You can read more about Sheffield Children's Hospital on their website. Photo courtesy of Sheffield Children's Hospital

Sheffield Children’s has partnered with Choices College, a specialist college delivering a supported internship course for young adults aged 16-24, to offer a range of 12-week placements for young people with learning difficulties, disabilities, and Autism.

To learn more about what these internships can offer for young people, we caught up with George, Shimyla, Lucy and Aisha, four of our interns who talked all about their experiences. This fabulous group have been working in different of roles across Sheffield Children’s since the beginning of the January term and are excited to continue developing their skills as part of our Sheffield Children’s community.

Since starting at Sheffield Children’s, Shimyla has worked in our post room. As part of her role, she has enjoyed sorting through post and delivering letters to colleagues across the Trust alongside her supervisor. Shimyla has felt supported by her team whilst working at Sheffield Children’s. She said: “If we have any issues, we can always have a chat with members of the team, which makes me feel really comfortable. We can then work together to sort out the problem, If I needed a bit more help with sorting some letters, I really feel like I can ask my colleagues which letter goes to which ward so that we can make sure that every letter gets to wherever it needs.”

Lucy, another of our interns who has been working at our Sleep House as part of our domestic services team, added: “It has been a really good start! I’m really enjoying what I’m doing, and my team are helping me a lot.”

Our interns have felt supported by their teams as part of their role and have been able to develop new skills under the supervision of existing members of staff. George, who has primarily found himself working in our restaurant kitchen, said: “I think my favourite part about working at Sheffield Children’s has been getting to know my team. My team has been incredibly supportive. If I ever get stuck on a new machine that I haven’t used before, and I ask for help, they then show me, and I can do it myself. I never feel like I can’t ask questions and feel able to ask questions more than once if I don’t understand.”

Aisha, who has been working closely with our community physiotherapy and occupational therapy teams at Ryegate Therapy Block as part of her internship, added: “My team have really supported me. I have a list of tasks to do during the week and that helps me keep on track. Every day is different, but I’ve really enjoyed everything, especially helping my team with hydrotherapy.”

Alongside their placement at Sheffield Children’s, our interns also attend college once a week to further develop their functional skills such as maths and English and are also able to focus on developing their own employability skills.

Amy Cam, Project Co-Ordinator for South Yorkshire at Choices College, said: “We make sure that our placements are tailored to each of our interns. We consider each of their journeys and preferences and what they would like to do in the future before matching them to an organisation and role that best fits their needs. We also make sure that we check in with our interns every few weeks whilst they are completing each placement to see how they are doing, and to chat to their placement mentor about their development and progress. We love to see our interns doing well in an environment like Sheffield Children’s.”

Anne-Marie Lynch, Work Experience Co-ordinator at Sheffield Children’s, had been working on this project for over a year, and was excited to bring it to fruition. She said: “We have been very keen to get involved in a programme that enables us to offer young people the opportunity to find out more about what it is like to be a part of the working world. We are very committed to providing our interns with transferable skills to carry with them into their future endeavours. We have enjoyed working with Choices College and our interns to make sure that their experience is tailored to the needs to each individual.”

“This project has been over a year in the making. We got in touch with some members of staff at Sheffield Children’s who were really excited about taking interns and now we have managed to get the ball rolling, and we hope that our interns can be really beneficial for teams across the Trust.”

Jenny Featherstone, Community Team Leader based at the Ryegate Children’s Centre, was one staff member who initially expressed interest in taking one of our interns. Since January, Jenny and her team have been mentoring Aisha, who has had a positive impact on the service. Jenny said: “We were really excited about having an intern from Choices College working with us in the Therapy Block at Ryegate. As a service working primarily with children and young people with disabilities, we know how important it is to have employers in Sheffield who are inclusive, adaptive, and welcoming towards employees who are neurodiverse or have a learning disability. This was a great opportunity for us to make that a reality for a student from Choices College.”

“I’ve had so many conversations with colleagues in the Therapy Block who say that having Aisha on placement with us has been an incredibly positive experience for them, and for our service users.”

After spending time at Sheffield Children’s, some of or interns now have a clearer idea of what they would like to do in the future. Shimyla said: “To start with, I came here from some work experience to see whether I could find a job. Now, after spending some time here, I really want to apply for a job at a post room somewhere. I have really enjoyed the role and I can really see myself working in a place like this in the future.”

George added: “I’m actually going to do my Stage 1 Food Safety certificate, and I’m really excited for that! In the long-term, I think I would really like to stay here if possible. Working with colleagues in my team has been like getting to know another family. I would now say that I have family at home and another family here at Sheffield Children’s.”

