A Bromley centre for pupils who cannot face school takes 60 a week, Years 6 to 13. Its founders and parents explain how it works and how to get a place.
A centre in a former youth club on Valeswood Road, BR1, is teaching up to 60 young people a week who have stopped being able to go to school. Roots4Learning takes pupils from Year 6 to Year 13, never more than 18 on site in a day, and says it now works with seven local authorities.
It was set up three years ago by two former mainstream teachers, Liz Key and Emma Foinette, who run it as co-headteachers. We sent them written questions; their answers are below, at length, alongside what parents of their students have written about it.
Why they set it up
Roots4Learning CIC was founded in October 2023. It works with children who face barriers to attending school, including what is now called emotionally based school non-attendance, or EBSNA. Liz Key explained how it started:
“After years as mainstream teachers, we grew frustrated with how rigid the system and environment could be. Too often, vulnerable young people were being failed and couldn’t engage with learning. We both went on to work in a small local authority provision for young people experiencing EBSNA. At the same time, Liz’s son was also struggling to attend school. For our family, it was a very difficult period, and it gave us a real insight into what the families we worked with were going through.”
“We learnt a great deal about how best to help. These young people needed social connection and the chance to have positive experiences of education with trusted adults. Many of them had been traumatised by school. COVID most likely added to the rise in cases. Time away from school gave young people space to reflect on their experiences and to realise there were other ways to learn.”
Then the local authority changed its approach, and the two teachers struck out on their own:
“Sadly, the local authority decided to move to a home tuition or 1:1 model. We felt the time was right to create our own provision, built on the model we passionately believed in: group learning in a centre. We found a disused youth club, took out a government loan, wrote a business plan and took a leap of faith!”
“Three years on, we have a thriving provision and a proven track record. We work with seven local authorities, have many positive testimonials from families, and are developing reintegration pathways back into school for young people where that is the right next step.”
What a week there looks like
Students come for up to two and a half days a week. The centre’s website says it does not offer full-time places, and works alongside schools and councils on each young person’s programme.
“Each student follows a bespoke curriculum built around their interests alongside core subjects. We are an accredited exam centre, so students can sit their GCSE and Functional Skills exams here with us.”
“Our staff team is highly skilled. All our teachers are qualified and trauma-informed, and we have specialist SEND teachers. We also have a trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) and a trainee counsellor on site, and two welfare dogs join us for part of the week, which the students love.”
“Alongside re-engaging with learning, there’s plenty of fun and social time. We have a sports hall and a boxing gym, and we give exercise, however gentle, a high priority. Sometimes that simply means a lunchtime walk with the dogs.”
The website lists GCSEs in English, maths, sociology, music, art and PE, and vocational courses including cookery, childcare, employability skills and expressive arts. One parent wrote that their son, who has an autism diagnosis and severe social anxiety, comes part-time and is working towards an Arts Award Gold in photography and a Level 1 Functional Skills qualification in digital skills.
How many places, and who can come
“We can support up to 60 young people across the week, with no more than 18 on site on any one day. Families can contact us directly through our website, where the home page has separate tabs for Families, Schools and Local Authorities. The age groups we support currently are Year 6 through to Year 13.”
Its website says places come three ways: through local authorities, for young people with Education, Health and Care Plans or education otherwise than at school; through secondary schools, for pupils overwhelmed in a mainstream setting; and directly from parents, including home-educating families, who can also use it as a centre to sit Functional Skills and GCSE exams.
What parents say
We asked what changes the founders see in a young person after a term or two.
“We often see huge progress, and often very quickly. Being part of a community where you genuinely belong can be transformative. Many of our families come to us exhausted and unsure how to help their children, and some parents have had to give up work to support them at home.”
They sent a sheet of anonymised parent and student feedback collected in June 2024, and pointed us to the centre’s Google reviews. One review they quoted reads:
“These people have turned a child who was terrified of being around new people due to severe bullying !! And we had to literally put him on suicide watch to a boy whos happy confident knows his own worth and has learnt to trust again!! roots 4 learning gave me as a parent back my son and gave my son confidence and a sense of belonging!!”
From the feedback sheet, a parent whose son was one of the first to enrol:
“Our son was one of the first children to enrol at Roots and can I honestly say it saved our lives! … our son was literally at a brick wall with attending school which just wasn’t working out for him at all and he was actually physically climbing out of the school gates.”
The same parent asked for a mention for a member of staff, Rob: “Many times you have been the reason he gets up and into Roots and gets as much as he does from it.”
A mother of a daughter:
“I felt so much relief the minute we walked through the door at Roots4learning. They understand my daughter and her needs. … Mainstream schools broke my daughter. The staff at Roots4learning are responsible for rebuilding her and for that I am eternally grateful.”
A parent whose son has ADHD and social, emotional and mental health needs, and who had been signed off his mainstream school, wrote that he now attends Roots every time he is due to, 100% attendance:
“Since *** started his placement at Roots he has regained confidence and has been more active, taking up riding his brand new bike which had been in the shed since his birthday last summer and engaging more socially with his friends, some of which he has made at Roots.”
That parent added that they work as a school counsellor, and were formerly a primary teacher and inclusion lead in Bromley. Another parent, whose daughter had spent two years out of education, said the team “are able to identify her interests and strengths and can harness them to great effect”.
Not every account is of a fix. One parent wrote that it “has not been a silver bullet”: their son still finds secondary school “immensely hard”, but Roots gives him “a day where he is not in trouble and can then have a more positive evening at home”, and the staff are working with his school.
And from a student:
“I like going to roots because I’m actually included and can have normal conversations. I meet people who are more like me and the tutors are calm, nice people. I get small, interactive lessons where I can discuss what’s going on - that’s how I learn best - and I feel more able to ask questions when I need. I’m not made to feel stupid or slow and I feel I am actually learning and can remember what we’ve gone through.”
What it means for you
If your child has stopped going to school, the founders’ first advice is to start with the school:
“Speak to the school’s SENCO and keep a record of everything. Then please get in touch. We’re happy to offer advice over the phone, or you’re welcome to come and visit.”
Roots4Learning CIC is at 41 Valeswood Road, Bromley, BR1 4RD. Its phone numbers are 0203 924 8300 and 07719 816218, and its website has a referral page and short video tours of the building, the sports hall and the boxing gym.
For the council’s side of the system, our pages on Bromley’s new SEND Local Offer website and on the Ombudsman’s findings against the council over EHC plans cover how plans and complaints work, and the school term dates are here.
Have your say