About Anstee Bridge

Anstee Bridge is part of Achieving for Children Education Services, a social enterprise created by Kingston and Richmond Councils to provide their children’s services, providing targeted help and support to children and families in need.

The project was set up in 2008 as an alternative education provision for year 11 students aged 15-16 in local Kingston schools who have become disengaged with education. Our founder is Katherine Greening, an experienced teacher who was unhappy at seeing young people fail in conventional education when she believed that, with a little creativity and a great deal of encouragement and support, they could be helped to succeed.

Anstee Bridge Today

We now provide an alternative learning programme for young people facing emotional challenges that cause them to disengage in education.

Faced with the most challenging of life situations, our young people struggle to cope with the pressures of formal education and are at risk of slipping out of the system.

We support 24 young people each year who attend the programme one day a week. Every young people is given a bespoke and personalised learning programme designed to help them achieve the things that matter most to them.

Our programme comprises:

• • One-to-one emotional support to deal with the emotional impact of the situation they find themselves in. This is led by Katherine Greening, who is a trained counsellor.

• • Coaching towards finding a post-16 destination through one-to-one sessions with our teaching assistant Laura Jarvis.

• • Holistic life skills workshops covering issues from healthy eating to good sexual health. These are led by local providers and hand-picked motivational speakers to inspire our students to work towards what matters most to them.

• • A programme of creative activities and projects to build confidence and increase mental well-being. These are led by carefully-chosen artists who recognise the benefits of arts on mental health, and who co-create work with our students to make a realistic and sustainable impact on their well-being first and foremost.

Over the years, we have been proud to witness the extraordinary benefits of this work. Young people who have been disengaged discover that it is possible to achieve and find a life worth living.

The safety of our pupils is our highest priority. You can read our Safeguarding Policy here.

Patron Sue Hill spent 30 years in the Metropolitan Police, latterly as Detective Chief Superintendent.

She was a presenter for ITV’s Crimewatch until 2014 as is now on the board of Facewatch – a free, online crime reporting service designed to make communities safer.

Steve is our long-standing patron. His day-job is as Station Manager and local DJ at 107.8 Radio Jackie, the local station for South West London.

He shares both his business knowledge and his love of motor racing and boats with the students at Anstee Bridge.

Jamie Raven burst onto an unsuspecting world during the 2015 series of Britain’s Got Talent. His magic amazed audiences and even made Simon Cowell exclaim, “I now finally believe in magic!”

Jamie brings his knowledge from his recent international tour to Anstee Bridge.

Aaron is an independent singer/songwriter who performs weekly at many venues, continuously updating his media platforms, booking events, writing and recording new material and teaching songwriting. He shares his desire to strive for something more in life and his love of music with students at Anstee Bridge.

Ian is the Managing Director Interim Chief Executive of Achieving For Children and has been at the charity since 2014.

Oliva is Deputy Mayor of Kingston upon Thames and Liberal Democrat Councillor for Canbury Ward. She studied drama and creative writing at the University of West England, and just ten months after graduating became a Councillor to do something positive for young people and their mental health.

Sarah is a mental health nurse at Connect, the relationship and sexual advice service for people of all ages with learning difficulties, autism and aspergers.

Javade is the PR and Media Manager at our parent organisation, Achieving for Children. He helps all of us at the Anstee Team with our communications and funding bids.