Educational support services expert Educate Group is aiming to achieve a £3m turnover as it prepares to significantly grow the business over the next 12 months.

The Wrexham-based business is to expand its supply services from its North Wales heartland into Cheshire and Shropshire, while continuing to invest in its England-based teacher training facility.

It is also set to move into the children’s residential care sector having recently acquired its first property in the Wrexham area.

In addition, the Educate Group is working towards gaining ‘Independent School status’. This will allow it to use its own expertise in educating young people in residential care, rather than having to engage an outside provider, and support local authorities with strategic alternative education strategies.

Educate Group was founded in September 2017 by Mark Jones, David Norman, and Nick Edwards, who have a combined 50 years’ experience at a senior level in education supported by a significant investment by Wrexham-based entrepreneur, Gary Dewhurst.

Educate currently provides high quality teaching and classroom support staff for temporary and permanent positions in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors throughout North Wales, together with alternative education provision aimed at hard-to-reach learners as well as supporting local authorities with home tutoring.

Educate acquired the Teacher Training company in 2018 and after completing a programme of restructuring and investment, Educate Teacher Training has seen a 50 percent increase in the number of trainees over the past 12 months.

Mark Jones, a director of Educate Group, said that 2021 will be a year of investment and growth.

In its first year, it achieved a turnover of £400,000, which has grown to £2m this financial year.

He said:

“We are confident in our ambitions for growth over the next year, which will include a major rebranding, and our target is to achieve £3m turnover for the financial year 2021/22.

“Our core head count has increased over the years from two to 22 and we have seen growth across all facets of the business, becoming one of the leading providers of educational supply staff in North Wales.

“We place an average of 250 people per week into schools and we are now preparing to extend our services into Shropshire and Cheshire.”

The business, which prides itself on being run by teachers for teachers, has continued to thrive during the lockdowns, despite the closure of schools, by responding to the huge demand for both home schooling and teacher training.

Mark added:

“Educate Group has achieved growth year on year since it was founded, and we aim to continue this trend over the next 12 months and beyond.

“We are able to expand the business because of our commitment to quality, best practice and our extensive experience within the education sector.”