Orchardville Society
Address:
The Karten CTEC Centre
Lagan Village Tower,
144 – 152 Ravenhill Road,
Belfast,
BT6 8ED
Centre Head:
Michael Walker
Phone number:
028 90 461561
Email:
Michael.walker@orchardville.com
Website:
Host organisation name:
Orchardville Society
Date centre established:
July 2002
Focus of Centre:
The Business Centre provides a wide range of office support services to public, private and voluntary sector organisations throughout Northern Ireland. The Business Centre was developed to provide a pathway for our students (adults with learning disabilities) to access career development and employment opportunities in the field of back office administration. The Centre marries onsite business services with key nationally accredited vocational qualifications, plus a package of external work placements, the aim being to improve the skills of trainees available for external work placements.
The Orchardville Society currently provides career development, training and employment opportunities to over 200 adults with learning disabilities living in South & East Belfast.
The Clients
Clients within the Centre have severe learning disabilities and/or autism
The Technology
The Centre currently has 8 PC’s which are used to provide students with accredited IT training and qualifications. Trainee’s also use various pieces of digital print and print finishing equipment. The Karten Centre is integral to the progression of trainees into the world of employment.
Assistive Technology
Assistive technologies currently in use include:-
• ‘Big Keys’ Keyboards
• Joysticks
• Touch Screen Technology
• Roller Ball Mice
• Voice Recognition Software
• Sat-Nav Enabled Mouse Controllers
• Keyboards for Partially Sighted Users
• Widgit Communicate & Print
Staffing
There are currently 4 full time members of staff
Opening hours:
The Centre’s opening hours are Monday to Friday from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm
Services on offer to the network
Some of the services we provide include:
Direct Mail: Hand assembled mailings of all sizes and quantities. International postage also available.
Printing: High quality digital print in small or large volumes. Sizes range from postcard to A3 and for everything from fliers, tickets and leaflets to letterheads, posters and brochures.
Packing: Repetitive and time consuming work such as this requires manual dexterity and excellent attention to detail. Our trainees excel in this and we can prepare runs of conference packs, corporate gifts, promotional items and magazine inserts, or we can collate and assemble complex brochures and technical materials.
Design / Publishing: Our Desk Top Publishing service is ideal for those print jobs, which are too big to handle in house and too small to warrant using a designer and commercial printer. It is ideal for producing company newsletters, certificates, signs, posters and booklets. Your final documents can also be laminated or bound if required.
Databases: We construct and manage databases as well as run queries and mail merges. Our regular data entry ensures that databases are up to date and current.
Partnership
Orchardville Society works in partnership with many organisations as we believe that no one organisation can meet the needs of disabled people. Our partnerships range from the trainees through to other professionals and organisations. Special education schools are a key partner and many young school leavers avail of both “taster” and ongoing sessions within the centre.
Host organisation
Orchardville Society
www.orchardville.com/bc