We are so happy to announce the launch of our latest project – The Right Angle.

The 2-year project is a collaboration between TLC and The Tutor Trust, designed to support children in alternative provision and their families.

The project, part of The Alternative Provision Innovation Fund, is one of nine selected from 296 applications and is the second largest across the UK to be funded by The Department for Education. The fund is overseen by the Department for Education’s Minister of State for Schools, Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP.

Alongside The Tutor Trust, an award-winning organisation who provide academic Tuition in English Maths and Science, we will be piloting new ways of supporting young people who are not in mainstream schooling.

The innovative approach will address both the causes and symptoms of under-achievement. We will work alongside The Tutor Trust to develop tailor-made packages for young pupils which will include not only academic support, but therapeutic intervention for the pupil and their family. It begins this Autumn and over the course of the 2 years, will support 190 children and families.

Our TLC Chief Executive Michelle Hill, along with Tutor Trust Co-Founders Nick Bent and Abigail Shapiro, stated:

Our collaboration will combine tuition and therapeutic support in a way that could be life-changing for young people in Greater Manchester, and scalable to the rest of the country.  We are thrilled to have the chance to pilot a truly joined-up approach to tackling both the causes and the symptoms of under-achievement and engagement in education.

As part of the project, we have welcomed new TLC staff member, Donna Sergeant, a former manager from Barnardo’s who will be overseeing the project, co-ordinating the cases of the children and families we’ll be supporting, ensuring they have bespoke packages of services to suit their individual needs.

Donna states:

“This is such a great project to be a part of and very much needed. We’re currently in the early stages, having just recruited the counselling staff and organising meetings with the alternative provision providers, but we intend to be up and running by November.

Having worked with children, young people and families for nearly 30 years, I have seen the cycles of difficulty families can find themselves in repeat generation after generation. Often it feels like many attempts made, whilst well-intentioned, simply ‘put a plaster’ over very serious issues, subsequently more creative approaches are needed. It is often assumed that children who are not in mainstream education are incapable of being high achievers, whereas we recognise that it is their circumstances that may act as a barrier for them, not the individuals themselves. We believe that each child we work with should be encouraged to be what they want to be and reach their potential.

As such, our project will provide a holistic package of support with interventions that will not only question the “why” of the difficulties being faced by children and parents but will seek to address the issues with the aim of stopping the cycle altogether”.

The project is a really exciting move for TLC, as we continue to grow our services across Greater Manchester. It’s a welcome move in the right direction, to offering additional services and piloting new approaches to support relationships. We’ll be able to support children and families through a range of counselling, domestic violence prevention work, parenting programmes and mediation services.