A Teesside educational trust, which prides itself on the support it provides to enable people in its communities to access employment and training opportunities, has donated three laptops to Tees Valley Women’s Centre.
Nichole Munro, chief executive of Atomix Educational Trust and Michelle Kelso, the trust’s adult education manager, presented the devices to Donna Middleton, the centre’s manager.
Donna said they will greatly benefit women who are working towards various qualifications at the centre through Atomix’s adult education offering, from functional skills in Maths and English through to teacher training.
“This donation will make a huge difference, because having these will mean the women no longer have the barrier to learning that comes with not having access to a laptop,” said Donna.
“A lot of the women use their mobile phones but now they can use the laptop and print their work out, it will be very useful to them.”
Donna said the Tees Valley Women’s Centre has worked with Prior Pursglove College, which is part of the Atomix Educational Trust, for 18 years.
During that time, the partnership has enjoyed a great deal of success in training women to become teachers and teaching assistants, or sit exams they previously missed or wanted to improve their grades in.
“We have enjoyed a good success rate with providing jobs and opportunities for local women during our longstanding relationship,” said Donna.
“Now, Atomix has put staff in place like Michelle as adult education manager, things are working even better for us than they were before.
“Atomix clearly values its work in the community with us and it’s great our centre has been recognised by them for the work it does to help women access colleges like Prior.”
Michelle said as soon as she started working as adult education manager at the Trust in July 2025, she just had to visit the Tees Valley Women’s Centre to find out more about the partnership with Prior for herself.
She said of the South Bank centre: “I’m from Eston myself, but I didn’t know what it did before I joined Atomix.
“Atomix and Prior Pursglove College has been delivering qualifications through the centre, which survives on charitable donations and funding, for some time, and since I came to Atomix I’ve been working with the centre in quite an in-depth way.
“The partnership enables women in the South Bank and Eston community who have no qualifications to study Maths and English and even reach level two and level three qualifications on teaching and early years courses.”
She adds that some of the successful students have gone on to become teaching assistants and study other areas required by school staff such as behaviour that challenges, and how to support students with autism or learning difficulties.
Michelle says: “I’ve currently got about 80 learners working on courses through the centre and I like to show my face to them and let them know I’m around for them.
“It’s about more than just getting qualifications for them – it’s also about improving their access to services and increasing their confidence.
“Some of them come in having never taken an exam before and we are able to give them a positive outcome.”
Some of the women have been unable to attend college due to childcare difficulties – but the women’s centre also provides access to safe and reliable childcare while they study.
“They can come to the centre and know that their children are being well looked after,” says Michelle.
“We have teachers from Prior down there three days each week.
“It was great to be able to provide them with the laptops as we knew that they didn’t have much.
“We’d seen a post on their Facebook page asking for donations and we were able to buy the laptops for them from our support fund.”
As a result, the women have better accessibility to technology that will help them succeed and achieve – with some women who have studied through Prior even working their way up to university.
Michelle says: “There are 19 learners on the supported teaching and learning course and they have now got a total of eight computers.
“They have all got some accessibility to a laptop, which they might not have at home.
“They now have opportunities to progress – whether that’s in further education or the world of work – and we have had a number of good progression stories from students.”
Many of the women on teaching courses go on to have work experience at Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College, which is also part of Atomix Educational Trust, after Atomix has helped them pass a DBS check.
“This not only benefits the learners, but also the colleges,” says Michelle.
Qualifications and work experience aside, Michelle says seeing women grow in confidence is the main driving force behind her work in adult education.
She said: “I’ve been in education for 18 years and I’m used to seeing 16 to 18-year-olds succeed, but now I’m seeing women who lack confidence passing exams and getting that glow when they know they have achieved something that wasn’t possible for them before for whatever reason.
“It gives you that bit of a buzz to know you’re doing something productive and worthwhile in the community.”
Nichole Munro, CEO of Atomix, said: “Part of our mission is to make education accessible and equitable for all, and we are committed to lifelong learning for diverse people at every age, from every educational background, whether they have never sat an exam before, they missed out on college to focus on being parents, or whatever their circumstances.
“Being able to fund laptops and offer support like this within our community is just one example of the way in which we go about achieving our aims of supporting people to achieve beyond what they thought was possible for themselves, their families and their futures.
“I am so happy our learners at Tees Valley Women’s Centre will benefit from the donation of these laptops and we look forward to continuing to guide them to achieve their aims and ambitions.”
Nichole added it was great to see the fantastic work the Tees Valley Women’s Centre does for women in the South Bank and Eston communities.
“It’s so valuable to the area and to everyone involved,” said Nichole.
“As a Trust, we are open to being involved in more opportunities like this to truly make a difference within the communities we serve.”