Apprenticeshop opened in 2021 as a pop-up at another location on the High Street for pupils in Years 8-13 at Beech Lodge School to gain meaningful retail work experience in the heart of the community.
After successfully raising nearly £30k for charity, the Apprenticeshop relocated in 2023 to our current premises kindly donated to us by The Shanly Group and was wp-signup.phped as a CIC subsidiary of the school.
Beech Lodge School expanded the offering to include timetabled and supported use of the shop at no cost to local state SEN schools and colleges. Since opening we have been joined by pupils from Forest Bridge School and Manor Green School who have allocated times each week to work in the shop. The Apprenticeshop also provides opportunities for pupils at local schools who require voluntary work experience as part of their Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme.
The Apprenticeshop is a key part of the participating schools' careers programmes which aim to embed an enterprise culture across their school curriculums. Working at the shop has enabled social grown and employability for the pupils with soft skill development, workplace behaviour and exposure to the wider world of work.
The vision for the Apprenticeshop is fourfold:
Meaningful Work Experience
Engage With The Community
Raise Money For Local Charities
Promote
Sustainability
The Apprenticeshop is a supported working and learning space timetabled to be manned 2 days per week by Beech Lodge pupils and on other days it is available to other local special schools.
To date the initiative has been tremendously successful. Many of our pupils have completed vital work experience, enabling them to foster independence and develop key life skills before they transition to the wider world. Importantly, the local community has eagerly supported the shop, aware of the needs of our pupils and the sales figures reflect that support.
