The Orpheus Centre

Who we are

Step through our doors and you’ll feel it immediately – in the fearless voice of a student on stage, in the proud smile of a parent watching their child becoming an adult and defying expectations, in the laughter that echoes through corridors, that have many times seen a ‘no’ become a triumphant ‘yes’.

This magic happens when young disabled adults, who’ve spent their lives being told what they can’t do – finally discover what they can. It happens when chance meets opportunity, when talent meets belief, when potential that society overlooks finally gets its moment to shine.

Helping young disabled people take centre stage.

The Orpheus Centre is a charity and specialist college that empowers young disabled adults to build independent, fulfilling lives through the performing and creative arts. Our students are 18-25 years old.

Our Vision is of an inclusive world where disabled young people, with a passion for the arts and desire to live and work independently, can achieve their aspirations.

Our culture and values

Our Values

We affectionately refer to them as JoyBIRD. We work to demonstrate our values every day and we focus on these in everything we do. Our values are: Joyful, Bold, Inclusive, Resilient and Determined. We encourage all staff, volunteers and students to represent these values.

Joyful

• We celebrate achievements – small and big – celebrating together regularly and frequently.
• We seek opportunities for joy, welcoming and modelling a positive attitude.

Bold

• We campaign together on agreed themes, being brave and enabling.
• We set each other stretching and achievable targets.

Inclusive

• We are ambitious for young disabled people.
• We work hard to make all our spaces accessible for all.
• We respect differences.

Resilient

• When a challenge occurs, we face it together and work out as a team how to overcome it.
• When life is difficult, we don’t give up, but we seek support and look for ways to learn from the experience.

Determined

• We know there will be challenges, but we seek support to overcome them.
• We recognise that challenges build our experience and enable us to learn and develop.
• We are professional.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Inclusion is at the heart of what we do and who we are at Orpheus. As well as being one of our core values, it is a huge part of our mission to help young disabled adults thrive every day.

We have six main EDI objectives. We have also committed to be a Disability Confident Leader, which you can read below.

Throughout the year, we host many events and deliver training to highlight the needs, challenges, and celebrations of people from different ethnicities, religions, marriages and Partnerships, families,  ages, genders, orientations, and of course disabilities.

Disability Confident Leader

The Orpheus Centre is proud to be a disability confident leader.

We have made a positive commitment to employing disabled people. Reasonable adjustments will be made to the recruitment procedure as required in consultation with the applicant to ensure no-one is disadvantaged because of their disability. If a disabled person is selected for a position, reasonable adjustments will be made to the workplace, including premises and equipment, work duties and practices or policies, as appropriate. All disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role as set out in the role profile and person specification will be guaranteed an interview.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we are:

• challenging attitudes towards disability
• increasing understanding of disability
• removing barriers to disabled people and those with long-term health conditions
• ensuring that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspiration
• supporting other employers to become disability confident

We have made a positive commitment to employing disabled people. Reasonable adjustments will be made to the recruitment procedure as required in consultation with the applicant to ensure no-one is disadvantaged because of their disability. If a disabled person is selected for a position, reasonable adjustments will be made to the workplace, including premises and equipment, work duties and practices or policies, as appropriate. All disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role as set out in the role profile and person specification will be guaranteed an interview.