Louis' journey:

Louis first came to Bridge school in the final weeks of year 9. It is fair to say that Louis struggled with school life and being able to appropriately control his emotions. He became withdrawn and often felt anxious about life and preferred his own company as opposed to being with others. He was vulnerable in the community and found it hard to engage with young people his own age - but wanted to do well and succeed.

Louis has always wanted to go into the army but thought his ADHD would prevent him doing so. In order to achieve his dream he worked with medical professionals (with the support of mum) to slowly come off of his ADHD medication and get fit ready for Army life.

Louis now had reason to believe he could. With the support of Tara H our careers advisor,  Louis engaged in six weeks of Army emails, phone calls, meetings  and interviews and was accepted on the 3 day Army work experience placement. 

He accessed a very successful 3 day Army placement linked to the Harrogate Foundation Army College at their training centre. He travelled by train (independently) to Darlington, and then endured a long bus journey with a group of 30+ students from across the country  - just to get to the training centre.

Incredibly, he was back in school just hours after getting home, exhausted,  to take his Maths GCSE exam. He was greeted with a standing ovation from the staff.

Because of his determination and drive we nominated him the "Education & Business Partnerships Award for the ‘Student of the Year Award’ 2023" 

Louis feedback: ‘Without the staff at school helping me, I would have never have done what I have this year, no way would I have done the Army work experience and without Tara being bossy I would have never got in the army’.

Mum's feedback: ‘I cannot thank the school enough; he has gone from a vulnerable boy to a young man. I can remember walking him to school every day in Year10 because he couldn’t be trusted to walk alone, he had no sense of danger and he most probably would have not gone to school. He would not talk to others, not eat in front of others, and he was never motivated to do anything! The Bridge school was the best thing that has ever happened to Louis and it is all down to all the hard work that the staff have put in’.

Congratulations Louis, we could not be  prouder of you, and from everyone at The Bridge School, we wish you every success in your Army career.