Welcome to our Summer Newsletter
- amy50187
- Jul 21
- 6 min read
“AT The Bus feels.. like taking deep breaths after coming from outside.”
Student, AT The Bus 2025
 |
Reflecting on the Academic Year |
As we draw to the close of the 2024-5 school year, we reflect on our achievements as a charity. We are proud to report that we provided art as therapy to more children and young people than ever before. Since our beginnings in 2018 working in a single school, demand has soared with the deepening crisis in children's mental health – 1 in 5 children and young people has a diagnosable mental health condition – and as a consequence we have grown considerably. Below is a summary of the academic year at a glance. |
930 children and young people benefitted
*consisting of one full school term (10-14 weeks) of weekly sessions for up to seven children. |
 |
Alternative Provision Pilot Programme |
In the autumn term we were approached by The Cherwell school in Oxford to collaborate on ‘Access Cherwell’, a hybrid educational programme that works alongside mainstream schooling. It offers ongoing support within the mainstream environment and serves as a crucial 'next step' for students requiring additional pastoral or academic interventions, including those for Emotional-Based School Avoidance (EBSA). Working in partnership with the school, AT The Bus has created a nurturing new studio space in the school. With a focus on life skills as well as Maths and English, which is delivered by specialist providers from the school, the students spent Wednesday afternoons in the new studio after preparing their own lunches together. Supported by our skilled facilitators the group made fantastic progress. They gained confidence through creativity, working on projects such as transforming violin cases into beautiful works of art. At the end of the programme there was an afternoon tea for families to share food prepared by  the students, appreciate their artwork and hear about their experiences. One student’s parent described how their child’s initial reservations about coming had been replaced by positively looking forward to their Wednesdays, since these had become a ‘recharge’ day, giving them the confidence and strength to continue with the week. All of the students reflected on how much they had got from sessions and how they wished that this type of intervention could have happened sooner for them. There is growing demand from schools for this kind of intensive support and the pilot has demonstrated how AT The Bus can help. We will be continuing the work at Cherwell next year and are planning to support similar groups at a number of other secondary schools. |
“Through the careful planning and the nurturing space that was created we now have a group of very confident young people who have attended every single session and who now have hope for themselves for the future. Because of this they have been able to apply to college, something that did not seem feasible before they attended these sessions.” Shontelle Magenty, Deputy Head The Cherwell School |
Our Impact |
“AT The Bus has provided a platform for our students to explore their creativity and express their emotions through art. This has been instrumental in building their confidence and self-esteem. Students who may struggle with traditional academic tasks find success and recognition in their artistic endeavours, which translates to a more positive self-image." Headteacher, St Marylebone Bridge Special School, London |
As we grow, we continue to work hard to gather evidence that our work is making a difference, as well as continually learning and listening to the young people we work with to improve our practice. Earlier this year we came to the end of a two-year independent University of Oxford evaluation and are pleased to report: In primary schools
In secondary schools
In addition, a partner evaluation (AllChild 2025) demonstrated 95% improvement on Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs), with 71% of children moving from their ‘at risk’ category after a ten-week programme. |
 |
Fundraising, Events and Other News |
Pledge supporters needed! Big Give Christmas Challenge We are looking for pledges towards our Big Give Christmas Challenge Appeal, Learning and Achieving Through Art, by 29th August 2025. Pledges help us build a matched funding pot for the public appeal in December, and will enable us to raise £20,000 for our direct delivery.  If you are able to help please contact our Head of Fundraising Jocelyn Atkinson at jocelyn@atthebus.org.uk. London Marathon – thank you Tommy A huge congratulations and thank you to Tommy who completed the London Marathon in April with an incredible finish time of 3 hours and 31 minutes, raising over £3,000 for AT The Bus. Summer sculpture event and welcome to our new patron, Paul Vanstone We are extremely grateful to acclaimed sculptor Paul Vanstone who hosted a wonderful summer welcome for AT The Bus supporters and friends among his magnificent works recently. Thank you to everyone who came and made the evening such a special one. We are thrilled to welcome Paul as a patron of AT The Bus, in recognition of the support he has given us over the years.  Looking ahead A team from AT The Bus are training hard this summer as they prepare to swim a mile in the Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park in September to raise funds for AT The Bus. Keep an eye on our socials for updates, and you can sponsor them via our Just Giving page. If you are interested in fundraising for AT The Bus we would always be delighted to hear from you. Please contact our fundraising team at fundraising@atthebus.org.uk for help getting started. |
Thank You |
It’s been wonderful to have been a part of so many excellent and varied events and campaigns this year, whether run by generous supporters on behalf of AT The Bus, or by our in-house team – they have all made an enormous difference. We are extremely grateful to every single one of our supporters, as well as to the AT The Bus team for their hard work and dedication to our mission. Most of all, we are proud of the impact we are making to the lives of the children and young people AT The Bus supports, validated by the results of our ongoing evaluations, the stories of impact we hear from Headteachers and families, and from the everyday anecdotes we hear from our studio teams. As we look back on the year, we are pleased with how far we have come in the face of what is an extremely tough fundraising landscape for charities, but we know from speaking to schools and young people that the need is still immense and there is a huge amount more we can do. In order for the charity to continue with its mission, financial support is always very much at the forefront of our minds and much needed. If you are able to support with a regular or one-off donation please visit our website. Your support will be greatly appreciated. With very best wishes for the summer break, Juli and Maggie, Joint-CEOs |
“You just had one of my students in. He’s having a really tough time at home at the moment and when he came back from AT The Bus he said I hadn’t realised how much I needed that, I really needed that. ” Teacher, AT The Bus partner school |
