Alumni
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Ellie Taylor I truly enjoyed my time spent at Launchpad Tuition. Looking back, it’s elucidated what I never thought was possible nor achievable for myself, all without realising it at the time. I genuinely feel as though I can get cracking with the rest of my life and that’s thanks to all the amazing teachers who gave me positive reinforcement, without them I wouldn’t be where I am today and for that I am extremely grateful. I’m currently studying Level 3 Advanced Technical Diploma in Animal Care and I got a Distinction* as well as 100% attendance in Level 2, which I’m very proud of. I am also a valued Cats Protection volunteer since leaving Launchpad and I also help out a local dog grooming business every week. I do understand how hard it is to be a teenager with mental health issues and feeling as though the world is against you but the teachers really do care about their students and I can tell they try their best to make them want to enjoy learning, if nothing else. The staff gave me hope that I was good enough to keep going and that they were there to help me if I needed it. So thank you everyone, I’m going to keep working hard and I guess we’ll see what happens next :) |
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Olivia Parr I am going to start this by saying that Tuition brought back the life in me that I thought I had lost forever. At the age of 14, I started suffering from severe anxiety that impacted my education massively and my wellbeing. This resulted in me leaving my high school and attending Launchpad Tuition. Although I was initially terrified at the idea of attending a new school with new people I surely settled in, the teachers and staff are some of the most helpful and welcoming people I have ever met in my life. There is not one staff member at Tuition that I felt as if I could not turn to if I had problems regarding my mental health or my education. My key worker Sarah ensured that I was always feeling okay and checked up on me constantly. We developed an unbreakable bond and became very close at my time at Tuition, no problem was too little or large for her and she always made me feel at home. The unbreakable bond has carried on since leaving and we keep in close contact which I am so grateful for. Tuition provided me with a safe environment that I could be myself in and not feel judged as I did in my previous high school. It felt like each day I was returning home to my family. As someone who never struggled academically, I lost the confidence to learn and produce work as a result of the anxiety I suffered within mainstream school. However, my confidence began to grow once again in Tuition with help of the teachers that constantly reinforced the concept that there are no boundaries to what you can achieve. I left with GCSE results I could only have dreamed of considering the circumstances I had faced from the age of 14. I have stayed in touch with so many of the staff at tuition and constantly make visits to the Beacon to see Gerry who has offered me weekly drop-in sessions to ensure that I am still on track. I left tuition in 2016 and 4 years later they still cannot keep me away! I would happily have stayed there forever if I had the chance. I owe Tuition my everything as they have made me the person that I am today, and I would not like to think about where I would be without them. It makes me very emotional to reflect on how far I have come. Now in my third year at Liverpool John Moores University on the English Literature BA Honours course (thanks to Donna for bringing back my love for English) and about to apply for a masters degree, which feels CRAZY to even write down in words! Alongside my university education, I work as a singer/musician and work most weekends, which I know sounds insane for someone that suffers from anxiety, but it is a massive part of my life. I have had the opportunity to perform at multiple large events such as The Pride of St Helens and numerous charity events at venues such as The Titanic Hotel and the Mercure in Manchester. Tuition made sure I never lost my passion for music, which is also something on the long list of things that I am forever thankful for. I will never forget what Tuition did for me. And I will be forever grateful to them for giving me my life back.
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Sophie Eccleston
Tuition helped me immensely and I can never praise the staff enough for their ongoing support throughout my time there. Prior to starting Tuition Service I had various mental health problems and an eating disorder which made attending mainstream school difficult and therefore had a negative impact on my grades there too, I was mostly predicted Ds due to my attendance at mainstream school but Tuition saw past that and knew I could strive for great things despite my mental health issues and I left with mostly A-C grades and even an A*. I could never have achieved this if it wasn’t for the staff always being on hand to pick me up and offering various degrees of mental health support and solution focus therapy. Any problem I encountered, no matter how big or small, the staff were always there to talk and that meant everything to me. I couldn’t even put a number on how much support and laughs staff provided me with, particularly Donna and Marg. Every single member of staff in Tuition is a star!
