In every school there are students that struggle with mainstream education. It may be students whose behaviour is complex and challenging, it may be those who have high levels of anxiety or are school refusers.

For these students an effective alternative provision package may be just the answer to help them access schooling and give them space and support to change their education journey. There are plenty of examples of the life-changing effects of great alternative provision, with pupils reintegrated into mainstream and/or huge changes in attendance, confidence and attitude to learning.

With experience at a national level across 11 AP schools, frontline experience from a number of AP OFSTED’s and regular AP consultancy it may be that we can help you.

We have experience of working in AP school improvement across a range of settings from AP free schools, independent schools, part-time and internal provisions. We have worked with AP’s to review and action plan pre and post OFSTED’s and supported Ofsted registrations and provision set-up.

We are also involved in supporting specialised AP’s that work outside the OFSTED framework to evidence their quality to stakeholders, tender bids for funding and become approved with local authorities.

• Do you have an internal school provision that you’d like to improve?

• Do you want to check the quality of the AP’s you use?

• Are you happy with the AP processes you follow as a trust?

• Are you an AP that would like some external advice and support to improve?

• Can you see the need for an alternative to mainstream education for your students but don’t know where to start?

If you’d like help and support with any of these questions then do contact us for an introductory conversation around how we could help.

We offer a service that uses one of our experienced experts to run feasibility studies for individuals and organisations looking to open alternative provisions. These analyse local context and data as well as forge links with the important local stakeholders to support opening. For more details click here

We also offer an accountability service for unregistered provisions providing you with the reassurance of some safeguarding support and advice along with half-termly accountability and coaching meetings. See the details here.

In the meantime do take a look at our updates pages for support and information you can access immediately. Our ‘guide to opening an AP’ is particularly helpful for anyone thinking of starting their own. For anyone with firm plans we recommend picking up our more detailed guide and the documents that go with that. It is a paid service but includes lots of the documents and planning checklists you’d need to really make a strong start to making your plans a reality.

“Having someone as experienced as yourself coming in......who understands our specialised context and can both see and share the aspirational vision we have for our young people has been refreshing" Head of AP School

“With Marks support and guidance we have recently become an approved alternative educational provider for several LA’s in GM and the Northwest.” AP Founder - Salford