New Leaf Centre - Penrith

14/06/2026

🌿 What a busy and exciting week we’ve had at New Leaf Centre! 🌿

We’ve been thrilled to welcome some adorable new baby guinea pigs to our growing New Leaf family 🐹💚. And that’s not all – we’re also getting everything ready for our next exciting arrivals… baby goats! 🐐 We can’t wait to introduce them to everyone.

Our learners have been busy in the kitchen too, showing off their culinary skills by making delicious homemade quiche and tasty cookies. 👩‍🍳🥧🍪

Last week, we even managed to get the fire burning and enjoyed melting marshmallows together – a perfect way to spend time outdoors. 🔥🍡

With 5 weeks of jam-packed activities, adventures, and trips still to come, there’s plenty more excitement ahead!

We have a feeling we’re all going to be ready for the six-week summer break when it arrives! ☀️😅

11/06/2026

🐹💚 A Special Moment at New Leaf Centre 💚🐹

Our new baby guinea pigs are already making a wonderful difference to the lives of our learners.

This week we experienced something truly heartwarming. For the first time, one of our learners chose to come into the craft room specifically to visit the baby guinea pigs. Not only did they spend time observing the babies, but they were also smiling, engaging with a member of staff, and enjoying the calming environment around them.

Animal-assisted activities can provide a therapeutic and nurturing experience, helping to reduce anxiety, encourage communication, build confidence and create meaningful connections. Sometimes the smallest creatures can have the biggest impact.

We are so proud to see our learners benefiting from these special interactions and look forward to many more moments like this as our baby guinea pigs continue to settle into life at New Leaf Centre.

05/06/2026

We have received information from the police regarding a WhatsApp group called “100 Before 2027.”
We strongly urge all parents and carers to check their child’s phone and online activity to ensure they are not accessing or participating in this group.
If you have any concerns, questions, or would like support, please contact our Safeguarding Lead at [email protected]
Thank you for your continued support in helping us keep our young people safe online.

03/06/2026

We are very lucky and very excited to be welcoming Nutella and Cornflake to the New Leaf team 🐐❤️

We can't wait to see the positive impact they have on our learners. Thank you to his West Barn Pygmy Goats for allowing him to join the New Leaf family. 😊

02/06/2026

Reminder of our supported internship session tomorrow (Wednesday 3rd June) 2.30pm - 4pm at New Leaf Centre, Penrith. All welcome.

We provide holistic support for children and young people with SEND and SEMH needs. In our nurturing, therapeutic environment, we help those who struggle in mainstream settings build confidence, engage with learning, and achieve meaningful outcomes.

28/05/2026

🌿 We are hosting a Supported Internships Information Session at New Leaf Centre, a drop-in event open to all young people aged 16–24 with an EHCP, as well as families, carers and professionals supporting transition into adulthood.

This session will provide information on supported internship pathways, Right to Work, and local employment opportunities, including inclusive employers. It is suitable for anyone exploring next steps into employment and wanting to understand what support is available.

Please feel free to share this post with anyone who may benefit from attending.🌿

We provide holistic support for children and young people with SEND and SEMH needs. In our nurturing, therapeutic environment, we help those who struggle in mainstream settings build confidence, engage with learning, and achieve meaningful outcomes.

23/05/2026

🌿 Half term round up 🌿

We just can’t believe how fast this term is flying by!

We’ve seen some fantastic progress across the centre this half term and are incredibly proud of all of our learners. The learners have fully embraced the new curriculum, with brilliant progress being made across English, Maths and ASDAN courses.

Our therapeutic and personal development curriculum has also been going really well, with learners keen to be involved in reviewing and helping to design their own timetables for next term - something that has worked particularly well for many of our PDA learners. We were also pleased to host a fantastic training session delivered by the PDA Society, attended by parents, carers and staff.

This half term, learners have been getting creative with sewing, mosaic tiles, woodworking projects and music sessions, as well as helping in the garden alongside our fantastic new catering mentor Jean, who has settled into the team like she’s always been here!

Learners have taken part in food preparation sessions and even cooked meals for one another. We’ve had learners completing work experience placements at a primary school, taking part in practical football sessions as part of ASDAN, and a group completing a goat keeping course in preparation for the arrival of our pygmy goats next month. Trips to art exhibitions and interactive occupational therapy sessions have also been some of the highlights this half term.

