About Red Balloon - Red Balloon of the Air

Welcome to Red Balloon of the Air - an online Red Balloon that will provide severely bullied children who are unable to attend mainstream school with the opportunity to study academic subjects, learn communication skills, join a community of like minded people, be supported and benefit from the successful Red Balloon recovery programme.

The aim of Red Balloon of the Air remains the same as that of our Centres – to raise students' self-esteem, get them back on an academic track and help them move on with their lives.  This will be achieved through blended online and face-to-face provision.

Online:

RBAir includes a dynamic online learning environment with specialist teachers, a negotiated academic curriculum, personal and social education, access to the creative arts, collaborative projects, online counselling and plenty of opportunities for students to feel connected to a community. Students will be taught in a similar manner to RB centres with one-to-one tuition and small group interaction.

Face to face:

We believe at RBAir that the need for face-to-face human contact and support is integral to the recovery programme and although the online environment presents many exciting opportunities we are looking to build a network of regional mentors to support students and arrange group outings. For some children being part of the RBAir Community will be a gateway to attending a physical RB and wherever possible placing a child in an existing RB centre will be a first priority.

Project status:

We are currently running a pilot in the Rotherham area with a small group of students and online Red Balloon teachers. The results have been encouraging with feedback from parents including, ‘my son has felt very supported by all the staff at RBair and the difference in his well being in such a small space of time is incredible.’

As an organisation Red Balloon has a unique teaching and learning philosophy that is centred around the needs of an individual student. This philosophy and practice will be integral to the set up and delivery of Red Balloon of the Air.

We are looking to expand Red Balloon of the Air in September 2011 once we have built up a team of dedicated staff and consolidated the online learning environment.

May 2012