Yell and Red Balloon to open new Centre for bullied children in Reading

Enlarge Image

Enlarge Image

Yell and Red Balloon Learner Centre Group are to open a new Centre in Reading to provide a vital safe haven for the care and recovery of children from the Thames Valley region who are so severely bullied they refuse to attend school.

The new Centre, which will be known as Red Balloon-Reading, will offer a full-time academic, social and therapeutic programme in an informal home-like setting.  The Centre will support up to 15 children, aged between 10 and 17.

Through one-to-one and small-group teaching and learning, and therapy where appropriate, Red Balloon-Reading aims to raise its students' self-esteem and get them back on an academic track so that they can return to mainstream classrooms, or go on to further education or employment.

The Centre is due to open early next year and will offer a service to a wide catchment area of state and independent schools throughout the Thames Valley and neighbouring areas.

It will be the latest addition to a growing UK network of Centres being developed by Red Balloon Learner Centre Group, the only UK charity dedicated to the recovery of pupils who drop out of school because of serious bullying, and who are in some cases so traumatised that they have contemplated or even attempted suicide.

The bulk of the funding for Red Balloon-Reading, including the purchase of premises in Reading, has come from generous donations from banking and other professional advisers who helped Yell with a refinancing exercise at the end of last year.

Yell has now started a major drive amongst its UK people to raise a further £75,000 in order to provide essential resources to get the Centre up and running.

David Uppington, Chair of Trustees of Red Balloon-Reading, said: “This is a very exciting project for Yell which has a proud history of strong support for charities and the local communities in which it operates as a business.

“We hope Red Balloon-Reading will make a significant contribution in the region to ensuring pupils’ futures are not wrecked by the long-term impact of severe bullying. Young people are our nation’s future and are entitled to a good, fulfilling education that helps them reach their potential.”

Mark Ralph, Lead Member for Education and Children's services at Reading Borough Council, said: "Bullying at school can have a lifelong impact on those that suffer it.  The work that Red Balloon does can restore vital confidence at a key time in a young person's development and I welcome Yell's decision to locate this Centre in Reading."

The Red Balloon-Reading Trustees are now recruiting a Coordinator with responsibility for running the Centre, managing the teachers, administrative staff and volunteers.  The successful candidate will also be responsible for liaising with parents, Local Authorities and mainstream schools.

Candidates will need to hold a teaching qualification, preferably with counselling skills, and have experience in one-to-one teaching and learning and dealing with bullying and its effects.

For further details about Red Balloon Learner Centres, please visit www.redballoonlearner.org.uk or call 01223 366052.

Photograph: Red Balloon Reading Trustees Jon Salmon, Kara Iselin and Kimberley Watts-Fitzsimmons

-- Posted by Red Balloon - Reading on 21st December 2010 --