B&Q Melton Mowbray

We are one of the largest alternative education providers in Leicestershire. Established in 2006 we have a proven track record of academic achievement with students who have found the traditional national curriculum difficult. This is often not through behaviour but also family issues and undiagnosed educational needs. Working in groups of no more than 6, tutors spend time supporting learners to realise their full potential whilst also having time to address issues that might have arisen in their lives. Our learners often come from disadvantaged families and we aim to extend pupils’ learning and improve behaviour and attendance. We are proud to deliver a wide variety of vocational qualifications from Entry level through to qualifications that meet the new Progress 8 measures for schools, across our three sites in Melton Mowbray. We are a charity which is run not-for-profit and so all money is invested in our learners and the resources we make available to them. We currently have students attending from across the East Midlands along with learners from specialist schools. We are a registered NCFE and BTEC centre and have developed a strong working relationship with our moderators to ensure our courses are constantly changing and evolving. We have two locations from where we deliver learning experiences, both are fully equipped with professional kitchens where as well as lessons taught and qualifications are gained in cookery but our learners are also provided with breakfast to set them up for the day as well as a hot meal for lunch, these are freshly prepared by staff each day. Our learners are sent to us for many different reasons and come from a wide range of backgrounds, not all have the luxury of receiving home cooked, nutritious meals in their own homes and really enjoy coming into centre learning and having the opportunity to try different foods. We have a partnership with fare-share east midlands and each week fresh food is delivered, our learners take part in unpacking the food that we receive and learn about date rotation and best before on food products as well as the cold chain, our learners also take part in deciding the meals for the following week depending on what we receive in our delivery. Due to the erratic lives and backgrounds that some our learners have we provide food packages to be sent home. During the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic we also opened one of our centres and turned it into a local food bank, feeding people in need and also delivering food to those most vulnerable in the local areas. We have a youth club where young people can also access hot meals on a weekly basis and also run holiday schemes where the food that we receive plays an important role in ensuring that none of our young people go without, while learning about healthy eating. Without the membership from fare share and the support from the local community, none of this would be possible.

We provide free face to face debt advice for the borough of Melton and Charnwood in Leicestershire. This includes providing all debt solutions for anyone who asks for our help. We also do much work on all things money management related, such as increasing income and decreasing expenditure items, challenging those that have been treated unfairly. We run 3 hour money management courses on a regular basis in a variety of places which increases people s financial capability skills. We go into local schools and colleges, providing bespoke sessions for all ages and assemblies. We have a amazing budget planner on our website that anyone can access which is being upgraded again in the month of April. We are very active on social media and also provide weekly pod casts called MADMAC money talks which can be found via our face book page, simple cast OR Spotify Any donations received by B and Q will be used with all who are connected with our project. This could be clients who use us for debt advice, other service users within our community that we work with, those that we meet on one of courses, staff or volunteers.

Sunny Skies Enterprise CIC is a safe space community organisation that supports local people to feel valued in the town of Melton Mowbray. It provides subsidised food, learning opportunities and wellbeing activities for vulnerable groups in need. We work together with the NHS and local support groups including SEN schools to support those with disabilities, those in need of mental health support, carers, the elderly and those living with dementia.