Red Balloon Learner Centre Group

Who we are

Red Balloon Learner Centre Group (RBLCG) helps severely bullied and traumatised children who self-exclude from school to get back on an academic track and reconnect with society. The trauma that students have experienced prior to the charity's assistance means they will not and cannot attend mainstream school. Red Balloon Learner Centres in Norwich, Cambridge, Harrow, Reading and RBAir (an online operation supplemented with local support) provide full-time, integrated educational and therapeutic programmes.

Each student at a Centre has their own harrowing story. Most new students have been away from education for an extended period and many have seriously contemplated or attempted suicide; students typically arrive with mental health problems including depression, acute anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders.

Red Balloon students are of secondary school age. Every student is linked by their shared desire to secure the future that an education offers. Students at Red Balloon Centres follow personal recovery programmes that encompass education, personal development and wellbeing. Counselling combined with participation in a therapeutic community enables students to engage with education, learn, and re-establish an academic track. Red Balloon programmes help isolated and damaged young people to regain their confidence and take responsibility for themselves.