Employ My Ability was founded in 2014 by professionals with experience across children’s and adult services in a range of settings.
Since opening in 2015, EMA has been committed to providing a high-quality education provision for young people, where they are firmly at the centre of building their own futures. In March 2023, the Government published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, which focuses on the needs of young people with SEND as they transition through different stages of life and prepare for adulthood.
The themes of this plan have continued to be our founding principle: “Right Support, Right Place & Right Time are essential in enabling young people to thrive.”
Accordingly, our core beliefs and commitments are:
- Young people with SEND have the potential to gain meaningful employment in a range of vocational settings.
- The environment is key to learning, and these environments must be real and age-appropriate.
- Young people with SEND should be given opportunities to develop skills and transition into work environments.
- A strong commitment to Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance (CEIAG) is essential to support young people with SEND in reaching their aspirations.
- Through the process of “Preparing for Adulthood”, we maintain an ongoing commitment to supporting a young person’s pathway towards lifelong independence.
- We fully embed Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) into our curriculum, ensuring it is integrated into teaching rather than delivered as a standalone therapy.
EMA’s CEIAG programmes are bespoke to each student and are embedded throughout our provision. This prepares students to take charge of their careers and lives by developing clear, achievable, and aspirational goals for what they want to do when they leave us, as well as understanding what is needed to achieve their plans for further education, training, work, independence, community participation, and maintaining good health.
EMA underpins this by clearly evidencing students’ progress towards these outcomes.
The Walled Garden welcomed its first students in September 2015. We continued to develop our qualifications and vocational areas, and later opened the gardens and café to the public.
In October 2017, we expanded EMA with the acquisition of Thorngrove Garden Centre in Gillingham from the charity Scope. Thorngrove was already running a day service provision, which aligned well with EMA’s vision. The garden centre and its surroundings were in a state of disrepair and required significant redevelopment and modernisation to make it suitable for its existing day service provision, as well as the addition of education.
The following year was spent developing the grounds and classrooms, introducing The Secret Garden Café, improving the site environment, redecorating the shop, and installing an additional glasshouse.
In September 2019, Thorngrove welcomed its first eight education students, studying functional skills and a variety of vocational qualifications. To date, we have provided education and work experience to over 63 students across both sites.
In October 2024, we made some adjustments to our Gillingham campus. In order to meet the needs of our students and day service users, commercial operations in the café and shop were ceased, and the facilities were adapted and developed to focus on education and adult social care.
EMA’s newly focused Gillingham campus has since added a brand-new independent living suite, a MUGA, new offices, physiotherapy, and hygiene spaces, with development continuing into 2026.
In January 2025, we opened a new Adult Social Care Day Opportunities location in Dorchester, and launched a new website dedicated to our social care services, which continue to grow.
