The Island Project provides bespoke pastoral support and alternative education for ages 8-18.

The students who attend The Island Project are often NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and have SEMH needs (Social, Emotional Mental Health). The Project is based on a 3-acre farm located in Draycott, Derby. The project is educationally and socially inclusive, based on a unique 3-acre therapeutic farming site housing donkeys, llamas, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, rabbits, cats, ferrets as well as chickens.
Converted stables and portacabins make up our different learning zones. 2 converted containers are used as a woodwork workshop, a courtyard for sports as well as a large café. This environment at The Island Project has been designed so that the learners can relax in calm and less ridged learning space.
Most learners are at serious risk of underachievement and for most, conventional mainstream education has failed to engage them. Many students who are unable to cope with a classroom environment find that they thrive in more therapeutic surrounding utilising animal-assisted projects and outside of the classroom-based sessions. During their time at the Island Project, learners are surrounded by an expectation that they will be successful with a clear pathway leading to a positive future and we always value and encourage them as individuals with differing needs to reach their full potential. Choices and options are clearly displayed and discussed in mentoring sessions and annual options events with placing authorities. Students are supported with their choices and shown realistic and achievable possibilities.