ABOUT US.
Get in touch on 0330 818 0186
How it Started.
25 years ago Leon Edwards our Managing Director started working with young people. He came to realise that there were those that just didn’t fit the education mould and that their talents needed to be reached a different way, he decided he wanted to find a way to give them just that.
A few years later, one young man who was struggling with his mental health, wanted to convert a van into a camper, they called in favours and learnt skills along the way and the journey began. Slowly Leon and Lyndsey, with a few others, worked one-to-one helping Young People to find the thing that Ignited their Spark, and making it possible.
5 years ago, Pushforward Alternative Provision in it’s current form was created. Lyndsey started the Primary AP to help those younger children who needed more individual support. Vic came on board as Director of Administration, to help shape and build the developing company. Going from strength to strength, the Group now has 6 companies, working with nearly 200 4 to 25 year olds, from across 3 counties. Each individual has their own story and personal challenges.
Our Delivery Practitioners and admin staff come from all walks of life. Many of them aren’t teachers or have any history within education, but they have life skills and lived experience. They are caterers, carpenters, builders, engineers, mechanics, physical instructors, IT professionals and parents. Often, they themselves didn’t fit into the typical education model and struggled rather than thrived through school. Their goal is the same, to find a way to reach out to those they work with and help them discover the very best version of themselves.
The recent opening of our Primary and Secondary Schools has been a major milestone in the Groups development but we are not finished yet!
A few years later, one young man who was struggling with his mental health, wanted to convert a van into a camper, they called in favours and learnt skills along the way and the journey began. Slowly Leon and Lyndsey, with a few others, worked one-to-one helping Young People to find the thing that Ignited their Spark, and making it possible.
5 years ago, Pushforward Alternative Provision in it’s current form was created. Lyndsey started the Primary AP to help those younger children who needed more individual support. Vic came on board as Director of Administration, to help shape and build the developing company. Going from strength to strength, the Group now has 6 companies, working with nearly 200 4 to 25 year olds, from across 3 counties. Each individual has their own story and personal challenges.
Our Delivery Practitioners and admin staff come from all walks of life. Many of them aren’t teachers or have any history within education, but they have life skills and lived experience. They are caterers, carpenters, builders, engineers, mechanics, physical instructors, IT professionals and parents. Often, they themselves didn’t fit into the typical education model and struggled rather than thrived through school. Their goal is the same, to find a way to reach out to those they work with and help them discover the very best version of themselves.
The recent opening of our Primary and Secondary Schools has been a major milestone in the Groups development but we are not finished yet!
What we do
We now work with 100s of extraordinary young people, creating their own personal journey with us.
The ethos is still the same. All young people who are offered a placement, start that journey by co-creating what they would like their world with us to look like.
What we Believe
That every young person has the right to be an individual, to know they matter, have a voice, feel safe and confident enough to progress through the world in a way which makes them smile.
It is our role to remove the barriers that stop
this from happening and encourage ways for every learner find their Spark.
“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” – Golda Meir
Pushforward work with those young people that others have given up on. Those that don't fit the mould of traditional education and need to be engaged differently.