I recently spoke to a young man called Thomas who was getting ready to leave Red Balloon and go off to college. During our short conversation, I asked him

Thomas did not describe what it was like to be a student at Red Balloon. He didn’t sum up how it felt to make friends, earn three GCSEs and be weeks away from getting his driver's licence (facts I would later learn). He told me it was needed.

With that one word I knew that we don’t talk about children in his situation enough; that the help he needed isn’t widespread; that young people like him fall through the cracks and find themselves unable to learn and unable to move forward with their lives. That one word showed me that he’s glad we existed for him and wants us to exist for the young people that come after him.

Red Balloon exists because there are so many children who can’t attend and succeed in a ‘normal’ mainstream school right now. Sometimes it’s because of trauma, mental health difficulties or special educational needs or, more usually, a combination of these. Having not been able to get the right support, they often find themselves like Thomas at sixteen, “No GCSEs, nothing like that — it feels, like, insurmountable. You feel like you’ll never get your education.”

But less than two years later, Thomas is going off to college to study Forensic Science and Criminal Investigation at his local college. He's had a part time job for over six months. He can go out and feels socially confident. It takes effort, but comprehensive wellbeing support, access to therapy, help to build social skills and a place where you feel welcomed, exactly as you are, makes all the difference. Personalised lessons and the time to move at your own pace without pressure works for children like Thomas, time and time again.

Will you help children like Thomas flourish?