Kowel Gwenen, which translates to “The Hive” in Cornish, reflects the collaborative and nurturing environment the centre seeks to foster for home-educated children.
Chrissie Berry, a passionate and committed teacher and director of kowel Gwenen, is the driving force behind this fantastic initiative. Her mission is to reduce the stress that home-schooled students face. The closest major exam center available to these students is in Taunton. This huge distance can lead to anxiety and stress for young people in Cornwall. By opening up Kowel Gwenen, Berry aims to create a more affordable pathway for students who are about to take their GCSEs.
We’ve been thrilled to hear from parents, who openly share their excitement about this new place for their children. Tristan, whose daughter, aged 15, suffers from study-related anxiety, expresses his delight at how Kowel Gwenen has developed. His daughter is now receiving extra tutoring in English and Maths. Next year, she will be one of the first teenagers to sit her GCSEs at the new centre.
Tristan’s observation resonated with the struggle that every parent goes through. As much as we want to cultivate an environment with our daughter that makes her happy, we don’t want to radically shift the paradigm. He stressed that “knowing her colleagues is going to be key.” This connection will remain as the focal point in producing a more positive examination experience for his daughter. And she understands the people, which is really the whole crux of it all for us. Having the exam centre here would be phenomenal.
Berry sees it as being important to ensure that home-educated students have access to local resources. “The nearest main centre for students who are in Cornwall is actually Taunton, but for a lot of the young people who are home-educated or don’t go to school for whatever reason, that’s actually a really anxious and stressful situation,” she stated.
Kowel Gwenen fosters a warm and caring environment for students. Here, they can relax, feel at home, and most importantly, confident as they take their final exams. The centre wants to foster a community of support that recognizes the specific struggles that home-schooled kids go through.
