discussion and role play.
Skills for Work
Developing work skills and employability
Community Connections with ACE
Active in the Community and Environment (affectionately known as ACE) is an important step on our progression pathway.
The ACE team develop their employability and build horticulture and social skills through a range of community volunteering opportunities.
ACE currently maintains gardens at Broomfield Hospital and Farleigh Hospice and supports awareness projects run by Kinder Essex. The team are also developing their own allotment while learning about construction, horticulture and ecology.
In! Enterprises
The way in to work
In!Catering
Be part of our catering
and hospitality team
In!Designs
Channel your creativity and build business skills
In!Spades
Local organisations dig
our gardening services!