The majority of students who attend Red Balloon – Norwich have an Education Health and Care Plan and will have an assigned EHCP Co-ordinator. The local authority manage the admission process so if Red Balloon – Norwich is being considered for your child and you have further questions please contact your EHCP Co-ordinator in the first instance.

Our students are placed at Red Balloon – Norwich by their local authorities because a mainstream setting is no longer able to meet their needs specified within the EHCP. Many students who are placed have suffered severe anxiety, have struggled building and sustaining relationships, cannot cope with large group sizes and require a quieter more focused and nurturing setting to meet their needs and/or some students have experienced a form of bullying which has damaged their confidence and self-esteem. Another common issue for young people who have needed to take a different path to mainstream is how their needs were managed in a large environment (e.g. Where a student was suffering with their anxiety, sensory needs or bullying they often felt isolated or to blame when they were removed from their peer group and made to work in an inclusion base for safety working alongside students with behaviour issues). There is clearly a lot of rebuilding of trust in education when a student is placed which is why the dynamic is kept calm, nurturing and supportive with access to an integrative counsellor regularly to support re-integration with learning.

Class sizes are kept to a maximum of 6. The smaller nature allows students to find their voice again and build their resilience in a new education setting. It also supports the development of teamwork and sustained friendships as students as students attend the majority of their lessons in their year group.

As some of our students are coping with a range of anxieties and past trauma’s some attributed to their learning our mission is to nurture our students back to a place of engagement by providing skills or life, academic and vocational experiences. At the end of each week students have individualised certificates placed on a wall near the student entrance and in some cases they are given directly to the student to begin with. Our approach to behaviour is bespoke to each individual young person which always takes into account their SEN needs and potential for restorative. Where there are instances of poor behaviour regular meetings are held with parents/carers alongside subject teachers/support staff to ensure that the road to repair is managed sensitively in the best interests of the young person and everyone else in the school.

A young apprenticeship scheme is where an employer is engaged up to 2 a maximum of two days per week alongside core subject GCSE’s and Functional Skills. Where this type of intervention is required due to a young persons immediate presenting needs when they are placed at Red Balloon – Norwich this is a possibility. Our strong connections with employers and industry allow a different pathway to be created where the placement sourced could be a students first employed apprenticeship role Post-16.