For the past ten years, WayFinder WorkConnect has worked to turn aspirations of employment into real opportunities for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Established by Landmarks Specialist College in 2016, WayFinder was created around a straightforward ambition: young people with additional needs who want to work should have meaningful opportunities to develop their skills, experience the workplace and demonstrate what they can offer an employer.
A decade later, WayFinder has worked alongside employers across the region, supported young people into a wide range of industries and helped learners take their first steps towards lasting employment.
As WayFinder celebrates its tenth anniversary, we look back at how the service began, the partnerships that have shaped it and, most importantly, the people whose journeys have defined its first decade.
Reflecting on the anniversary, Larry Brocklesby, Principal and CEO of Landmarks Specialist College, said:
“Ten years of WayFinder is a fantastic milestone and something everyone involved should be really proud of.
What has always impressed me about WayFinder is the way the team has been prepared to try new things, build strong relationships with employers and keep pushing for better opportunities for the people we support.”
Why WayFinder Was Created
When WayFinder launched in 2016, it represented an important development in Landmarks’ approach to preparing learners for adulthood.
Practical learning had long been part of the college’s philosophy, but WayFinder took that approach beyond college environments and directly into the workplace.
The aim was not simply to teach employability in a classroom. Learners needed opportunities to experience real workplaces, understand the expectations of employers and develop their skills alongside the people already doing the job.
WayFinder WorkConnect was developed to help bridge that gap.
WayFinder Manager Lisa Rathbone has been with the team before the beginning:
“Before WayFinder, employment support for learners with additional needs was often limited, with fewer structured pathways into work, reduced employer engagement, and less tailored support during the transition from education to employment. WayFinder was developed to address this gap by providing personalised employability support, meaningful work-based opportunities, and strong partnerships with employers. Since its inception, the programme has grown significantly, creating more employment opportunities and improving outcomes for learners. The impact has been transformative, enabling many individuals to gain the skills, confidence, experience, and employer connections needed to progress into sustainable employment, opportunities that many may not have been able to achieve without the dedicated support and inclusive approach that WayFinder provides.
Learning on the Job
At the heart of WayFinder is the belief that preparing for employment should involve experiencing employment.
Through Supported Internships, young people spend significant time within real workplaces, supported by WayFinder job coaches and the employers themselves.
Placements are matched to the individual, taking into account their strengths, interests, support needs and aspirations.
That can mean working in hospitality, retail, groundskeeping, education, animal care, administration or another industry altogether.
The workplace then becomes the learning environment.
Rather than practising hypothetical workplace situations, interns encounter the routines, responsibilities and relationships that come with having a job. Over time, support can be adapted as confidence, skills and independence develop.
138 learners have found employment through our Supported Internship programme.
Since 2016:
85% of learners have remained in employment in the last 5 years.
96% of supported interns progressed into employment in 2025/26.
But no two journeys through WayFinder have looked the same.
Building Relationships with Employers
WayFinder could not exist without employers willing to open their workplaces to young people.
Over the past decade, those relationships have developed from individual placements into long-term partnerships with businesses and organisations across the region.
Employers provide much more than somewhere to complete a placement. Their staff become colleagues and mentors, allowing interns to become genuine members of a workplace team.
For employers, Supported Internships also provide an opportunity to discover potential that conventional recruitment processes can sometimes overlook.
Supported Internships also give employers the opportunity to see what someone can contribute in the workplace, rather than relying solely on a conventional application or interview.
For Principal and CEO Larry Brocklesby, changing those perceptions has been one of WayFinder’s most significant achievements:
“The team has done a huge amount to help employers see what people can do, rather than focusing on what they might need support with. That change in attitude is just as important as the job outcomes themselves.”
Among WayFinder’s largest employer partnerships are Greene King and Marston’s, with both relationships creating opportunities for learners across the hospitality industry. WayFinder has also developed a partnership with Nando’s, alongside its network of local employers.
Marston’s is now approaching its third year working with WayFinder, providing experience in both front-of-house and kitchen roles.
Claire Clark, Head of People Partnering at Marston’s, said:
“I’m so pleased that we can support learners to come into the business and into the industry. The added benefit is that our existing teams get to work with people with a variety of accessibility requirements. It’s been really educational for everybody and has given our team members a deeper understanding.”
For Greene King, its work with WayFinder forms part of the company’s wider approach to social mobility.
Robert Cooke, Social Mobility Manager at Greene King, said:
“We absolutely love the work that we do with Landmarks College and it’s an integral part of our strategic social mobility plan. At its heart, we believe everybody has talent, and we as a company are always keen to bring talent into our business.”
From Placement to Paid Employment
A Supported Internship is ultimately about progression.
For many young people, the goal is paid employment, whether with their placement employer or elsewhere using the experience and skills they have developed.
Reaching that point can involve achievements that are easy to overlook: travelling independently to work, communicating with colleagues, learning workplace routines, taking responsibility for tasks or developing the confidence to ask for help.
Together, those steps can transform what someone believes they are capable of doing.
Employment outcomes are a major measure of WayFinder’s success, but the impact of a Supported Internship can extend beyond whether someone immediately enters paid work.
Interns develop communication, confidence, independence, workplace behaviours and an understanding of their own strengths.
For some, the biggest milestone might initially be travelling to their placement independently. For another, it might be speaking confidently with a customer, completing a task without support or recognising that they belong in the workplace.
The People Behind WayFinder
WayFinders‘ first decade has also been shaped by the job coaches, coordinators and employer engagement staff working behind the scenes.
Their role can begin long before an intern walks through an employer’s doors, understanding aspirations, finding suitable opportunities, working with employers, identifying adjustments and helping prepare someone for their first day.
Once a placement begins, the focus becomes helping each intern develop towards greater independence.
Get Involved with WayFinder
WayFinder’s work depends on young people, families and employers coming together to create opportunities.
If you’re a young person interested in a Supported Internship, a parent or carer looking at employment pathways, or an employer interested in providing opportunities, the WayFinder team would be happy to hear from you.
Find out more about Supported Internships, working with WayFinder and how to get involved on the WayFinder WorkConnect page.
The Next Ten Years
Ten years is an opportunity to celebrate what has been achieved, but WayFinder’s work continues.
New learners are beginning Supported Internships. New employers are opening their doors. Former interns are continuing to develop their careers.
The challenge for the next decade is to build on those foundations: creating more opportunities, reaching more employers and continuing to demonstrate what young people with SEND can contribute to the workplace when they are given the opportunity.
For Principal and CEO Larry Brocklesby, the employment figures tell only part of the story.
“Over the years, we have seen so many people move into work who may otherwise have struggled to get that opportunity. That is the real impact of WayFinder.
It is not just about getting someone a job, it is about confidence, independence, having a purpose and being able to see a future for yourself.”
He added
“There are lots of people who have contributed to WayFinder over the last ten years and they should all take real pride in what has been achieved. Most importantly, though, it is the people we have supported and their successes that make WayFinder what it is.
Ten years on, there is still plenty more we want to do, but this is absolutely a moment to celebrate what has already been achieved.”
For the learners who have travelled to their first placement, completed their first shift, received their first payslip or walked into work without their job coach for the first time, the story of WayFinder is ultimately much bigger than a tenth anniversary.
It is ten years of people being given the opportunity to show what they can do.