For Parents & Carers
You know your child best. We start there.
Alternative Provision for young people aged 5 to 18 in Stevenage and across Hertfordshire. If your child has stopped attending, or school has become something they dread, this page explains what a placement here actually looks like.
Where families usually start
Most parents reach us after a long stretch of things going wrong
By the time a family calls us, there has usually been a lot of it. Mornings that turn into standoffs. Meetings that end in a plan that does not hold. A child who used to be fine and now is not, and a growing sense that nobody has quite worked out why.
You will have been asked a great many questions about your child already, and you may have felt judged in some of those rooms. That is not how this works. We start from the position that something happened to your child, not that something is wrong with them, and we ask you first because you have the longest view of it.
What we can offer is a calm, structured and nurturing setting, a programme built around your child rather than around a year group, and adults whose first job is to make them feel safe enough to try again. What we will not do is promise you a timescale for that. Confidence comes back at its own pace, and pretending otherwise would not help either of you.
What a placement involves
A timetable built round your child, not the other way round
Every programme is designed individually. A nine year old who is anxious about the school gate and a sixteen year old who has been out of education for a year need very different weeks, and they get them.
Academic learning, mentoring, wellbeing support and a practical pathway all sit inside the same timetable. The practical pathway is not a reward for getting through the academic part. For a lot of young people it is the thing that makes the academic part possible.
Programmes are reviewed as your child changes. If something is not working, we would rather change it than wait for a term to end.
Underneath every programme
Whatever the timetable looks like on the surface, these five things run through all of it.
- Literacy and reading
- Numeracy and problem solving
- Communication and social confidence
- Emotional wellbeing and regulation
- Preparation for whatever comes next
What your child can expect
Four things we try to get right in the first term
None of these are dramatic. Taken together, over a few months, they are what tends to change how a young person feels about learning.
A calm start
A calm, structured and nurturing environment where relationships come first and nothing academic is demanded before your child is ready for it.
Learning at their pace
English and Mathematics in small groups or one to one, with lessons planned so that success is achievable rather than theoretical.
Something they are good at
A practical pathway chosen with them: barbering, music production, cooking, sport and gym, woodwork, art and crafts, or time outdoors.
Adults who know them
Consistent mentors who hold the whole picture, so your child does not have to explain themselves from the beginning every week.
Staying informed
You should not have to chase us for news
One of the most exhausting parts of the last few years has probably been finding out what is happening. We would like that part to be easy.
- Clear updates and progress reports as the placement goes along
- A programme that changes when your child's needs change
- EHCP outcomes supported where appropriate
- Close working with your child's school and Local Authority where they are involved
Referrals come to us from Local Authorities, schools, Multi-Academy Trusts and Virtual Schools, and from families directly where that is appropriate. If you are not sure which of those applies to your situation, call us and we will help you work it out.
From a parent
What we are actually aiming for
Parent
For the first time in years, my child actually looks forward to learning. The team took the time to understand them, and the difference in their confidence has been incredible.
Our promise
We believe in building confidence before expectations, relationships before results and opportunities before limitations.
Tell us about your child
The first conversation is short, and there is nothing to prepare for it. If we are not the right setting we will tell you, and we will try to point you somewhere that is. You are also very welcome to come and look round before deciding anything.