FEATURE: ALTERNATIVE PROVISION
significant amount of time. At home, he had discovered how to build levels in Geometry Dash but did not know how to expand and apply these skills further. Through Player Ready he discovered a passion for coding. He proudly created a new uranium block for his game, with an advanced poison effect if a player got too close. Now he wants to extend his skills and is going to learn Python, another programming language. Every learner has their own motivation. Daniel had a student who loved tinkering - so much so that he had broken Windows on the home computer. His first task of the day was to learn how to repair it. Now he understands the importance of graphics, hardware and software working in harmony. Stephen Parkinson is identifying a wider range of qualifications: ‘We use AQA unit awards for any age range, from 7, which is where we start, up to post-16. These cover areas such as coding, games design, basic cyber security. This September, we became accredited by NOCN and will be using their entry level 3 award in Skills for Employment, Training and Personal Development.’
their brands and sell them online. It has its own record label, so students are now part of a real working music production company and when they finish the course, they take away an album of their music.
The people attending EOB Academy have sometimes developed skills while they have been sitting at home. ‘There’s a lot of unlocked potential out there,’ said Steven. ‘All you have to do is set the right scene to engage with a student and made them feel comfortable, confident and respected.’ Staff at EOB Academy know that some of the neurodiverse students struggle to work outside the home. Not only do they offer online provision, but working on real briefs for industry extends learners’ horizons. In reality, designers and creators can be working right across the world and they can do it while working from their bedroom at home.
Such provision changes lives as one parent’s testimonial shows: ‘EOB Academy put an end to school refusal for our child. She’s on track now to complete the level three creative digital media course and go to university. She wants to be a game designer. She has ASC and mutism, and it reflects the expertise, knowledge, and professionalism at EOB Academy that she’s the college star pupil. EOB Academy rocks and we are indebted to it!’
Player Ready’s story
The company started life as pay-to-play gaming and virtual reality entertainment with some major events such as a gig at Thorpe Park in 2019. This is still part of their business. There are five centres and learners attend for different amounts of time. Some venues accommodate 20 to 30 young people and Player Ready has around 200 passing through their doors each week. But online provision has taken off so well that they recently appointed Daniel Hardy as Online Team Manager. Post-16 learners tend to do longer sessions. Some might do 12 hours a week to get through a course; the younger ones might just do an hour or two. Currently, the online team supports about 100 young people but online numbers will rise even faster since transport budgets have been cut by local authorities.
Stephen Parkinson, the creator of Player Ready, is aware that young people who come to them
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www.education-today.co.uk January 2026
have struggled with the pressurised environment in school. Here, staff engage with students and make them feel confident and respected. Technology companies are known to eschew formality but at Player Ready many mentors are in a hoodie and don’t look like teachers. Young people learn that Minecraft and Roblox are essential tools for game development, problem solving and collaboration.
Developing real skills is powerful. Once a learner has been away from school for a long time, we see them as completely disengaged, keeping irregular hours, aimlessly hanging around the house. But this is not necessarily true, as Daniel explains: ‘Most of the kids who come to us are desperate to do a qualification, to have something to show. They see their friends at school, doing GCSEs or SATs, so making a game, 3D modelling or art is a powerful way to build their confidence. They’ll start to see that they can do things too.’
One student had been out of school for a
Doing the best for learners School, the National Curriculum, SATs and GCSEs will not be right for every learner. It is to be hoped that future education planning will look at ways to ensure that learners can benefit from the range of practical expertise, vocational knowledge and industry experience that is found in the best AP provision.
Player Ready and EOB Academy will not suit every learner so it is important to find the right environment for a child who is not thriving in education. AP is not a watered down version of a school experience and the two sectors need to respect the differences. Steven Godwin says: ‘We don’t think ‘alternative’ is really the right word for what we do at EOB Academy because we’re not a substitute for a school. We see our role as teaching specialist skills and qualifications that complement what is offered by the schools we work with.’
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