Alternate Provision
Our hugely successful alternate provision programme has been running since our formation in 2007 and can be attributed as the reason we set up BlueWhale Training. Now into its 16 year, our programme has engaged thousands of young people during this time and has supported them to achievement and helped to further their education.
Not all students engage in mainstream education and our provision offers a viable alternative. Our part time programme runs 3 days a week from our Birmingham City Centre base and we take referrals at any time throughout the academic year and for any length of duration. We cater for a maximum of 10 students in each of our iMac suites and our small class sizes, staff to student ratio, highly trained staff and bespoke course programmes are all key in enabling us to effectively nurture a young persons interests and help them progress with their education.
Delivering a range of digital media and music technology qualifications alongside therapeutic support for young people, our bespoke approach to learning allows us to tailor programmes to individual pupil interests. This helps to maximise our students engagement and their achievement.
We are subject to annual monitoring reviews and external quality assurance reviews from our awarding body who have cited our programmes, facilities and innovative delivery models as excellent. We invite any partners to complete their own QA audit of our programme.
All of our team are all professionals in their field and have extensive experience of delivery with the varied range of learner groups we work with.
Frequently Asked Questions
To start the referral process, you can either complete the referral enquiry web form or give us a call.
No, we're not currently OFSTED registered. At BlueWhale we don't take learners solely on our role and offer less than 16 hours provision each week, therefore we fall under the threshold for registration.
Referral schools are emailed daily when students arrive with us and any non attendance is reported to schools by 9.30am. Our register is completed using DfE codes and each student has an attendance log which further details any absences along with providing the reasons for these.
Students complete a learning plan when they join us and a bespoke learning pathway is developed for them from this. Half termly reviews are created which outline attendance, behaviour, progression and targets for the next half term. The reviews are shared with students prior to being finalised and they are given the opportunity to add any comments they wish. Once a report is finalised, it is emailed to the referral school.
We are registered with NCFE and it is our aim that all our students achieve at least one qualification during their time on our programme. The qualifications we deliver start at Entry Level 3 and progress to Level 2.
Our programme currently runs on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 9am and 2.30pm from our Birmingham venue.
After you've made initial contact, we'll be in touch to arrange an informal interview where we can meet, discuss student interests, outline what could be learnt on a placement with us and show off our facilities. We ask that young people don't make a decision immediately as we'd much rather prefer discussing a placement with their school and support. If a student does decide to join our programme, we raise an SLA with an agreed start date and risk assessment, send over our QA folder and once these are completed and returned, the placement can start.
