Our aim is to build an educational environment where young people can connect, and achieve the foundations of life, learning and livelihood in a supportive, enriching environment. The Impact Community ACADEMY delivers learning through a wellbeing lens, providing courses that have the potential to challenge mindsets, encourage growth and transform lives in a way that allows the young person to be more adaptable and resilient as they enter adulthood.
We believe that access to education is critical for young people to achieve their aspirations for a healthy and productive future. Educational achievement supports young people to contribute their talents and passions to society. Young people need to experience success in their endeavours and build the skills and attributes that they can carry into further training, employment, and life pathways as valued members of their communities.
The measurement of success does not focus solely on an academic outcome: each young person is encouraged to create their own unique pathway within the Academy’s Connect, Learn, Change and Transform model. Our philosophy is essentially that young people need to learn the skills required to become fully formed adults, secure in their knowledge of themselves as healthy and valuable persons. It is our firm belief that young people cannot learn effectively if their needs for physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing are not being met.
To achieve our aims for our young people, we support them and their families using a Wellbeing First approach that is delivered through the Academy’s Connect, Learn, Change and Transform model, comprising the following elements:
Connect: We expect the young person to recognise that their commitment to learning starts with them. They need to be prepared to engage and participate consistently in their learning, work hard, and show kindness and patience towards themselves and others.
Learn: We meet a young person where they are, recognising that every young person has a different starting point, and that supporting the physical, social, and emotional wellbeing of the young person is fundamental for them to learn and flourish. We are holistic in our delivery of education, delivering learning in non-traditional ways to suit individual learners. Young people will be the leaders of their learning, with individual talents and needs recognised as they are encouraged to progress towards their personal goals.
Change: We challenge our young people to take control of their future, encouraging them to think differently, innovate and be open to the views of others as they expand their worldview. We support our young people to push themselves outside of their comfort zone, recognising that through adaptive challenge, change and growth will occur. We invite young people to bring curiosity to the world around them, as they develop an understanding of the things that inspire them and create purpose.
Transform: We aim to create resilient, adaptable young people, who have a strong sense of self and connection to community. Academy young people are equipped to respond to life's challenges, as we prepare them for social and economic participation within their immediate and wider community.