Educational charity ContinYou to close down

The charity’s former chief executive Karin Woodley confirmed that ContinYou’s services had been broken up and absorbed by other organisations.

She said financial constraints had meant the charity was no longer able to deliver efficient projects and programmes for children.

The charity Family Action has taken on ContinYou’s Parent Partnership Services and a Department for Education-funded project, worth almost £1m, to help schools establish care for pupils before and after school and during holidays.

Family Action also took on 15 members of ContinYou’s staff under the transfer, which took place in April.

ContinYou’s Welsh arm, ContinYou Cymru, established itself as an independent organisation called Communities and Schools Together (CaST) ContinYou in April.

The charity’s Pyramid Clubs, which deliver therapeutic early intervention for children aged seven- to 14-years-old, will be developed by the University of West London.

ContinYou’s work on supplementary schools is now an independent organisation based at charity Trust for London.

Woodley has already taken up a new post as chief executive of South London children’s charity Cambridge House.

She said there was “nothing left” at ContinYou. She is still supporting its financial director to wind up the organisation “over the next few weeks”.

Woodley said she had recommended the charity be broken up. “ContinYou was mostly dealing with second-tier activities and we wanted to merge with an organisation that was doing more direct delivery”, said Woodley.

“In the first instance it was about finding a better way of serving our beneficiaries because ContinYou won a DfE contract”.

“We still had the grants to be able to survive as an independent organisation and continue in other areas, but we didn’t feel it was the most efficient way of meeting the needs of beneficiaries.”

“We wanted very much to combine the second-tier activities with direct delivery to beneficiaries. That’s why merging the major part of the organisation with Family Action seemed really sensible.

“We also wanted to streamline the back-office functions."

A Family Action spokesman said it was “delighted” to have taken over the Parent Partnership Services.

“These services provide advice and support for parents of children with special educational needs,” he said.

“We are also excited to have taken on from ContinYou a major project, funded by DfE, to help schools set up wraparound care for pupils before and after school and during holidays.

“We look forward to implementing our whole-family approach to parental engagement with education to improve outcomes for children and families across all of these services.”

ContinYou was formed in 2003 and delivered education, health and wellbeing services in partnership with schools.

Woodley joined in March 2010.