We know how hard this can be – here’s how we support families like yours.
⭐ Low-Pressure Classes
Webinar-style sessions with no pressure to speak, turn cameras on or interact until your child is ready.
⭐ 100+ Subjects to Explore
From traditional topics to interest-led learning like astronomy, forensics and creative writing.
⭐ Weekly 1:1 Mentor Support
A trusted adult to check in, build confidence and help your child take small steps forward.
⭐ We Work with Your Child’s School
We liaise with your child’s school or LA to help support whatever comes next, whether that’s reintegration or a longer-term plan.
What is The EBSA Support Service?
TRANSCRIPT: Hello, welcome to video one of three introducing the EBSA Support Service. Hopefully, this will help you get a clearer idea of what the EBSA Support Service is, and whether you think it might be a good fit for your child.
So, I think the most important thing for you to know, first of all, is that I’ve been through what you’re going through. Unless you’ve been through it yourself, I don’t think you have any idea how awful it is or how alone you feel.
Evie not being able to go into school was honestly the hardest thing we’ve been through as a family. It was actually a lovely school, but it was making Evie physically and mentally very poorly. As a parent, it’s heartbreaking. You just want them to be happy, don’t you? And school was doing the exact opposite of that for Evie. We just didn’t know what to do. Honestly, we tried everything, and nothing worked. So in the end, we felt there was no alternative other than to deregister and start home educating. And I think lots of families are feeling the exact same way, and it shouldn’t be like that. There should be more support out there, but there isn’t. In fact, I’m so annoyed to see that nothing has really changed in the past five years since we went through it. In fact, I think it could even be worse now.
So it’s now got to the point where I can’t just stand by and not try to help. This is why we are introducing the EBSA Support Service, where we combine a webinar style of learning with individual learning mentor sessions to help children like yours, who are still on roll at school but just are too anxious to go in, at an affordable cost to the school or local authority.
We know it works. After the pressure of going to school was removed, we started to get our daughter back. With the help of the amazing tutors in the Tuition Hub, she regained her love of learning and has recently taken her first GCSE exams. I’m so proud of her.
And we know so many other families who this has worked for too. If you feel this could work for you, watch the next two videos, and then you can book a call in with me, where we can have a chat over a cuppa.
How do the classes work?
TRANSCRIPT: So, the first way the EBSA Support Service can help is through webinar-style tuition.
I don’t know about you, but I know there was no way that my Evie could have had a one-to-one or even a small group tuition session, because it would have just been too much pressure for her. So, with the webinars that we offer, your child can participate as little or as much as they want. They can have their cameras and microphones off, they can join in using the chat box if they want to, or they may want to watch the class afterwards as a recording.
This is what Evie usually does, actually. She’s a bit of a night owl, so sometimes she prefers to watch them before bed rather than earlier on in the day. I think the flexibility of using the recordings, so that the children can stop if they need a break or they can rewind to play something back, is one of the reasons why this approach can really help with neurodivergent learners like Evie.
So, there are over 110 classes to choose from, with ages ranging from 4 to 16. Some classes are more traditional subjects like maths, English and science, whereas others are either wider curriculum subjects like criminology and psychology, or interest-based classes like our Pokémon Club, Harry Potter Club, Taylor Swift Fan Club and Pony Club.
All of our tutors are either fully qualified teachers or experts in their areas. Like, we have a doctor who teaches forensics, a vet who teaches veterinary classes, an archaeologist who teaches archaeology lessons, and our lovely Martin, who has an MBA for his contribution towards astronomy education, who teaches astronomy.
They’re all DBS checked and are so lovely, which I think is one of the most important things.
What are the learning mentor sessions like?
TRANSCRIPT: Okay, so in the last video I told you about the learning side of the EBSA Support Service. What’s more important for a lot of children, though, is the learning mentor side of it – and that’s because many children who have experienced EBSA need to recover a little bit first, before any sort of formal learning is reintroduced.
Obviously, we’re not mental health practitioners, but what I think our learning mentors do really well is that they are that friendly face who helps build that trust, rapport, and hopefully engagement with learning back up.
Just like with the classes, we meet each child where they are. Maybe some will feel okay with a face-to-face video call with their learning mentor. Others won’t. If they don’t, that’s fine. There’s a private section of the dashboard where the learning mentor and your child can post about their hobbies. They can chat about anything your child is interested in, really- it doesn’t have to be about work at all.
It’s why we try and match children up to a learning mentor that has some shared interests. So, for example, there’s no point in matching a child who is absolutely obsessed with Minecraft with a learning mentor who has never even heard of it.
So that is the learning mentor side. It may be that you’re involved in the learning mentor sessions for a while, because it’s a possibility that your child’s circle of trusted people has shrunk to perhaps just you. And that’s the reason why it’s so important that you are involved as much as possible from day one. You know your child the best, and what we want to do is work with you to help them.
*This is a meeting link just for families. There is no need for your child to be there with you.