WORKSHOP

The construction services market is relatively stable and offers many simple jobs that can be The construction services market is relatively stable and offers many simple jobs that can be mastered by people with disabilities. The studio is addressed mainly to young men who need physical exercise and like various tools and technical devices. The workshop allows you to improve your skills in the following areas:

• carpenter’s assistant – cutting and grinding various wooden and wood-based materials, assembling furniture, helping in erecting small garden architecture, carpenter’s help in building roofs.
• painter’s/plasterer’s assistant – preparation of surfaces for painting/plastering (covering, priming, cleaning), painting simple surfaces, grinding gypsum plasters, feeding tools and materials, cleaning after finishing work.
• paving assistant – surface preparation – transport and unloading of loose materials, transport and preparation of materials (stones, edges), compaction of base layers (compactor operation), laying paving stones on the prepared base layer.
• Plumber’s assistant – preparing tools for work, preparing materials – deburring pipes and screwed threads, lubricating push-in connections, helping with cleaning after finished work, helping in transporting, loading and unloading materials.
• Laser plotter operator assistant – preparing materials for cutting and engraving, grinding, oiling/painting finished products, arranging material on the work table, collecting and assembling cut/engraved products.

The studio is equipped with a number of modern tools and technical devices such as:

• CO2 plotter for cutting and engraving in various materials;
• Fully equipped woodworking station: cutting (table and miter saw, jigsaw), grinding (hand and stationary, eccentric, disc and belt grinders, polisher), planing (thicknesser with feed, manual planer); drilling and screwing (drill/screwdriver, screwdriver, impact wrench, cordless ratchet), gluing – clamps, brushes, milling – milling machine with a table for adapting a manual milling machine to a low-spindle milling machine, painting – manual: brushes, rollers, trays; pneumatic: compressor, paint gun with accessories; hydrodynamic: painting unit with accessories.
• Station for painting and plastering works: brushes, rollers, trowels, putties and blades, abrasive materials, painting and plastering tapes, oil compressor, spray gun, cabin sandblaster, hydrodynamic painting unit, electric mixer for paints and mortars.
• Equipment for general construction work: hand tools (open-end and socket wrenches, screwdrivers, Allen keys and Torx keys, chisels, hammers, drills. Power tools: impact hammer and impact chisels, the above-mentioned drill, screwdrivers, grinders.
• Equipment for paving works: compactor, shovel, rake, rubber hammer, spirit level.
• Occupational health and safety equipment – masks, glasses, gloves, first aid kit, safety instructions.

The studio allows you to undertake many activities within broadly understood construction and production works. The equipment includes various tools and utensils, largely battery-powered, which facilitates work in various spaces, possibly corresponding to the actual requirements of this type of work. When working in the studio space, you should be especially careful and attentive. All machines are fully functional and may pose a risk to the health and safety of participants. Serious on-the-job training in occupational health and safety is necessary before undertaking any works

The rapidly growing logistics sector has created a huge number of jobs in warehouses and small production/distribution lines offering many simple, repetitive works such as picking, packing and sorting. PUP Sosnowiec offers many job offers for warehouse workers. Of course, in many cases this is combined with a number of additional qualifications and competencies, such as operating a forklift, operating warehouse systems, which are often beyond the capabilities of our students, but there are still many simple jobs in which many students can excel. Especially repetitive assembling of sets of parts, identical orders, packing of identical packages according to pattern, sorting elements, parts, orders according to pattern.

The workshop equipment includes an assembly table adapted for sorting and packing products and a set of shelves and storage containers/boxes. It is equipped with many color-coded trays, drawers, and hooks to create realistic assembly/warehouse working conditions.

The Special School Complex No. 4 in Sosnowiec has a long tradition and experience in working with various animals: dogs, cats, horses, alpacas and goats. Animal therapy is an important element of rehabilitation work undertaken at our school. Animals also play a very important role in Iceland, mainly related to sheep and horse breeding, which provides many opportunities for professional activity. In Poland, however, the market for services related to ad hoc and interventional support in animal care is growing. More and more people are looking for good caregivers for their little ones, both during the working week and during the holiday season. Previous experience shows that our students are excellent at walking dogs, feeding and caring for cats, as well as cleaning the stables.

