Transforming Lives for Good & Impetus

Part of the Engage Fund: a partnership with The Henry Smith Charity

We are excited to be working with Impetus, knowing their experienced support will help us further develop our work, as we move forward together in our mission to support more children and families than ever before in local communities across the UK.

– Tim Morfin, Founder and Chief Executive, TLG

The need: Across the UK there are children finding it hard to cope for many reasons - from school exclusion to poverty and from anxiety to inequality.

With cost of living reaching unprecedented levels, children’s wellbeing in continued decline and the educational attainment gap widening, TLG’s work is needed now more than ever.

TLG equips local communities to support struggling children and families across the UK through a variety of programmes. This may be through intensive support for those that have been excluded from school through TLG Education Centres, an Ofsted registered form of Alternative Provision; a volunteer coach offering one to one help as a mentor in local schools for children through TLG Early Intervention, using therapeutic activities to support children’s emotional wellbeing; or a community providing food, activities and holistic support during the school holidays to children and families who would otherwise be at risk of going hungry and isolated, through TLG Make Lunch.

Our charity partner: TLG Education Centres are Alternative Provision schools that support children who were struggling to cope in mainstream education, many of whom were excluded from school as a result.

As well as supporting a child academically with the core subjects, TLG Education Centres offer an emotional wellbeing focused, trauma-responsive approach – getting to the core of why a child was struggling, supporting them and equipping them with healthy coping mechanisms. With a high staff:student ratio, the Centre is able to offer more individualised support both emotionally and educationally, while also being available to offer wider family support and positively engage the caregiver in the child’s progress.

When a child reaches a TLG Education Centre, they are usually at crisis point, with opportunities for earlier intervention having been missed. TLG Early Intervention (EI) aims to do just that – intervene and offer support earlier to help prevent a child from reaching crisis point. TLG EI coaches meet with a child in school for one hour every week for a year – using therapeutic play activities and coaching techniques to understand why a child is struggling, support them through it and equip them with coping mechanisms. As a result, children who were once crippled with anxiety or on the brink of exclusion are able to flourish in school and at home, with noticeable transformation as a result of their EI coaching.

Our impact: Impetus will support TLG to expand its overall reach, with the primary focus being on growing their capacity to support students at risk of exclusion and those who are attending Alternative Provision. Through a combination of peer support and 121 capacity building our team will help theirs to strengthen the organisation and build on their impressive performance to date, so that more young lives can be transformed for good.