Unlocking Discovery

Change lives with a Discovery Bursary

Our Discovery Programme offers very specialist support for vulnerable and complex local children who struggle in mainstream schools. The Discovery Bursary will unlock much-needed places for families who want their children to attend but are caught up in the crisis facing Special Educational Needs and Disabilities funding.

Guarantee an opportunity to access Discovery

Too many local families are missing out of the therapeutic power of working with rehabilitated horses. Since September this year 12 young people who wanted to start a programme faced funding uncertainty. 

Funding a bursary creates a place on a six-week programme where our specialist facilitators gently help children and teenagers re-engage with learning beyond the classroom through the trust, calmness and curiosity created by structured tasks with our animals.

This film highlights the benefits of the programme for children, young people and their families.

More about HorseWorld Discovery

For nearly two decades, this pioneering alternative learning programme has quietly transformed the lives of more than 3,000 children suffering from ACE's (adverse childhood experiences) and young people who have struggled with mainstream education or who face significant social, educational and economic disadvantage – including young people referred via the Police Violence Reduction Programme or who have experienced child sexual exploitation and trauma.

How will my donation help?

Every week, we see the difference Discovery makes. A bursary doesn’t just fund a course – it gives a reason to believe in themselves again. Children who had stopped speaking start to communicate again, their confidence returns, anxiety eases and hope returns, allowing them to re-engage with education. Early intervention is key. We have the programme, the team and the horses to support, but we urgently need funds to help more. Please help us make sure no child is turned away whilst they wait for the system to catch up.

Your donation can help fund Bursary places at HorseWorld Discovery lifting a child out of the needless waiting lists and helping them start to unlock their life potential.

As local authority funding continues to shrink and waiting lists for SEND diagnoses and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) get ever longer, more at-risk children and young people are slipping through the cracks and missing out on the early support that could change their futures, your help is needed more now than ever.