The studio’s equipment includes leashes, collars, harnesses, muzzles, carriers and carriers. Pet toys and feeding and care equipment. Many of the teachers employed at ZSS4 have private dogs prepared for dog therapy and cats for Felinotherapy, which can be successfully used to develop professional skills in this area.

Traditionally, in special education, especially in the area of ​​job preparation, there are household workshops. This is an area very liked by students, and is also associated with a number of competences for independent living, which are the most important element in the development of independent living. In addition, the catering industry offers many support positions in which our students and mentees can successfully take up employment after appropriate preparation. Both the kitchen assistant supporting the preparation of meals by peeling, cutting and mixing fruit and vegetables, as well as the service part, e.g. simple waiter’s work, have very good prospects for the professional development of people with intellectual disabilities. An important element of the workshop is the equipment for baking and confectionery work, which significantly complements the existing glass infrastructure.

In the studio, you can carry out tasks related to training work activities in the following areas:

• baker’s assistant – preparing dough, baking bread, rolls and other bread;
• confectioner’s assistant – assistance in preparing and baking cakes and sweet snacks;
• kitchen help – peeling, cutting, chopping and basic processing of fruit and vegetables, including fruit and vegetable processing – compotes, jams, preserves, pickles and pickles. Cheesemaking, oil pressing, production of organic flour and oatmeal;
• small catering employee, e.g. in entertainment centers – preparing and serving popcorn, cleaning rooms and tables;
• dishwasher – washing dishes, operating a dishwasher.

The studio equipment includes:

• a lot of small kitchen equipment.
• professional bakery oven enabling the baking of a number of different types of bread and confectionery products with the necessary equipment and additional utensils, starting from baking trays and trays;
• dough making equipment industrial planetary mixer, containers, pots, mixers and spatulas;
• burr grinder for producing organic flour;
• equipment for cheese production – cheese maker with basic equipment, pasteurizer;
• electronic oil press enabling the pressing of ecological oils;
• popcorn machine, waiter’s carts;

In the area of ​​preparation for work, there are also often cleaning tasks, as well as kitchen help, which are strongly related to the competences for independent living. Hotel service and janitor work are also relatively established. Unfortunately, in schools they are often very simulation-based and are carried out in a regular classroom, which significantly limits the realism of the situation. In the “Aion” project, a training hotel room was created equipped with:

• bed with a set of bedding;
• A table with carafes, glasses and basic items for serving cold and warm drinks often found in hotel rooms;
• clothes wardrobe;
• other room furnishing and decoration elements such as towels, rugs, napkins, etc.

This room allows you to improve your skills in operating and cleaning hotel rooms.

In addition, a hotel reception training station was built, allowing for simulation and training of work within the hotel reception area.

Right next to the training hotel room, a room adapted for a laundry and ironing room with other cleaning equipment was prepared and equipped. The laundry room is equipped with:

• automatic washing machine and dryer;
• ironing board with steam station;
• dishwasher;
• vacuum cleaner and upholstery vacuum cleaner;
• pressure washer;
• steam cleaner and window cleaner;
• a set of brooms, dustpans, cloths, sponges and other small cleaning utensils.

The studio can provide training in many areas related to hotel services and cleaning services.

An integral part of the Special School Complex No. 4 in Sosnowiec is a polysensory garden – a public space in the city park, the maintenance of which is the responsibility of our school. This park has become a natural training ground for improving skills related to gardening and maintaining large green areas. When looking for jobs for our students and graduates, it is necessary to first secure stable jobs that are not subject to such strict market verification due to their profitability. It is difficult for people with intellectual disabilities to compare with other people in terms of productivity, which results in a rather unfavorable economic balance of employment for this group of people. This is compensated to some extent by mechanisms supporting such employment (e.g. co-financing from PUP, PFRON), as well as the social consequences and benefits of employing people with disabilities. According to representatives of entities that undertook the implementation of supported practices in the “AION” project, people with N.I. many times they brought some new energy, joy, some kind of goodness into the company’s reality. 

