A BRADFORD tuition service is celebrating a successful first year in business.
Rachel Girling left her job as assistant principal at The Farnley Academy last August to pursue her own venture in education.
Sowing Seeds Tuition, on Westfield Lane in Idle, caters to more than 100 children aged between five and 18.
With its 15 qualified teachers, it helps children get back into education.
"Some of them are not in school because of the strain it has had on their mental health.
"I promote it as a safe calm space where we don't have computers, it is all hands-on.
"They can be themselves here. We don't have a lot of children who are poorly behaved. We realise their triggers."
She added: "It is about building that relationship where they trust us and it restores their faith in education again.
"A lot of children have been affected by Covid. They stay in their bedrooms all day.
"Here they feel like they have not been forgotten about and somebody believes in what they can achieve."
Sowing Seeds specialises in helping neurodivergent children as well as those who have been affected by trauma and need emotional support.
This year, Sowing Seeds made final shortlists at the T&A Education Awards and the Bradford Means Business Awards.
It was a leap Mrs Girling felt she needed to take after seeing how education had changed in over a decade of teaching.
The former Oasis Academy Lister Park and Cottingley Academy English teacher added: "I have seen how changes to the national curriculum have affected children's mental health and attendance.
"I felt frustrated and wanted to do more on the pastoral side to support children who could not cope academically with the demands," she said.
Mrs Girling said she noticed that girls in particular struggled with pressure in the run-up to exams.
She felt support was needed for both parents and children.
Mrs Girling added: "My initial plan was to be a tuition centre open from 4pm but then parents and schools, who liked my values and ethos, contacted me.
"It has evolved from there (the centre now opens from 9.30am seven days a week) listening to what parents want for children who have been off school."
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