“My name is Stacey and I am Mum to Jake (16) and Jemma (15). In 2017, I was fed up with a miserable son that was struggling with school. This was not through bad behaviour, as Jake has always been a good student. Rather, Jake was uninspired by the education system and, to be honest, so was I. A leaflet came through the door about a new school being built in Berkeley – a UTC school – as a family we decided to take a look.

We attended an open evening in the building next door to where the school was going to be built and meet a few of the staff that would be teaching at the school. After listening to a talk about the ethos of UTC and being welcomed by the staff, we decided this is what we wanted for Jake, if Jake would agree.
Over the next few months, we would visit every open evening and the information and passion was consistent. At each visit, Jake was spoken too about what Jake would like from school.

Eventually it was time to enrol and, before we sat Jake down to discuss this, Jake had phoned from his previous school asking if he could change schools to the UTC. His reason was that he felt like a person when talking to the staff on open evenings not just a Student.

My main worry was friends. Jake would be the only teenager going from his school to UTC and wouldn’t know anyone. My worries were soon removed as the staff made Jake and all other students feel so welcome. They treated all the teenagers as individuals and helped them build on their strengths and supported their weaknesses. We watched Jake build in confidence and, with that confidence, Jake’s grades started to rise. Most of all, Jake was enjoying school. Jake would come home from school and actually be excited to tell us about all the things he had been learning at UTC. We were so impressed that it was decided that Jemma would be going to UTC the following year.

My worry as a parent was, that being so close in age, they wouldn’t be seen as individuals and like my worries with Jake UTC soon made those worries disappear. Both Jake and Jemma have been treated as the individuals that they are, had their interest and education needs meet, and have been given so much courage and help with their confidence. Jake and Jemma both have had such a positive experience at UTC. Not only in terms of school life, but in terms of the life skills that they have also learned, which has helped them both gain access to college courses that they both wanted to do with the support of UTC.

The staff at UTC really do go that extra mile in making the children feel welcome and part of the UTC team. Even through these strange times, the UTC have stayed in touch with Jemma as she would have been taking her GCSEs until Covid-19 struck, just to make sure Jemma was okay.

For any parent worrying about making the change to the UTC for their child, I can whole heartily tell you that, once you make the change, you and your child will never look back. For me, it is not only the education but enjoying school life and gaining skills that you will always need in life.”