OHC Makaton

Students turn Lecturer for the Met Police!

By Adrian Notter - June 1st, 2018 | Posted in News

Our Centre in New Malden was approached by its local police station about delivering Makaton training and special needs awareness to their police officers. Our staff members were of course delighted to be asked, but thought who better to deliver the training than our students themselves!

Three students delivered a one hour training session to the Met Police Officers, covering an introduction to Makaton followed by a general Q&A about special needs, how they feel when they’re out in their community, and in an open discussion, the police officers asked our students’ advice on various topics including how best to approach someone with special needs who they feel may need help.

Students then gave a tour of their College Centre and spoke about what they do at College, their interests and aspirations for the future.

The session was invaluable to the officers and a great experience for our students. One of the officers, Wayne, said “I found the Makaton training very useful to help others in the community”  while Rosalind said “I found the training very interesting and students were really friendly”.

The training session was such a success that more training is being planned for the near future!