Orchard Hill College & Academies Trust & Engage Education

Engage Education are pleased to announce our partnership with Orchard Hill College & Academies Trust. OHCAT is a family of specialist education providers from pre-school through to further education across London, Surrey, Sussex and Berkshire who fully represent all designations of special education needs and disabilities (SEND). ‘OHC&AT exists to support, enable and champion the talents, skills and rights of the most complex and vulnerable people in our society in order that we can release their potential, promote their wellbeing and transform their lives.’

Since the College was established in 1983, it has grown from a small hospital provision into an Outstanding College that operates from six college centres and provides post-16 education for students with moderate, complex and profound learning needs. In 2013, the College established the Trust to share its expertise and provide services and support to specialist schools. The Trust is now home to 15 special schools. 

We were delighted to join the Orchard Hill College & Academics Trust back in 2019, after working closely with some of the schools within the framework for a couple of years. 

As an approved supplier, we provide excellent, transparent service to help the trust hire teaching staff, teaching assistants, Complex Needs/PMLD staff and more. We’ve also agreed on terms which allow the trust to take on staff for free after 12 weeks, similar to the DfE sponsored CCS Framework.

At Engage, our dedicated SEND team have over 40 years of experience working within this field of recruitment. We understand how essential it is to find the right candidate for special schools. In some of our more complex settings, the needs of the children haven’t been managed from a formal educational standpoint for months, which has unfortunately resulted in these settings becoming more challenging, with some behaviours escalating quickly. Our team are able to work with schools to identify and hire candidates who have experience with specific needs, including:

• Learning difficulties (PMLD, SLD, SpLD, MLD)
• Social and behavioural difficulties
• Complex SEMH, including comorbid Mental Health Conditions
• Behaviour Mentors specialising in LAC, including gang affiliations, CSE and County Lines
• Mental health conditions
• Visual impairments
• Hearing impairments
• Physical disabilities

We’re able to support a range of schools including those for sensory impaired pupils, disabled pupils, pupils with learning disabilities, pupil referral units, mainstream schools with pupils with EHCPs and those who need extra support. 

If you’d like to discuss recruitment with our SEND team, please book a meeting with us here.