Animal Care

Provides a comprehensive introduction to animal care. Students benefit from a practical course to work with and understand the care needs and habitats of small animals and farm animals. This is accompanied by understanding the theory and background to the animal welfare.

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Programme of study

Course Outline

We use the Awarding Organisation Skills and Education Group for our accreditations. All our courses are based on project-based learning with six projects taking place across the year. The projects build on prior knowledge, skills and behaviours.

Our Animal Care team are Qualified and very experienced with the farm animals being based at Stourside Farm in Ashford and Brogdale Farm in Faversham. There are a wide range of small to larger animals which students work with and learn how to look after.

We have an array of employers that we work with who get involved in our projects and support relevant external work experience for our learners. Many of our students go onto work for local farms in Kent and the surrounding areas.

Levels

The Animal Care Qualifications are available from Entry Level to Level 3.

Key Skill Development

Personal Development

Provides students with key skills needed to thrive both now and in their future. Student benefit from the Personal Development Curriculum to support them in Preparing for Adulthood with focussed sessions exploring three key areas: Myself, Community and Independence.

Interventions

These daily sessions, develops students personal areas of needs. We have found that the outcomes within most EHCp are often vast and can be daunting for students to access them and achieve. Students benefit from them to be broken down into manageable chunks and set as SMART targets. These targets are worked on regularly through bespoke interventions and reviewed regularly alongside students to encourage reflective thinking and progress.

Enrichment

Supports students in expanding their horizons by providing opportunities to engage in outings to cinemas, beaches, and museums, as well as hosting guest speakers to discuss local community opportunities and connections to local services, thus facilitating exploration of talents and interests.

Pathways

At Craftworks College, we are aware that all our students progress at their own rate therefore our pathways adopt the waves model of intervention to enable all students to succeed from their individual starting points.

Students capable of achieving a full qualification follow the Universal Pathway. Student that need their learning broken into smaller steps follow the Targeted Pathway, here they focus on one unit at a time and achieve Unit Accreditation. Students that require our Specialist Pathway have a bespoke timetable which breaks learning down into even smaller steps to ensure that they are able to achieve at their own specific level.

Course Testimonials

We see our Student Voice as imperative as it inspires and motivates active change and development within the Craftwork College Community. We are proud of what our students say about their course and their time with us.

The staff are highly trained in handling both the animals and complex sensory needs, ensuring a safe, enriching, and deeply rewarding environment for every young adult.

It’s a brilliant example of contextualized learning that makes academic concepts accessible and meaningful for SEN learners.

The college uses the daily responsibility of caring for the animals to teach self-regulation and empathy.

The college’s job coaches do a fantastic job bridging the gap between the classroom and the workplace, giving these young adults genuine, meaningful employability skills

For students with profound learning difficulties, the tactile experience of grooming the animals and learning about their welfare provides incredible sensory stimulation and communication breakthroughs

Working with the college's small animals and livestock has given her a sense of calm we haven’t seen anywhere else.

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Our impact

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