Challenge

Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust (LPT) Founder, Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang, was working as a teacher when he became increasingly concerned about how many children in care in the UK are at higher risk of poor educational outcomes, homelessness, unemployment, mental health difficulties and prison sentences. 

LPT exists to transform these poor outcomes by setting up excellent homes and working collaboratively with the rest of the sector to ensure that children in care have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Solution

They used social investment to renovate and open their first children’s home in Sutton – you can take a virtual tour of the home here. The home provides medium to long-term placements for up to six children between the ages of 12-17 (on admission). 

The home offers a safe, nurturing and empowering community in which children can develop, learn and thrive. LPT want children to feel safe, loved and happy with a strong network of relationships, to discover and realise their skills and talents, and to have high aspirations for their futures. 

The high quality of support offered to children by LPT has led to a great degree of stability, with the longest placement being over two years, whereas 85% of placements in the sector last less than a year.  Team turnover is significantly lower than the rest of the sector, leading to strong, long-lasting relationships between practitioners and children.

Revenue

Income is generated through providing these essential services to local authorities. Alongside the loan from the Postcode Innovation Trust, they also received £2M from Treebeard Trust on a purchase and lease basis. 

Impact

The social investment played a crucial role in opening their first children’s home in February 2022, and there are currently 5 children aged between 15 and 17  living there. They have plans to open two further children’s homes by 2026 and are launching the first ever degree-level qualification for practitioners in children’s homes in the UK in collaboration with Kingston University.

The entire approach taken at LPT is based on social pedagogy – a relationship-based way of working with children. They use their learning to train people and influence decision-makers so standards of care can improve nationally.  

“We could not have achieved the milestone of opening our first children’s home without social investment. It allowed us to go ahead with the refurbishment of the building and meant that no compromises were made to the quality of the renovation. The impact of social investment continues to pay dividends for the children who live in our home, and stands us in good financial stead to be able to open more Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust homes in the future.”

Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang, Founder & Director, Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust

“Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust was one of the first social investments that Postcode Innovation Trust made. We were very impressed by Emmanuel’s vision for a new type of children’s care home and were happy to come on board as an early-stage investor. Lighthouse is an excellent example of a start-up social venture in a regulated statutory environment and it can look forward to a long and impactful future.”

Joe Ray, Social Investment and Innovation Manager, Postcode Innovation Trust