On Friday I visited Employability Solutions in Garston. They are a brilliant social enterprise that offers alternative education provision for young people in Liverpool who are unable to remain in mainstream schools.

Founder and Chief Executive Claire Cook gave me a full tour of their facilities which are used to teach a wide variety of subjects. The team at employability have done amazing work having created a full hair salon for beauty courses, kitchens for food technology and gardens for horticulture. This is all on top of a broad curriculum including maths, science, English and a range of other subjects.

Claire’s aim is to provide an ’alternative to, not less than’ mainstream education for young people who have left more conventional schools. With an offical Ofsted rating of “good” Claire is achieving this aim. By offering a range of subjects and providing great pastoral care Claire ensures that all of her pupils get the opportunities and help they need to truly succeed in life.

With Tory policies pushing schools to exclude more students than ever it is great to see educaiton providers like Claire offering a way out for young people who have been left behind by mainstream schools. I am exited to see how employability solutions grows in the future so that it can offer more coursers and options for local kids.