Photo credit: Glen King

Exeter-based hairdressing, barbering & beauty training salon, Hair At The Academy (HATA), is spearheading a new community pilot project to support and educate vulnerable young people and adults in the city and across Devon.

The aim of the project, called Cutting Through the Noise (CTN), is to promote the salon’s unique approach to delivering nationally recognised vocational qualifications including those awarded by VTCT, combined with professional emotional support and in-depth mental health awareness training. The salon, which already supports almost 100 students a year that are unemployed, homeless, living with complex learning needs, mental health issues, or disengaged with school or college, holds a 95% success rate of getting students into further education or paid employment. With this new project, they are hoping to extend the impact they can have, working collaboratively with schools, colleges, charities, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and businesses in the area.

Mary Pugsley MBE who founded Hair At The Academy in 2004 and recently received the ‘Exceptional Educator Award’ at The Collective Pride Awards is behind the project. She’s determined to raise people up in the community and show that there is a pathway that will get them into further education and paid employment.

Mary Pugsley, MBE Founder & Director at Hair At The Academy said, “Time and time again, we see our students succeeding against all odds, and that’s because we have a method that works for them. Many of these people have faced unspeakable challenges in their life and are in need of our help, but all too often they get overlooked. We want to show that there is a pathway to both education and paid employment for them.

“At HATA, we are sensitive to individual learning needs, provide on-site counselling, mental health awareness training, and additional support that allows students to blossom, often for the first time in an educational setting. We are thrilled to be launching Cutting Through the Noise (CTN) to share our learnings and practice with all those who need our support. We’ll be sending staff on tour in a promotional vehicle to spread the message far and wide and will be reaching out to local businesses in the area to help create more employment taster days and internships.”

The pilot project has already secured national backing from the UK’s market leading vocational Awarding Organisation, VTCT (Vocational Training Charitable Trust). The Trust has 2,500 learning centres globally supporting over 120,000 learners and apprentices every year. Over the past few decades, VTCT has been instrumental in the development of vocational and technical qualifications in the UK and now offers over 600 qualifications ranging from mainstream to specialist skills.

Collette Lux, Chief Marketing Officer at VTCT said, “At VTCT we pioneer the establishment of professional standards and formal qualifications within the hair and beauty services sector and provide learners with a direct line of sight to a job. VTCT’s qualifications offer an accessible route to economic empowerment, and that is why we are so proud to support ‘Cutting Through the Noise’ as the programme helps us deliver on our core purpose.”

Data collected in September 2022, showed that unemployment rates in Devon hit 9,250, a figure that is predicted only to rise due to the ongoing energy and housing crisis. In addition to this, National research has shown that 1 in 5 school leavers aged 18 are leaving without even the most basic of qualifications. Mary and her team hope that by taking their message of hope on tour, running hairdressing, and barbering demonstrations, offering free haircuts to those most in need to open conversations, and engaging with local employers, they’ll be able to make a real impact and potentially create a model that could be replicated nationally. The first educational taster days have already been secured with The St Peters School and the Youth Hub.

Wendy Ohlson, Headteacher of Devon County Council’s ‘Virtual School’ has been working with Hair At The Academy for many and has witnessed first-hand how effective their unique approach is.

Wendy said, “The provision offered by the excellent team has been nothing short of a lifesaver for some of our young people. We work with those in care who’ve experienced trauma and loss over their lifetime and often find the demands and expectations of a mainstream provider impossible to manage. The Academy has created a safe supportive environment with clear boundaries, but acceptance that each person comes in with their own story and offers endless support for them to gradually trust and grow to have fewer periods of dysregulation and anger.

One young person shared at her personal education plan meeting that this was the only place where she had ever felt understood and listened to and was able to learn in safety. Thank you to everyone at HATA for offering our young people a fresh start when education has often not worked for them, and for providing them with ongoing care and support while helping to prepare them for a future career where they can be independent.”

Hair At The Academy is calling for community groups, charities, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), schools, colleges, other educational facilities, and local businesses to get involved in the project. To find out more and to contact the team visit.

www.hairattheacademy.com/cuttingthroughthenoise

Read all about it:

The Exeter Daily

The Devon Daily

Western Morning News – Judi Spiers on Monday

See it on BBC SPOTLIGHT