We would like to thank our interns for talking with us and can’t wait to welcome many of them back next term.

Sheffield Children’s has partnered with Choices College, a specialist college delivering a supported internship course for young adults aged 16-24, to offer a range of 12-week placements for young people with learning difficulties, disabilities, and Autism.

To learn more about what these internships can offer for young people, we caught up with George, Shimyla, Lucy and Aisha, four of our interns who talked all about their experiences. This fabulous group have been working in different of roles across Sheffield Children’s since the beginning of the January term and are excited to continue developing their skills as part of our Sheffield Children’s community.

Since starting at Sheffield Children’s, Shimyla has worked in our post room. As part of her role, she has enjoyed sorting through post and delivering letters to colleagues across the Trust alongside her supervisor. Shimyla has felt supported by her team whilst working at Sheffield Children’s. She said: “If we have any issues, we can always have a chat with members of the team, which makes me feel really comfortable. We can then work together to sort out the problem, If I needed a bit more help with sorting some letters, I really feel like I can ask my colleagues which letter goes to which ward so that we can make sure that every letter gets to wherever it needs.”

Lucy, another of our interns who has been working at our Sleep House as part of our domestic services team, added: “It has been a really good start! I’m really enjoying what I’m doing, and my team are helping me a lot.”

Our interns have felt supported by their teams as part of their role and have been able to develop new skills under the supervision of existing members of staff. George, who has primarily found himself working in our restaurant kitchen, said: “I think my favourite part about working at Sheffield Children’s has been getting to know my team. My team has been incredibly supportive. If I ever get stuck on a new machine that I haven’t used before, and I ask for help, they then show me, and I can do it myself. I never feel like I can’t ask questions and feel able to ask questions more than once if I don’t understand.”

Aisha, who has been working closely with our community physiotherapy and occupational therapy teams at Ryegate Therapy Block as part of her internship, added: “My team have really supported me. I have a list of tasks to do during the week and that helps me keep on track. Every day is different, but I’ve really enjoyed everything, especially helping my team with hydrotherapy.”

Alongside their placement at Sheffield Children’s, our interns also attend college once a week to further develop their functional skills such as maths and English and are also able to focus on developing their own employability skills.

Amy Cam, Project Co-Ordinator for South Yorkshire at Choices College, said: “We make sure that our placements are tailored to each of our interns. We consider each of their journeys and preferences and what they would like to do in the future before matching them to an organisation and role that best fits their needs. We also make sure that we check in with our interns every few weeks whilst they are completing each placement to see how they are doing, and to chat to their placement mentor about their development and progress. We love to see our interns doing well in an environment like Sheffield Children’s.”

Anne-Marie Lynch, Work Experience Co-ordinator at Sheffield Children’s, had been working on this project for over a year, and was excited to bring it to fruition. She said: “We have been very keen to get involved in a programme that enables us to offer young people the opportunity to find out more about what it is like to be a part of the working world. We are very committed to providing our interns with transferable skills to carry with them into their future endeavours. We have enjoyed working with Choices College and our interns to make sure that their experience is tailored to the needs to each individual.”

“This project has been over a year in the making. We got in touch with some members of staff at Sheffield Children’s who were really excited about taking interns and now we have managed to get the ball rolling, and we hope that our interns can be really beneficial for teams across the Trust.”

Jenny Featherstone, Community Team Leader based at the Ryegate Children’s Centre, was one staff member who initially expressed interest in taking one of our interns. Since January, Jenny and her team have been mentoring Aisha, who has had a positive impact on the service. Jenny said: “We were really excited about having an intern from Choices College working with us in the Therapy Block at Ryegate. As a service working primarily with children and young people with disabilities, we know how important it is to have employers in Sheffield who are inclusive, adaptive, and welcoming towards employees who are neurodiverse or have a learning disability. This was a great opportunity for us to make that a reality for a student from Choices College.”

“I’ve had so many conversations with colleagues in the Therapy Block who say that having Aisha on placement with us has been an incredibly positive experience for them, and for our service users.”

After spending time at Sheffield Children’s, some of or interns now have a clearer idea of what they would like to do in the future. Shimyla said: “To start with, I came here from some work experience to see whether I could find a job. Now, after spending some time here, I really want to apply for a job at a post room somewhere. I have really enjoyed the role and I can really see myself working in a place like this in the future.”

George added: “I’m actually going to do my Stage 1 Food Safety certificate, and I’m really excited for that! In the long-term, I think I would really like to stay here if possible. Working with colleagues in my team has been like getting to know another family. I would now say that I have family at home and another family here at Sheffield Children’s.”

We would like to thank our interns for talking with us and can’t wait to welcome many of them back next term.