Who we serve

• Numbers of children who are persistent absentees from mainstream education have been rising. 

• The number of home educated children in England is increasing, rising particularly sharply following the pandemic. 

•  At Our Free Minds, we offer our educational support service to meet this growing demand and help families provide educational resources and a supportive and sociable community for their children.  

  It is our lived experience that many young people are not attending mainstream education settings because they find the traditional school environment stressful and anxiety-provoking. 

They are therefore at risk of missing out on opportunities to engage in a healthy, fulfilling social life; explore through play and learn through connections with other young people and a wider community.

Our Free Minds exists to fill a gap in those children’s lives: providing them with a place to feel safe, explore the resources and space that we provide, develop their citizenship and voice and form relationships within the community. 

It is our mission to provide our young people with:

1) trusted facilitators to assist with accessing resources and planning projects, and to support their personal development and wellbeing; 

2) access to a community of young people to provide new social opportunities and opportunities to learn and explore with other young people; and 

3) a rich environment with a variety of resources.