When I left Napier Street I pursued Performing Arts in college, although this was a particular interest of mine I did not want to pursue it at degree level so I got a job working as a full time chemist technician apprentice where my main role was dispensing methadone and providing drug rehabilitation support. During this apprenticeship I gained qualifications and valuable experience within the drug rehabilitation sector, which further inspired my career goals.
I actually went back to college at 20 to gain the relevant qualifications to get me in to university in order to pursue a career in the probation sector. I completed an Access to Higher Education diploma in a year (the equivalent of three A levels, but in half of the time) and achieved 141 UCAS points. I started studying Criminal Justice at John Moores University in September 2019, my first year overall grade was a 69- very high 2:1. I am now starting my second year while working on the test and trace scheme for covid-19.
Tom Astbury
Other than the great quality of the education provided, it gave me a place to adjust to being back in a public space when I'd been isolated for a couple of years. Because of the class sizes and the staff’s abilities I knew what the atmosphere was going to be like day to day and that gave me a point of comfort that I could rely on while adjusting to being around people again. This wasn't something I could do while in mainstream school.
After my GCSEs I briefly went to sixth form at Cowley then moved to study IT at St Helens College. I then studied music there too and ended up with a foundation degree in music from John Moores. I did attend a third year to top the FD up to a BA but the course material changed from acoustics and technical areas of music and sound recording to performance analysis and semiotics which didn't hold my interest.
After university I gained some funding to start a business repairing instruments. I ran that alongside part time work for a few years before deciding to get a more regular full time job. I worked in a finance and admin role in adult education for a couple of years. About 18 months ago I started working as an administrator in the transport department for a St Helens based company that manufactures decking, wood mouldings and staircase parts and for the last year or so I've been running the department. Before Covid we ran a fleet of 6 HGVs delivering to retailers all around the UK which I would plan the routes for and manage the drivers, we usually covered 6,000 miles per week over the 6 drivers. Now we're only using 1 in-house driver and using couriers, which in a way is more of a challenge.
Having worked in a few different industries I'd have to say this is the one I've enjoyed the most and one in which I fell in to and it just suited me.
James Mawdsley
Well the short answer is it gave me back my life. It sounds cliché but it's true. You could view life and your ability to live it as a house. When I first went to Tuition, I had no walls, no doors, no roof, nothing. My life as far as I was concerned had been shattered like glass on the floor. Tuition quite literally breathed life back into me. I think the main thing was trust, it took some work but I came to trust the staff and other students there and that provided the foundation for everything that's followed. From being able to socialise with other students there without feeling that there was the possibility of being bullied to the lessons and activities, it all helped rebuild what I had lost. I can't convey really, using words, how much Tuition helped me, it's just something that I do strongly believe was and is effective at helping you deal with whatever it is you’re going through as well as providing safety and structure in the best environment possible.
Alrighty, so I left Tuition and took the plunge into College. It wasn't easy and took some measures from the college itself at the time to integrate me into college life, however once I found out that it wasn’t as let's say, scary as it first seemed, it turned out to be one of the best times in my life. I was aiming to go to university and study something history related but didn't get the grades and the thought of resitting one exam whilst doing all of the following years was not an enticing one! So I ended up coming out of College with more IT qualifications than history. I then decided to apply for a few courses, can't remember all of what I applied for honestly, but ended up getting accepted to LJMU for Computer Animation and Visualisation. I actually met one of my friends on the first day as I was slightly late to the course introduction and had to sit at the back of the room! He sat down and asked to borrow a pen and that was that! University was another period of my life much like college that was absolutely fantastic.
I came out of LJMU after 3 years with a BSc (Hons)
(Again I'd like to point out that none of this would've been possible without Tuition)
What are you doing now?
I'm currently working as an ICT Technician in a high school.
