New post 16 provision opens its doors for young people with social,emotional and mental health needs

The post 16 provision is based on Cheyne Walk, in Northampton town centre and aims to provide a provision that empowers young people to explore their aspirations and progress onto further education, employment or training.

Steph Horne, Director at WiEducate said: “As a post 16 provider we are passionate about providing a provision that empowers and inspires young people to develop their skills for adulthood and gain vital qualifications to support them in the working world.”

WiEducate currently works with 10 young people and provides a combination of an outreach service as well as a small group provision at Cheyne Walk. The outreach service is for those young people who are unable to come into a provision, to support them to build on their independence, social skills as well as embedding English and maths into sessions.

Steph continues to say: “We are proud of the young people who have been able to access this provision already, they have shown great courage, creativity and commitment to WiEducate. They are truly an inspirational group of young people who have great aspirations and hopes for the future.”

At the post 16 provision, a curriculum is developed working with the young people, building in core subjects such as English and maths into projects and interests to support learning. Learners build independence skills such as; cooking, looking after themselves and preparing for adulthood with visits taking place to local community events and workplaces of interest for pupils to explore avenues that are available to them.

Cllr Fiona Baker, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People, Families and Skills at West Northamptonshire Council said “It is fantastic to see this post 16 provision opening, putting a real focus on helping these young people to gain life skills and qualifications through interactive and creative learning that will help them in the world of work or further education. This is a great provision available in West Northants to our children who have social, emotional and mental health needs and I very much look forward to West Northants Council continuing to work closely with WiEducate in the future.”

About WiEducate

WiEducate was set up by Directors, Steph Horne and Emma Goodman, having worked with young people in post 16 provisions for many years. Their experience of working with young people was that some were finding it challenging to engage in the existing post 16 provisions and for those that had found previous provisions challenging, options were limited.

With the support of West Northamptonshire Council’s Education team, WiEducate was established in October 2023.