TransformUK was founded in 2016 to deliver specialist alternative education provision in partnership with Local Authorities in East London. Struggling to offer the creative and individualised approaches that children who have experienced significant childhood trauma often require, Transform Education were commissioned to developed a robust and bespoke provision. Through a lived experience co-produced approach, an individualised and bespoke character education framework was developed.

 

With one of the first students then becoming an employee, and now sitting on the Children’s Homes Advisory Board, the provision was a huge success. Most of the students who accessed it made significant progress in their educational attendance, engagement and attainment. Most importantly though, their lives were transformed.

 

Alongside our education programmes and interventions we worked with Shoreditch Tab Centre , our community partner, to further develop some of their community projects. This included a women’s night shelter, homeless drop in support, a youth club and an intergenerational project.

 

​As an extension of our education provision and youth and community projects, the emphasis on lived experience, trauma informed, therapeutic, values led provision has shaped our modelling for our first specialist children’s home in East London.

 

You will see that our Lived Experience Consultant Hannah has played an instrumental role in developing and shaping our children’s homes model. From conception of our idea, developing our therapeutic framework, practice, policies and and even our budget sheets and financial forecasts!

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Hannah is a young person we supported through our education interventions programme. During her work with us she was placed in various residential childcare settings. Whilst she had some positive experiences, there were many things she now reflects on and realises could have been done so differently in order to achieve better outcomes.

 

It was after closing many of our face to face projects in 2021 that we decided to realise our longstanding vision to develop a model of children’s home unique to us. With the foundation of genuine love, passion and purpose alongside the longstanding professional practice and expertise of working with adolescents who have experienced complex trauma, this home will offer a forever family for our girls.