Moving on from Breakthrough can feel both exciting and daunting, as students transition away from this part of their educational journey. One of our outreach students was recently reflecting on this, and the ways that Breakthrough has enabled them to achieve different qualifications and prepare for adulthood. They put together this moving account of their experience:
I have been an outreach student at Breakthrough for 6 years. I have had a keen eye for subjects like History, Geography and Art. This has helped shape my journey at Breakthrough. Ever since 2017, I have been struggling with anxiety and panic attacks so I have barely travelled outside the house. Therefore, much of my education since then has been at home via websites like Interhigh, where I achieved my GCSEs in Maths, English, Biology and History. However, me and my family yearned for me to not only gain higher qualifications but also an opportunity to improve my confidence and interact with other people in the local area. Thus, my parents enlisted me in the Breakthrough outreach program in 2019.
The first year began in September 2019 when I met my first staff members, Nathan, Dan and Jamie. I spent the first month getting to know them along with them getting to know me. This was used through the medium of board games, mainly featured around maps and flags like Mapominoes, Pandemic and Who Knows Where. Once I had got to know my new tutors, we began to introduce educational learning in our sessions. Nathan began introducing me to chemistry lessons, Dan gave me introductions to new art projects and Jamie helped me use my knowledge of History to include it in English projects. Unfortunately, as the year went on into 2020, many of the sessions went from in-person to online, which was a bit of a transition for me. These sessions not only taught me some new information like different forms of art and how to utilise different words in my vocabulary but also how to express myself and build a relationship with my tutors.
From the transition to the second year in September 2020, Katy replaced Dan to help me discover extended projects to further utilise my creative skills and improve them. These included graffiti design, comic design and 3D sculptures with recycled goods. Additionally, I was assisted by Nathan and Jamie in new cooking lessons to demonstrate my abilities around food safety and preparation. Furthermore, I was branching out to look at different historical eras with Jamie like WW1, the Interwar period (1919-1934) and the Crusades.
In my third year (September 2021), I broadened my knowledge with geography lessons with Nathan as I learned about the geo-politics of the Middle East, Russia and India (Central Asia) and China, North and South Korea and Japan (Far East). Additionally, we organised a few sessions to explore the cuisine of the Far East by cooking Chinese, Korean and Japanese dishes. Furthermore, my history lessons developed to introduce the history of British Politics and the rise of the modern political parties. However, I had to say my first goodbye to Jamie as he was moving to a different place of employment. This is when I met Jon B and we connected through both of our loves for history. I did feel a bit sad when Jamie left but I made an attempt to work with a new member of staff. Additionally, before Jamie left, he introduced me to the Space Youth Services and offered me an opportunity to join the online Youth Club.
In September 2022, my fourth year began and I began work on two different qualifications; one of them was the Trinity College Bronze Arts Award, which I worked on with Katy and the other was the AS Level History exams based around the Crusades and British Wars and Welfare (1906-1929) with Jon. This year was mainly dedicated to revision on those two subjects of history and the art coursework I was developing. Meanwhile, I was looking at Independent Living Skills with Nathan and looking at DIY, financial skills and healthy eating. I would also regularly join the online Youth Club and enjoyed my time there. At the end of the year, I would receive the results of both of my qualifications; I had passed my Art Coursework but I had failed my History Exams. I was a bit disappointed but I made sure not to let it put me down for next year.
At the beginning of the fifth year, in September 2023, Katy had announced that she would not be a tutor for me now that I had completed the available art courses. In her place, Jess would become one of my new tutors for the year. Moreover, Jon had found a different history qualification for me to attempt. This was an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) and I based it around a topic I was recently getting fascinated with: The Mongol Empire. I utilised my time with Jon and Jess to help construct an essay and presentation throughout the year to answer the Question: “Were the Mongols Peaceful and Prosperous or were they Brutal and Bloodthirsty?” In addition, I was introduced to three other new members of staff this year; Charlotte, Giulietta and Tanita. Charlotte would help me with a Level 1 IT User Skills Qualification while Giulietta would help me with iHasco learning courses, mainly around working from home and using a computer. Tanita would also help me with my speech and language skills and would do so for the rest of my time at Breakthrough. I would still work with Nathan on my Preparation for Adulthood and develop my DIY Skills on a planter, a coffee table and a chest of drawers. I was able to complete my EPQ project and IT User Skills Level 1 course in May 2024 where I was introduced to 2 new staff members, Jon H and Will to help me with my new courses (IT User Skills Level 3 and Employability Skills Level 2) during the last months of this educational year.
For the sixth year, in September 2024, I had to say goodbye to Jon B as I was switching my main focus to IT and Employability, however, I still had access to my other tutors like Jess (with my Duke of Edinburgh Award), Charlotte Jon H and Nathan (with IT User Skills Level 3) and Will and Giulietta (with Employability Skills Level 2). Additionally, I was introduced to another new staff member, Joel, with whom I played Geoguessr and Wii Sports (to improve my physical strength). This year did come with some trials and tribulations as I would say goodbye to Jon H in January 2025 due to timetable changes that took some time to get used to. Furthermore, some illnesses including Covid-19 during March hindered my ability to attend lessons and much of the work during that month was done outside of lessons. The staff were completely understanding and allowed me as much time as I needed to get better. Regardless, I was able to work on my qualifications and I achieved the award for Employability Skills in July and finalised this year.
And so, here we are, between September 2025 and now (December 2025) I said goodbye to Jess and Nathan. This was quite an adjustment for me, especially without Nathan there after for 6 years but I was able to move forward and I have completed my IT user skills course, been working on some last-minute PSHE lessons with Joel and began the transition phase with my other tutors. This included the completion of the IT User Skills (with Charlotte), recreating the Lighthouse centre in Minecraft (with Will) and discovering new courses after leaving Breakthrough (with Giulietta).
I am yet to finish my last lessons but I am really appreciative of what Breakthrough has done for me. Within the last 6 years, I have improved my education and qualifications, understood how to transition from education to employment, realised my potential for independent living, discovered how my emotions work and how to control them and improved my attitude and motivation to not just work but to live life with my mental disability. I do feel sad to leave Breakthrough but I am glad that I was able to be part of this journey and I hope other people can be inspired by my journey to enact their own journey with Breakthrough.