We were also pleased to welcome representatives from two local authorities and received some really positive feedback about the provision and progress being made.

We’ve supported some learners with transition days at UCC’s new resourced provision for those who are ready for that next step, and whilst we are sad to see one learner leave us, we are incredibly proud that they are now ready to transition back into mainstream education - a huge achievement for them and a real reflection of the progress they have made.

One parent kindly wrote:

“Thank you so much for all you have done during his time at the centre. You have created a truly great place. We are extremely grateful to you for providing a safe, nurturing environment at a time he needed it most.”

As we move into the final part of the academic year, we have so much to look forward to. Alongside learners continuing to engage with our new curriculum, we have a parent/learner session with Right2Work coming up (details to follow), our summer fete, end of year trip, and some exciting external educational sessions focused on farming, nature and animals.

And watch this space for details of our Summer HAF sessions, which will be released soon!

All in all, it has been a fantastic half term. A huge thank you to our dedicated team for the care, commitment and support you show our learners every single day.

The New Leaf community continues to grow from strength to strength, and we are incredibly grateful to be able to provide a safe, nurturing environment where young people can rebuild confidence, feel understood and thrive 💚

20/05/2026

This reflects not only what we see within our own provision, but what many alternative providers witness every day when traditional education settings are not the right fit for a child or young person.

For some children, school is absolutely the right environment. For others, EOTAS, home education or alternative provision can be life changing. Every child and young person is different, and families must retain the right to make informed decisions about what is appropriate for their child’s needs and wellbeing.

Hi everyone

We have now raised £21,873! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated!

I thought I would take the time to tell everyone a little about why I have decided to fight this so hard and to take the risk and work to do so

I have been a director of Empowering Equine since 2019, where we provide EFL (equine facilitated learning) to children and young people who are neurodivergent and/ or struggling with their mental health. EFL uses interactions with horses to develop emotional and communication skills and improve mental health. We also provide an alternative provision for children who cannot access traditional education.

Within my work I work with both EOTAS and home education families. I work with lots of children who are in the school system and really struggling. And Iv seen a lot. Iv seen children self harming as young as 5, Iv seen children who have had multiple su***de attempts, children having panic attacks multiple times a day. Iv also seen children who have ended up that anxious due to stress from school they have ended up unable to leave the house for months at a time due to extreme anxiety. Iv seen lots of other situations too but some situations are not for social media for many reasons.

Now for some of these children finding the right school has been the solution and they have come on leaps and bounds in the right school, and for many others, school is not the answer. Many of these children thrive under either EOTAS or home education. And parents have made these choices and Iv had the privilege of being part of the journey of watching these children change from unable to cope with horrendous anxiety, to thriving and achieving (yes im using D of E’s strapline, no it’s not accidental!) with home Ed or EOTAS. Without the families of these families having the freedom to make these decisions, many of these children would suffer life long, life changing mental health issues. Some of these children sadly may not make it at all. But due to the amazing commitment and dedication of their families, many are thriving now.

Too many children’s mental health, future and even lives are at stake with this act. Some of these families will loose the rights to make those decisions that have been life saving for their child, and these changes overwhelmingly target families of children with disabilities. For all the families that have trusted me to support you and your children, and have given me the pleasure of being able to watch those children thrive, thank you! And to stand up for you and not sit silently whilst you loose your rights, this is the least I owe you!

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/challenge-the-risk-of-reducing/

20/05/2026

Yesterday a group of us made a trip over to West Barn pygmy Goats.
We had the most amazing time and learnt so much.
Everyone at the New Leaf Centre are very excited to welcome Nutella and Cornflake to the Centre.
Thank you so much for a wonderful educational day.

https://www.facebook.com/share/18ZZGjA8D9/?mibextid=wwXIfr

18/05/2026

🌿 Reminder – PDA CPD Training Workshop today.🌿

Please arrive from 3.15pm for a prompt 3.30pm start.

We’re looking forward to welcoming everyone for an informative and reflective session focused on supporting and understanding young people with PDA profiles.