Beyond the School Gates

What we do:

• Mentors work in homes and community sites in line with youth work principles using a range of informal activities such as cooking, arts and discussions. Mentors and trustees also advocate on behalf of students and parents to schools and colleges.
• Initial interviews and mentoring is delivered via a blend of online video calls and face to face (current socially distanced) youth work activities. This is dependent on the students' and their parents' needs and preferences.
• Our service is for students who have been either temporarily or permanently excluded from school or who have refused to attend school. We mainly support students who have EHCPs and SEND but this is not essential in order to access our support.
• The trustees are all qualified and practicing youth workers, university lecturer, former head teachers, and former CEO of a national youth organisation. Mentors have lived experience of school exclusion and are trained in qualitative research methods.

Our users say:

Neil, a student says "BSG has given me more confidence and independence. Before BSG I used to rely on other people to help me with problems. Now I try to work things out more by myself and rely on people less."