I first joined Red Balloon when I was 11, in year seven. I was here for year seven and year eight, and then I rejoined again for year 12 when I was 16.
When I was 11, that was when I was first supposed to start secondary school and I just could not go in. We’d bought all the new school stuff, I was ready to go in, it was the day of, and I was dressed, and I just couldn’t make it out the front door. I was having horrendous panic attacks about it.
So that was in the September of going to secondary school. It was the SENDCo of that school that got it set up for me to come to Red Balloon. I’m not sure the exact date but they did it pretty quickly.
My first term at Red Balloon was fine, I was coming in okay. But I think at that point, when you’re that young, you don’t take school seriously enough. And I’ll admit I definitely didn’t! I can hardly remember what my lessons were like or anything because I genuinely didn’t pay attention then.
I left after year eight, and I was home educated from year nine to year 12. I didn’t really leave the house much in that period. When I came back to Red Balloon, I was 16.
Pretty much I had grown up a bit, and I realised I needed an education. At that point, at 16, when you’re in like year 10/year 11-ish you realise ‘I need it’. The only options available to me were online, including Red Balloon which I’d obviously already had a history with, so that made it easier, and my mum got me in Red Balloon.
When I first came back I was worried about how far behind I was. Whereas, like, most people had been doing like chemistry and biology from year nine and English and Maths for a lot longer. And I hadn’t done really…I did one year of chemistry, one year of biology in year nine and that was it. So, I was worried about how far behind I’d be. But I did three GCSEs the first year.I got a five in biology, maths and English language.
I found the lessons quite different to my old school. Because there are obviously much smaller classes. The teacher can focus on you…each person individually at certain times, but also when planning the lesson can set it up so wherever each person struggles specifically, they can focus on. I saw it especially with the revision material because the teachers did loads of custom stuff for me and modified things.
To begin with I was doing lessons online, and then I started coming in to in-Centre sessions. It felt good — I wasn’t really gonna meet anyone any other way! It kind of helped me regain my social confidence to the point that I didn’t need support anymore.
My experience with Red Balloon has been fantastic. Lessons have been good. Teachers have been considerate and…something great about the teachers here is that they focus on you – as in, they’ll modify the lesson, your part of the lesson, to you. They’ll give you the specific revision materials that you like, stuff like that.
If I could speak to a student going through what I went through before I joined, I would tell them that it’s not as daunting as it feels. Because, at the point I was at — sixteen, no GCSEs, nothing like that — it feels like, insurmountable. You feel like you’ll never get your education, which is as far from the truth as you can get.
Red Balloon helped me regain my confidence really — socially and educationally. I can actually go to college now. I can actually go out now.
In September, I’m going to do a Forensic Science and Criminal Investigation course, as long as I get the grades. My predicted grades are higher than what I need so, that’s looking good. I also got a job in August last year, it’s been coming up on eight months in a week. And I’ve been learning to drive and have my driving test coming up in about four weeks. So that’s all going well.
I always knew what I wanted to do, but Red Balloon gave me the opportunity to actually get there. Because without them, I wouldn’t have got here.
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