Barton Peveril Sixth Form College 

Headlines often warn of a student mental health crisis, and rising levels of stress and anxiety are a genuine concern across education. But at Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, staff began to notice a pattern that tells a more nuanced story.

For many students, the source of stress wasn’t always related to mental health in a clinical sense. Much of it is also linked to practical skills such as organisation, time management, and managing workload. For many young people, these are skill foundations they’ve never been explicitly taught, or that simply haven't stuck.

As Laura Stephens, Academic Skills Subject Leader, explains:

“Many students come to us because they feel anxious or stressed… which usually comes from feeling constantly behind. If [Booost] helps them stay on top of things, they’ll feel more confident and won’t need as much other support.”

The Hidden Cause of Overwhelm

An award-winning digital innovator, Laura received a Silver Award at the Pearson National Teaching Awards for embedding assistive technology into everyday practice – work that also helped Barton Peveril win the SFCA Award for Independent Learning.

Her expertise has shown her that sometimes what presents as a wellbeing issue, stems from a skills gap.

“A lot of students were being referred to wellbeing or counselling because they presented with anxiety. But when staff, especially our ELSAs, worked with them one-to-one, they found… they didn’t need emotional support as much as they needed study skills support. Of course, there’s always crossover, but often the anxiety was really about not knowing how to manage their work.”– Laura

The team saw this clearly in their five-week support courses. The most popular sessions were around organisation, time management, attention and concentration. The common theme? Feeling overwhelmed. Students didn’t know how to break tasks down. Many had never learned strategies like creating a timetable or using a simple checklist with key dates.

High Stakes, High Stress

Laura has seen how quickly missed deadlines can snowball for students:

“BTEC students face particular challenges. With assignments being moderated internally and externally, deadlines are strict. So once they start falling behind, it’s really hard to catch up.

A-level students don’t have that exact risk, but missing work still impacts their confidence and results. For both groups, trying to catch up on missed work while also keeping up with current work is just not realistic. That’s why being proactive is so important. If teachers can flag issues after two missed assignments, we can step in then, rather than waiting until it’s ten assignments and completely overwhelming.” – Laura

The consequences extend far beyond grades. Students who lack simple strategies – timetables, checklists, breaking tasks into manageable pieces – quickly feel lost. That sense of overwhelm can spiral into avoidance, missed deadlines, and, for some, leaving their studies altogether.

As Laura recalls from her team's experience:

“Students would get constant notifications about missed work, and instead of reaching out for help, they’d just avoid it because they didn’t know where to start. Teachers saw the anxiety, but when you talked to the student, it was about being overwhelmed. Looking at a list of five pieces of homework, they just didn’t know what to do first.”

Why Booost Resonates

It’s this cycle of overwhelm → avoidance → anxiety that Barton Peveril wanted to interrupt.

Laura and her team saw the value of Booost: not as “just another app,” but as a simple, central tool to help students keep on top of the basics that underpin wellbeing and academic success.

“We trialled a range of different organisational and time management tools… They all offered something useful, but each was separate. What we wanted was an app that brought everything together in one place. That way, students wouldn’t feel like they had to use five or six different apps to get the same benefits.” – Laura.

Beyond Deadlines

Planning and prioritisation isn't just about getting through coursework, as Laura explains:

“It also has benefits outside of college. Good organisation and time management skills give students confidence for employability and life in general. We’ve been talking a lot in sessions about procrastination. Students often think we’ve got everything perfectly organised, but we all get distracted. It’s about showing them how to manage that.” – Laura

By embedding Booost into one-to-one coaching, Barton Peveril aims to turn these skills into habits.

“Students who will have access will be part of the new one-to-one coaching we’re implementing. We’ll do a skills audit with them, focusing on areas like time management, organisation, and how they use their study periods… we will also go through how to use it effectively.

It should feel like part of their daily routine, not an extra task.”

The Future of Support

Barton Peveril’s experience highlights how focusing on practical skills such as timetables, deadlines, and organisation, can boost confidence and help students feel more in control of their studies.

“Technology has also taken on some of the traditional support roles, like reading text aloud or dictation. This shift is positive because it makes students more independent, but it can feel challenging for staff." – Laura

For ASCs, it’s about shifting focus to higher-impact work – coaching, mentoring, and helping students make the most of the tools available.

"It’s a cultural change in learning support, and I think it’s only moving further in that direction.” – Laura

This approach doesn’t replace wellbeing services; it complements them. By addressing everyday challenges alongside emotional needs, Barton Peveril creates a more rounded support system. With Booost and the dedicated work of ASCs and staff, students are finding that balance – staying organised today while building the confidence and independence they’ll need tomorrow.

With Booost, Barton Peveril is finding that balance.