People at Kisharon found the Karten Suite especially helpful during the Covid pandemic, including being able to register their own Covid tests on the NHS website independently. Now the equipment is put to good use supporting our social enterprises and teaching IT life skills.
During the lockdowns those with learning disabilities, including many shielding at home, accessed Zoom exercise classes and various other sessions recorded on the Karten iPads and computers.
Since then, many of the 14 individuals using the Karten Suite every day – averaging a total of 8 hours’ use a week – find it underpins Kisharon’s packaging and fulfilment work.
Computers and iPads are used to email the manager of our gift shop about arrival dates, order stock from suppliers including Tesco and Amazon and access Excel spreadsheets to store customer information and keep track of orders. The iPads proved handy when taking photos for the garden project at the library. These photos will be displayed at an upcoming charity art exhibition event.
IT skills learned at the Karten Suite have also improved users’ independence and self esteem.
Kisharon people have set up email addresses and learnt how to log in to their emails, written up personal targets, learnt to use YouTube, created work CVs and profiles and even booked social plans online and used Google Maps to find the best route!
Bag My Treats Enterprise
One of the other things which runs directly from the Karten Suite is the Bag My Treats Enterprise. This is run end to end by the people we support.
They check orders which have come into the designated email account, process the orders by uploading the information onto a spread sheet, fulfilling the order contacting customers to arrange collection delivering the order to our gift shop for collection, sending a template invoice to the customer and then checking with Finance whether it has been paid.
Much of this work is carried out in the Karten suite. Previously this was the responsibility of a staff member and when they moved on the people we support wanted the chance to run the enterprise themselves and this is what they have achieved. Every element of the enterprise becomes a teaching point. IT skills are improved, people are able to use email create spreadsheets prepare invoices check and double check information. All key elements of the foundation tier of learning are covered, so their time encompasses maths, English and IT
As you can see, the Karten suite is put to excellent use and is enjoyed by many of the people we support.
As always, many thanks for your support.
Case study: Miriam’s story
Miriam graduated from Langdon College this summer and started volunteering at Childs Hill Library in Cricklewood which Kisharon runs. We devised a personalised programme of learning, including improving her IT skills and work experience. This included work at Kisharon’s Tuffkid Nursery, and reading with children at a mainstream Jewish school.
Now based at the library, she writes birthday and greeting cards to Kisharon volunteers and manages a reading project at a local school. We are very proud of what she achieved. She is testament to the wide range of tasks that people with different abilities are capable of. We hope that this combination of skills development and work experience will lead to a paid administrative role.
Miriam said: “I find all the different jobs I do very good because they help me learn new things. At the beginning of the year, I never knew how to laminate but after having worked at the school, I feel very confident at this. Similarly, I could never cut precisely, but now I am very good at it. I have learnt to get the library ready for opening, carried out health and safety checks, and I feel confident answering customer queries. I love to help people in all the jobs I do.”
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- This article was written by the Kisharon Karten Centre
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