Join our June ESG Network for Learning Disability Week
Following on from our successful ESG Network event in October 2025, when colleagues from five BID members visited North Paddington Foodbank and learnt about their innovative cash-first model; we are delighted to invite you to our second community deep-dive. Our upcoming ESG networking event will take place on Monday 15 June from 10am – 12noon.
Falling in Learning Disability Week, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from community partners who specialise in supporting children, young people and adults with learning disabilities. The session will place a particular focus on exploring opportunities for supported work experience and employment.
Learning Disability Week is an initiative driven by the charity Mencap. Its aim is to raise awareness, challenge stigmas and celebrate the lives of people with learning disabilities. The theme for 2026 is ‘Do you see me?’, which is all about people with a learning disability being seen, heard and valued.
Over the course of the morning we will visit two charity partners located along the Harrow Road in North Paddington.
QEII Jubilee Special School
This facility supports individuals with severe learning difficulties, aged 4 - 19. QEII benefits from excellent facilities and the dedicated staff team utilise their location in the busy Harrow Road community to expose pupils to a wide range of environments. The school are keen to work with businesses in Paddington to develop meaningful experiences within the world of work for their students. They have an exciting vision to deliver experiences for their most complex pupils which can then be cascaded to others, and would love to share their ambitions with you.
LDN London
A well-established charity which now works across seven London boroughs, including Westminster. LDN London provides a wide range of support to adults and children with learning disabilities and their families; including supported living, domiciliary care, outreach and respite. We will be visiting their community hub, where LND run sessions and workshops to help their members live independently. LDN will also showcase their newly formed LDN catering team at the session, as a valuable example of training and paid work experience in the food industry for people with learning disabilities.
Who is this event for?
All Grand Union BID members are welcome to attend our ESG networking events. They are an opportunity to learn about specific topics in depth, with plenty of time allocated to discussion, questions and reflection.
We are particularly keen for colleagues with responsibility for recruitment, work placements and employee experience to join this event. We hope this will help us to develop the conversation around opportunities for meaningful experiences of work for local residents with learning disabilities.
What will be involved?
The event will take place on Monday 15 June from 10am – 12noon. During this time attendees will have the opportunity to;
- Hear from staff about their work, challenges faced and opportunities to collaborate
- Meet students of QEII and LDN members
- Enjoy drinks on arrival at QEII, served by their students
- Sample catering produced by members of LDN Eats