Moreover, many foreign experiences show that the employment of people with disabilities in public institutions, such as municipal municipal institutions, paves the way for other free market enterprises. Maintaining urban greenery creates excellent opportunities for such employment – there are many simple cleaning works that are within the immediate reach of our students.

This is how our gardening aid and green areas caretaker workshop was created. It allows you to practice skills such as:

• maintaining large flat surfaces using an electric washer-sweeper.
• mowing grass using various tools – petrol and electric lawnmowers, petrol and electric scythes and trimmers, 
• hedge trimming – manual and electric shears for bushes and hedges;
• sweeping and raking, vacuuming – there are rakes and brooms of various types, a combustion sidewalk sweeper, a combustion backpack blower and a battery-powered hand blower;
• digging and raking, snow removal – shovels and shovels

As we wrote earlier in our school, contact with nature, including the cultivation of vegetables and fruits, trees and shrubs, is a very important point of our program. Our students are very familiar with this type of work and it creates potential employment opportunities for them. Although it is a difficult labor market, it constitutes the basis of the economy and, regardless of any conditions, is present in every society.

Based on the existing infrastructure of the polysensory park and the school’s green areas, a workshop preparing for farm work was built and equipped. It can develop skills such as:

• sowing and planting plants;
• crop care and fertilization;
• weeding and keeping clean;
• fruit and vegetable picking;
• preparation of the soil after the cultivation season and before sowing/planting.

In order to carry out the above activities, the workshop was equipped with the necessary gardening equipment – rakes, rakes, spades, shovels, secateurs, pickers, watering cans, irrigation hoses, cultivation boxes, etc. Many devices were also purchased, such as a branch chipper allowing the preparation of material for cultivation. based on permaculture, a mowing tractor with a trailer for transporting materials.

The brightest element of this studio is the gardening space created on the terrace of the second school building at ul. Polish Army. A unique workshop for training gardening and cultivation skills was created there, based on a large greenhouse with the necessary facilities for sowing and seedlings.

As a result of cooperation with the PUP in Sosnowiec and attempts to prepare some of our students to perform administrative assistance tasks in the Office, a computer station was prepared with the necessary equipment to perform basic office work such as photocopying, scanning, stapling, hole punching, document archiving, document destruction, telephone and email operations.

Similarly to the office work studio, this studio was created as a result of cooperation with Twórcza Myjnia – a free market entity employing people with disabilities to wash and clean cars, in which supported practices were also carried out in the “AION” project. The organized internships were very popular, and the increasing popularity of hand car washes and detailing plants creates new employment opportunities for our students. The success of Twórcza Majnia definitely indicates that this type of work has great potential for the possible employment of people with disabilities. However, working in such a plant requires quite time-consuming preparation, and Twórcza Myjnia is located in Katowice, which unfortunately involves time-consuming and expensive transport from the school to the car wash and back. In response to these challenges, a decision was made to prepare an on-site workshop at the school. For this purpose, parts of a passenger car were obtained to enable its safe reconstruction in the school workshop. In the building at the Polish Army, a complete half of the car was installed, allowing for training in washing the car both outside and inside, as well as for practicing simple detailing work – polishing, claying, applying protective coatings. Having a car at our disposal, it was decided, based on the equipment and technical resources of the general construction workshop, to expand the workshop preparing for the car wash to include elements of the work of a car mechanic’s assistant. It is now possible to train car maintenance skills – replacing wheels, replacing brake pads or selected suspension parts.

Based on the existing equipment and facilities in the field of kitchen help and small catering, as well as on the experience of internships at Cafe Pomocna carried out by our graduates, a decision was made to adapt part of the open space in the building for the Polish Army into a training cafe. A bar counter with facilities, bar and catering tables and chairs have been prepared. The space allows you to simulate work in a cafe in the most realistic conditions possible without leaving the school building. This, of course, reduces the realism of the exercises to some extent, but in return makes them extremely accessible to all students of the school. School community meetings and various events are organized in this space and are managed by our students.