Qualifications that work around your learners, not the other way around.
From alternative provision and pupil referral units to special schools and specialist SEND and ALN settings, Sweet provides flexible, accessible qualifications that recognise achievement, build confidence and help young people develop essential skills for life and work.
Every learner deserves the opportunity to succeed.
Sweet is taught in alternative provision and pupil referral units, special schools, SEND and ALN provision, specialist settings, youth services, mental health hospitals and care homes, as well as mainstream secondary schools and colleges.
The learners in those settings arrive by very different routes. Some have had disrupted education or low attendance. Some have found mainstream school difficult. Many have additional learning or support needs, a reduced or personalised timetable or a placement measured in weeks rather than years. All of them start from a different point, and with a different amount of confidence.
The resources can be used by all Level 1 and Level 2 learners, whatever their background, circumstances or type of provision. What matters is that the work a young person does is recognised, whatever their education has looked like so far.
Four things that matter in a specialist setting.
Two routes, both Pearson BTECs.
Both run at Level 1 and Level 2. Personal Growth and Wellbeing is available in Welsh and English; WorkSkills is English only. The larger sizes carry GCSE equivalency — the full tables, by size and by country, are on each course page.
Personal Growth and Wellbeing
Personal development, health and wellbeing, relationships, financial awareness and preparation for adulthood.
WorkSkills
Employability, teamwork, communication, job applications and preparing for the workplace.
How could Sweet work in your setting?
Three of the shapes it most often takes. Yours may look different again — that is usually the first thing we talk about.
A learner on a short placement
A young person with you for a limited period could work towards an appropriately sized qualification or an accredited unit, subject to the qualification requirements — so the time they spend with you ends in something recorded.
A small specialist group
A specialist setting could use the structured resources to support learners working at different paces, with teaching and assessment adapted to their needs. There is no minimum cohort size.
A longer-term programme
A PRU, AP centre or special school could deliver a larger qualification as part of a planned curriculum, building personal development and employability over time rather than in a single block.
You support your learners. We’re here to support you.
Centres do not buy a set of books and get left to it. Every centre running Sweet has a named person at Sweet who knows it.
A 2–3 hour session over Microsoft Teams before you begin, for every new centre.
Structured workbooks, plus PowerPoints, mark schemes, flashcards and sample answers.
A named Internal Quality Assurer at Sweet for the whole of your delivery.
Clear direction on what each unit asks for, and how it is evidenced.
Your IQA manages registration, claims and certification, rather than leaving it with you.
The team are all educational professionals, with experience as teachers, tutors and department heads.
From the settings already running it.
“Sweet’s versatility and flexibility means we are able to easily adapt it to fit in with the literacy and numeracy framework. The workbook itself is an excellent framework and provides clear outcomes in an achievable and organised way.”
The Bridge Alternative Provision
“The programme can be adapted to suit the needs of the learner, putting the young person at the centre of their education. The young people get a relevant qualification that gives them a grounding in life skills, positive relationships and team working.”
Torfaen Youth Service
It began in two Key Stage 4 classrooms.
Sweet was trialled with two Key Stage 4 classes in Wales, with pupils who were struggling with attendance and behaviour. The resources were mapped to a qualification, so the work those young people were already doing earned them credit for it.
Everything Sweet publishes now came out of that.
Questions from specialist settings
What AP, PRUs, special schools and SEND and ALN settings ask us most often. Each course page answers more.
Can learners achieve a qualification during a short placement?
The smallest size is a single unit — 24 guided learning hours on Personal Growth and Wellbeing, 35 on WorkSkills — and it is accredited in its own right. Learners can add units later if they stay with you, or if they move to another Sweet centre.
Do learners have to sit a written examination?
No. There is no exam on either qualification. Learners are assessed on the workbooks they complete in class, and there is no separate exam preparation for teachers.
Can pupils with SEND or ALN access the qualifications?
The resources can be used by all Level 1 and Level 2 learners, whatever their background, circumstances or type of provision. If you want to talk through a particular group before you commit, your first conversation is with an Internal Quality Assurer who has taught.
What happens when a learner struggles with extended writing?
Where the qualification requirements allow it, learning outcomes can be evidenced in alternative formats — so a learner who knows the material but cannot write at length is not blocked by the assessment method. Your IQA will confirm what is permitted for the unit you are delivering.
Can we deliver to a small number of learners?
Yes. There is no minimum cohort, and the workbooks are designed to be worked through at each learner’s own pace rather than taught to a whole class at once.
Do our staff need specialist qualifications or training?
No specialist or vocational background is needed. Training is compulsory for new centres — a 2–3 hour session over Microsoft Teams — and the workbooks are ready-made, so you are not writing a course.
How much support will we receive from Sweet?
Every centre has a named Internal Quality Assurer for the whole of its delivery. They handle registration, claims and certification, give assessment guidance and feedback, and are there for the ordinary questions in between.
Can learners work at different levels or sizes?
Yes. Both qualifications run at Level 1 and Level 2, in sizes from a single unit upwards, and learners in the same group do not all have to be working towards the same one.
Got more questions?
Not sure which qualification is right for your learners? Let’s talk.
Every setting is different, and so is every learner. Whether you are working with a small group, supporting young people on short-term placements or looking to develop a wider qualification offer, our team would be happy to talk through the options and help you find the right approach.