Urban Pursuit is a Community Interest Company – founded in 2011 by Neil and Karen Dennison. Based in the Bristol docklands, Urban Pursuit serves schools and academies across the city.

Neil is a former Assistant Headteacher and has fifteen years of secondary school teaching experience from Bristol and Somerset schools. Karen is a Learning Mentor and has worked intensively in the field of mentoring and helping vulnerable teenagers.

Neil and Karen have a joint vision to see the lives of vulnerable teenagers transformed for the better. They also share a passion for adventure and adrenaline activities and seek to use these to help build relationships and ultimately help young people put their lives back on track.

Our history

Urban Pursuit was incorporated as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company in November 2011. In mid-2012, a small team began to form and we delivered the first trials with nine students from three different schools across the city. The current operations team is made up of full-time, part-time staff as well as a team of amazing volunteers.

Our progress

We are now well underway with the new venture and have  worked with over 300 students across 14 different schools and academies since our formal launch in January 2013. We typically see students coming to us for one day a week as an alternative to their normal, in-school, education. Students are highly engaged with our programs and we see outstanding attendance and high levels of motivation amongst the young people. There is real impact in schools with many students demonstrating improved behaviour, better relationships with adults and improved attitudes towards learning.

The results are very positive, with high levels of impact being felt back in the schools. We plan to continue to expand our services to allow greater numbers of vulnerable students to benefit from our highly effective programs.

• How quickly can students get involved with an Urban Pursuit program?

  Immediately, and at any point within the academic year. Our continuously rolling programs allow students, in urgent cases, to start within one week of a referral.

• What will Urban Pursuit do for our school that we can't get already?

  Urban Pursuit is commited to providing the very best service for schools and academies. To that end, we will provide daily individual progress reports via email, run regular in-school mentoring sessions, provide a rotating schedule to avoid lesson disruption, and we will even provide the transport!

• What impact will the program have on students?

  Because our programs are designed and run by education professionals with a wealth of experience and knowledge of personal development, our students begin to show improvements in behaviour, social responsibility, self-esteem and personal awareness very quickly. Our programs lead to improved attendance, better academic progress, higher aspirations, and a significant reduction in fixed-term exclusions.

• What is the program format?

  Students typically come to us for one day per week for a minimum of two new school terms, but can come for up to 3 days a week and for as long as needed.