Pink Academy in Walkden, Salford, is facing an uncertain future after funding was withdrawn for its Level 2 courses, leaving some young people without a place for the new academic year.
The academy offers specialist NEET programs and Alternative Provisions (AP) courses for young people who do not feel they fit into mainstream education, alongside vocational courses and functional skills maths and English lessons.
Co-directors Joanne Shilito and Philippa Womersley set out to create a flexible and comfortable environment for students from all backgrounds. The academy provides smaller provisions so every student feels catered to.
Funding withdrawn for September courses
Places on the course had previously been funded by Manchester charity YMCA. However, in May, the charity informed Pink Academy that due to changes in funding, it would no longer be able to fund places for September. This followed the Department for Education's announcement that there would be no funding for smaller provisions courses for this academic year.
As a result, young people who had been due to join the academy to study a Level 2 qualification were no longer able to do so through that funding route. Joanne said she asked the council for a few weeks to source funding elsewhere, trying "everywhere", from approaching colleges directly to offering to train in a teaching role.
Joanne said: "It's been heartbreaking to let them all down like this, all these girls who were so excited to come here, it's just awful. They all have to find new places now, but this is what they wanted."
Impact on students and families
One of the students impacted is Lily Singleton, who is autistic and had previously dropped out of her first year at college. Her mother, Emma, explained that Lily was excited to join Pink Academy after attending an open day, but was told just three weeks before the course was due to start that she would have to find another college.
Emma said: "I don't think they realise how much hurt they have caused families. Lily's gone to another college to study nails and, don't get me wrong it's a good college, but the class sizes are so much bigger there."
More than 3,300 teenagers in Greater Manchester are not in education, employment or training (NEET), figures have revealed. In Salford, the borough with the highest proportion of NEETs, 363 young people are not in work or college.
Students share their experiences
Student Jess Wynn, who has been at Pink Academy since February, said she always knew at school she would be "ten steps behind everyone else" in her class. She believes places like this prove that, although mainstream education isn't for everybody, there are other options available.
Jess said: "No one enjoys school, but coming here, I love it - I know it is school but it's so different. They're not just our teachers, they're our friends. They're realistic about life, they're flexible and so supportive."
Joanne worries that because nails and beauty are typically pathways pursued by young women, they are not taken as seriously as other career routes. She said: "I think people overlook it because it's predominantly girls in this field and people don't think about how many different paths they can go down - they can go into salons, TV and film, dermatology. There's science behind these practices, you're learning about the body and the heart and how it all works together."
Joanne still receives calls from parents asking whether there is space for their children. She said: "It's not just us, it's happening to young people across the country and with such a NEET crisis in Greater Manchester, we need to start talking about what is going to happen to these girls."
