Three new employees at Banwell Pottery are being supported to gain skills and professional work experience.

A key step forward for our social enterprise

In April, Banwell Pottery began offering supported employment. Our new employees will be supported with pottery production, learning new skills, and how to be professional in a working environment.

This is a big step forward for Banwell Pottery as a social enterprise and is a key part in our development, facilitating employment and work experience for people with learning disabilities and autism. We’re now running supported employment sessions once a week.

What is supported employment?

Supported employment refers to a service where people with disabilities are assisted to obtain and maintaining employment. Supported employment is considered to be one form of employment in which wages are paid, together with benefits from an employer in a competitive workplace. Where needed, our employees were supported with their application and attended a formal interview before being offered the job.

First tasks

The first task for our new employees was to design and make handmade ceramics ready for North Somerset Arts week. Ian, Haley, and Phoebe have had a successful first few weeks, working on a wide range of jobs and have completed their mandatory Brandon Trust training.

Their next jobs included glazing a large order of ceramic bunting for the Brandon Charity shops, making and glazing our popular Bristol coasters and our new round Bristol and Oyster Catcher scenes. The team members are excited to be working at the Pottery and have already proved to be hard working and productive. We’re extremely proud of our team.

Further information

If you’d like more information, please pop in and see us or email info@banwellpottery.org.