Teaching life skills to autistic youth: combining work experience with animals and nature
Young people from Inscape House School got a private tour to Dunham Massey and an invitation to join their team for work experience in September. The enthusiastic volunteers from National Trust told us all about the park, the resident deer and how current work experience students Jake and Talia have fun working in the park.
Talia works in the second-hand book shop, where all the money raised through the sale of books goes back into the National Trust and local projects, like the work experience programme. Talia is an expert librarian: she organises the stock on the shelves, makes sure all books are in order, regularly culled and in the right genre. As an avid reader, working with books is a dream job for her.
Jake works in the café at Dunham Massey - he helps prepare food, cleans the tables and helps the customers. Jake’s long-term goal is to work in customer services at a railway station, linking to his interest and passion for trains. This role is a perfect placement for developing his skills around working with the public in a busy environment.
On Wednesday 15 June, a group of keen students were invited to get a little taster of what it would be like to work at the park. We were joined by Jake and Talia who told us all about the work that they do and why they enjoy coming to Dunham Massey. The National Trust staff were kind enough to take us on a private tour around the park and talk to students about work they could potentially do.
Milly, Senior Programming and Partnerships Officer tells us how “brilliant it is working with young people passionate about what they do and already thinking about their future. It's amazing to see how they benefit from their experience and how quickly their confidence grows."
We left the estate happy, having seen plenty of deer grazing in the sun, baby ducks swimming across the pond, the rose garden in full bloom and with our heads full of fun facts.
Did you know that antlers are the fastest growing bone in the animal world? Whitetail deer antlers can grow up to 1/2 inch per day! The antlers start growing in the spring and continue through summer.