We've been working with the Wimbledon Foundation as part of their 'Work at Wimbledon' initiative that offers supported pathways into employment. A group of students on our Steps into Employment programme have been part of a journey that has culminated with six of them securing paid jobs for the championships in 2025.

The group first visited the championships last year to watch a spot of tennis, get to know the site and see what happens during the tournament. They then attended workshops and open days. All 13 students who applied online for various roles were offered interviews. To help them spruce up and look the part we worked with Smart Works, a charity who provide free interview-appropriate clothing to unemployed women. Our group also benefitted from interview practice and preparation with Smart Works and during our regular Steps into Employment sessions.

Student Charlotte told us a bit more about her interview, 'We practised in Steps for it with Alice – practice runs. They asked me why I want the job and I said I like tennis and I'm always on time and reliable. I showed her [the interviewer] my folder with all the Steps work in it, and I took my certificates to show her and the different work placements I've done.'

Charlotte, together with fellow students Michael, Anna-Marie, Chloe, Shammah and Joseph have successfully secured paid jobs for the championships this year, working in retail and guest services, and we're incredibly proud of them!

Charlotte said, 'I’m excited to work in the big, massive shop, working with customers and serving customers around the shop. And they're giving us all our uniform for free and free lunch - what else could we ask for?' 

And Michael told us that he's looking forward to, 'Helping people to come into Wimbledon...ticket scanning, helping people in. Maybe helping the royal family in!' 

Leading up to the championships, they'll take part in training days and we're also providing training and support to their line managers to help them understand how to best support people with learning disabilities and autism at work.

Daniel has been a student on our Steps into Employment programme which aims to prepare our students for the world of work. The group have been working closely with supported employment specialists, Status Employment, who worked with Daniel to help him volunteer at the Lion Vibes Record Shop in Brixton.

With support from his Status Employment career advisor, Jahida, he set up a meet and greet with the record shop staff, showed them his one-page profile and had a chat. Daniel successfully secured a placement, and has since been offered a paid role. 

Reflecting on how it all began, Daniel said, ‘Volunteering was really good’. At the shop, Daniel has taken on a range of tasks including, ‘Sell[ing] the records, stamping, and bagging things up to send to different countries.’ When we caught up with him, he’d just finished a shift the day before, ‘Yesterday I played music. I played one jazz and one hip hop,’ he said. He also shared a few of his favourite artists, ‘I like Michael Jackson so much... Cliff Richard, and Boy George.’ 

Music has always been a big part of Daniel’s life. He told us, ‘I have a DVD at home. I put it in [the computer] and dance to it in my bedroom.’ He also plays guitar and sings, sharing that his favourite thing about working at the record shop is being able to listen to music and sing while he works. 

When he's at the shop, Daniel says he feels, ‘Excited. I like the people there, they love me so much.’ He enjoys learning new skills and likes the freedom that comes with earning money, often using his pay to ‘go out with my friend’. Of course, every job has its challenges. ‘The computer is hard’, Daniel admits, but he’s never afraid to ask his manager Ben for help, ‘Ben is good!’ 

With support from Wandsworth Council, we've made a series of films to encourage adults with learning disabilities and autism to get cooking.

This is part of a project to encourage healthier eating and healthier living in general. We made the films last year at a local co-living space, Folk at Sunday Mills in Earlsfield, who kindly lent us their kitchen.

We hope that our students (and anyone else!) will be inspired to cook healthy meals at home. And watch this space: we're going to publish an easy read cookbook with many more recipes very soon.

We've made one longer film where the group make a delicious and healthy lentil bolognese with a side salad. And we've also made five short film clips to support kitchen skills in general:

1. Kitchen hygiene - wearing aprons
2. Kitchen hygiene - cleaning surfaces
3. Knife safety tips
4. Food safety and cross contamination
5. Storing cooked food safely

Huge thanks to our stars of the films - students Doris, Carla and Ella and our chef tutor Tim - who have done a fantastic job!

All the films are available to watch below. Please share them with anyone you know who might find them useful, just click the 'share' button or the three dots at the top right of each film:

A group of Share art students performed their original dance piece, 'The sun shines down on me when...', at the Royal Academy of Dance on Wednesday 18th December. 

This moving and magical piece was the culmination of months of hard work and dedication. Students attended weekly classes with RADiate dance artist Jasmine Hall, exploring self-expression through movement and collaborating on the choreography for this stunning final performance.  The RADiate project usually offers dance classes to children with special educational needs and disabilities, and we were delighted when they expanded this to work with adults from Share. 

'The sun shines down on me when...' explored themes of nature, connection, and celebration while also embracing each dancer's unique personality. They moved with light balls to convey sunshine, autumn leaves were blown around the stage with a fan, and the audience could participate by waving cloud props in the air, creating a wonderfully atmospheric experience.

Groups of students from all Share's sites travelled to the venue to watch the performance which ended with a 'dance circle', giving everyone in the audience the chance to join the performers on stage for a dance fest! The joy and warmth in the room was inspirational and we're so grateful to the Royal Academy of Dance for their support and dedication to the project.

We're committed to creating opportunities like these for our students, harnessing the power of creative expression to boost mental and physical wellbeing.

Our Annual Awards Day took place on Tuesday 10th December at the Wandsworth Civic Suite. As always it was an uplifting and vibrant celebration of all the steps our students have taken towards their goals over the past year.

We were especially honoured to be joined by the Mayor of Wandsworth, Sana Jafri, and our Trustee Treasurer, Chris Jeffery, to present certificates to our students. This year, we introduced Makaton into both the speeches and visual prompts we used around the room to make the event as accessible as possible.

The day was packed with unforgettable moments. Our Share Choir kicked things off with a stunning performance that left us in awe, singing heartfelt renditions of 'Oh Happy Day,' 'So Strong,' 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow,' 'Lovely Day,' and 'Amazing Grace'. Then student Jodie got everyone on their feet with an energetic Zumba-inspired dance session. After that, students from Share Tooting took to the stage for a Makaton sing-along, bringing the whole room together to sing and sign. We ended the day on a high note with an epic disco, featuring a mix of classic and modern hits.

Thank you to all our students, their families and carers, and our friends, volunteers and supporters who made the day so special. And a huge thank you to the Tooting Business Network who very kindy donated a delicious hot lunch for us to serve to all our guests.