IMPACT REPORT
SEP ‘23 TO AUG ‘24
WELCOME
Andy Langley - Chair Sadie Sharp - CEO
Sadie and the team have had another fantastic year, reaching more and more young people via an increasing portfolio of services. This has been achieved against a backdrop of further optimisation of our operations to enable the project to run as efficiently and effectively as possible. All elements of our team continue to develop and grow and our Governance board continues to work well. I am delighted that Victoria Parker will be our Chair from September ‘24 - it has been an absolute pleasure working with the team, and I am pleased that I can continue to support as Vice Chair.
This year has seen us focus on ‘steadying the ship’ as we growmaking sure that we are operationally robust enough to maintain our amazing outcomes as our work grows. We have developed deep relationships with local schools and local authority teams to support some of the most disadvantaged, vulnerable and complex young people in and around Swindon, and are seeing people coming to us from further afield every month. Our team is growing as our programmes broaden to meet the expanding needs of our participants, and I’m excited to see where our journey takes us next.
ABOUT US
We are on a mission to bridge the gap between
educationandworktohelpeveryyoungpersonbuilda thrivingfuture.
ENGAGE
Our Alternative Provision education service
Our ENGAGE alternative provision service is a small group setting that provides business based, hands-on projects as a practical alternative to classroom based learning Most students who come to us are at risk of becoming permanently excluded or have additional learning / behaviour needs that mean they are struggling to thrive in full-time mainstream education.
CONNECT
Our 1:1 therapeutic mentoring service
Our 1:1 therapeutic mentoring service CONNECT has been launched to help young people struggling with mental health and emotional regulation issues. The 1:1 service provides a weekly mentor who is therapeutically trained and qualified to help them open up in a low pressure, fun environment and find expertly crafted strategies that help them achieve their goals
BOOST
Our employability and enterprise services
Our range of ‘real’ youth led business projects operate in a way that directly simulates the real working world, enabling participants to boost their confidence and CV skills, but in a highly supported and structured envoronment. The differently themed projects are run at key points throughout the year and are usually fully funded and free to participate in
THIS PAST YEAR
Sep
We ran several training sessions for Nationwide managers to help them utilise our innovative youth development techniques.
Dec Feb
We ran the first ever online version of our Youth Enterprise start-up 1 day course for home educated young people.
Apr
We recruited the second cohort of our mentors, increasing our pool of specialist therapeutically trained professionals to 8.
Aug
We ran our summer club, providing 2 fun-filled activity weeks for young people to boost their confidence and stay safe during the holidays.
We launched our Publishing Competition and brought together over 50 young people to write about things they are passionate about.
Mar
The first cohort of students successfully achieved their Prince’s Trust qualification in Personal Development & Employability!
Jul
We ran our first Big Business Day inter-schools enterprise competition and careers fair, hosting over 100 students from 8 different schools!
K E Y
S T A T I S T I C S
359 young people were supported across all of our programmes.
41 young people with complex challenges were supported on our long-term, deep intervention programmes.
80 of these young people achieved a positive outcome (staying in school, moving into further education, securing a job or becoming self-employed).
71
7
59 of the young people we supported said they were experiencing mental health issues.
68 of the young people we supported had Special Educational Needs (SEND) such as Autism or ADHD. % % % % %
71% of the young people we worked with were at risk of / had been excluded, and it took us an average of only 7 months to re-engage them enough to transition back into education.
82 of the young people we supported said they experienced an IMPROVEMENT in their mental health and life aspirations when answering the Warwick Edinburgh questionnaire. %
63 of the young people we supported were from areas of financial deprivation or were in receipt of means tested benefits.
P A R E N T F E E D B
A C K
ThefactthatThePlatform Projectofferssucha comfortableandadaptable settingmeansthatmyson’s neurodiverseneedsaremetina waythatmainstreamschool wasneverabletodo.
You’vehelpedchangemyson’slife for the better in education and personally - you gave him motivation and a sense of direction.Hereallycameoutofhis shell and now he has a job. Thank you!
WithoutThePlatformProjectmy son’sfuturewouldhavelookedvery different!Thankyouforallyourhelp.
My daughter could never manage a full day at school and really resisted going, but working with The Platform Project has helped her manage her emotions and behaviours so well sheisnowthrivinginsideANDoutsideofschool.
P A R T I C I P A N T
“I have been coming to The Platform Project for 4 months I like it because it’s a calming environment and I like the people and the activities My favourite thing I’ve learned is cooking and candle making ”
“I have been at the Platform Project coming up to a year now, as I don't go to school. Coming here really gave me a routine and a place to stay productive instead of doing nothing. It has showed me that hard work really pays off and gave me a feeling of achievement seeing my products sell and people liking them.”
MysonhasthrivedatThe PlatformProjectsincedayone-his uniquenessisnotjusttolerated,but actuallycelebrated Heisunderstood, supportedandencouragedinaway neverexperiencedbeforeandIcannot praisethestaffenough
F E E D B A C K
“I have been on the tutoring program for a couple of months now. I have learnt more in the past few months than I have the past two years at school. I feel comfortable asking questions and compared to school, tutoring is calming and peaceful.”
“I've been at the Platform for a while now and since then I've been able to experience my dream of storytelling in the animated form here - I’m proud of my work and it’s different from school because it’s easier to process a project when it’s fun!”
"I thought the home educated workshops were absolutely amazing! Usually I'm a bit shy, but I felt so safe and comfortable I put my hand up many times. Learning at school made me really anxious, but this made me excited for the next sessions."
CASE STUDY
Introduction:
Luke joined the Platform Project at the start of the academic year as a year seven student He had struggled early in primary school due to additional learning needs not being met and had consequently not attended for several years, so found the transition to secondary school challenging despite being accepted into a specialist educational unit. Luke’s new school approached us and explained that they were concerned that Luke wouldn’t take to secondary education and was at risk of becoming a school refuser. They wanted to create a bespoke educational package that would develop Luke’s personal confidence so that his engagement could be gradually increased as he moved up through the secondary education stages, reengaging him back into learning in a way that worked for him and met his additional needs.
Learning Challenges:
Luke’s primary area of need when joining us was Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) where he had an Autism and ADHD diagnosis and his needs hadn’t been met. Throughout primary school he experienced anxiety and had a range of triggers in the classroom, so he struggled to regulate his emotions and resulting behaviours, and would often become overwhelmed, shut down, or refuse to attend His long-term absence from primary school meant that his interpersonal skills were underdeveloped, and he often struggled to interact with peers or adults, having little confidence in his own abilities and how his formal diagnosis affected his sense of self and ability to develop relationships
The Learning Solution:
Luke joined our ENGAGE alternative provision programme for 3 days a week, where small groups of students (max 12) work on a range of practical business-based projects to learn new skills and boost their confidence in an environment that is more modelled on a modern workplace rather than a classroom setting He started out with a 1:1 support worker from the school who attended with him to support him in stretching his capabilities in the projects, but as his confidence grew he broke away from the support worker and prided himself on his ability to work independently and choose his own projects, self-direct his actions to progress his tasks and interact with his peers independently He had even started to ‘manage’ his one to one by giving them instructions on how they can help him with his business activities The informal, rapport-based approach of the Youth Trainers leading the sessions helped him learn how to develop appropriate but personable relationships with staff members, and participating in off-site visits and interviews with visiting professionals and networking events helped him practise his conversational skills with people outside of his family
And we have made LOTS of very fun memories along the way...!
