HOPYARD DAY OPPORTUNITIES

Finding meaningful, engaging, and fun activities that develop new skills, interests, and friendships is often difficult for people with learning disabilities.  Because of the shortage of these opportunities, Symbol established The Hopyard.

The Hopyard offers diverse, exciting, innovative, and fun day opportunity services in the form of a wide range of activities at a variety of venues throughout Kent for adults of all ages.

These experiences are available during weekdays, evenings, and even at weekends. The Hopyard is a great place to spend time, learn new skills, meet new friends, and even serve as a possible route to employment. We are supremely flexible and offer person-centered support in our approach to what we offer.

Where do we operate?

We offer Hopyard services bases/hubs across Kent to ensure maximum accessibility. Each Hopyard Service offers individual on-site and community-integrated activities with a core specialism:

  • Queenborough Centre on The Isle of Sheppey

Roles and Responsibilities

Each site has a Service Manager holding overall support planning and monitoring responsibility for the clients and managing the support team and specialist teams operating with their client group.

Each coordinator reports to our Community and Skills Opportunities Manager who reports to the company’s Director of Work, Leisure, and Learning.

How does the Hopyard Service Work?

Upon referral to Hopyard, Service Users are provided with a list of Hopyard’s venues, detailing the activities undertaken and the community opportunities supported by each site. Service Users may select from any one or several sites and will be supported to travel between them as necessary. Service User’s selections are reviewed three months and changes can be made. We hope Service User’s will opt for a varied and dynamic programme over time.

Service Users may select to stay on-site or spend their day fully participating in the local community. Our model is to progress each Service User to take part in ever-increasing inclusive community activities. An example is a client who initially selected to spend time at the farm where they grew and tended the flowers and learned to arrange bouquets. Individualised support was then offered to attend a local flower arranging class run by the village WI and that client progressed to becoming part of the local church flower group supported only by other local group members.

When are the Hopyard Services Operational?

Core Hours are 9 am – 5 pm. Each service offers flexible opening times, for example, the shop’s craft workshops on-site are open until 9 pm most evenings for inclusive group attendance or tuition. The Farm offers attendance for specific activities from 8.30 am to 6 pm with a later opening until 8 pm in the summer. We offer weekend attendance. Each base offers a minimum of 5 days per week opening.

Hopyard has its beginnings in the field of communication support and each base offers communication development opportunities through our specialist teams. The ability to communicate through speech, signs, symbols, or objects is central to the human experience. Each site, activity, and opportunity offered by Hopyard is underpinned through communication support.

TO FIND OUT MORE PLEASE CONTACT:

Telephone:    01622 863 291

Email:             info@symbolconnect.co.uk