Sainsbury's 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.

The main object of the charity is to help young people with life controlling problems to become mentally sound, emotionally balanced, socially adjusted, physically well and spiritually alive.

Rutland Community Fridges have been running sine October 2020. With 4 locations in Oakham and Uppingham and Greetham, we operate for approx 6 hours a week. We have regular contact with around 70 families each week and have saved over 35 tonnes of food to date July 2024. We are looking to refurbish the Community room that our Oakham Community fridge is situated and would be happy to accept donations of paint and other decorating materials from the B&Q Community Reuse Programme.