Our story

Releasing Potential was founded in 2001 by Mike and Jo King, who wanted to help marginalised young people develop social, emotional and practical skills through engagement with the outdoors. Mike became frustrated that, as a mainstream PE teacher, he was limited in how much he could use outdoor education as a vehicle to bring about positive change in vulnerable and challenging young people. In the early days Mike and Jo ran RP out of the spare bedroom of their house in Portsmouth, involving outdoor-qualified friends to deliver on an ad-hoc basis.

RP has always grown according to the needs identified by funders and referrers, and in 2011, responding to requests from Local Authorities, we established our own full time, small-group SEN provision based in Havant – the Engage programme. Engage built steadily, and in parallel, we developed a full time one-to-one provision, for young people who are unable to manage even the very small group setting.  2012 saw a watershed in our story. Jo King, who had been working 3 days a week as General Manager, left to pursue a new career. It was clear that, if RP was to ensure growth, it needed a full time replacement. Dr Catherine Brennan was recruited that year as Operations Manager, and joined a team of 11. By the end of 2012, RP had purchased 7 Kingscroft Court, two Engage groups were thriving in the adjoining buildings, and 1:1 provision continued to increase. In 2017 Releasing Potential registered with the Department for Education and became an Independent School with over thirty staff and places for up to fifty students years 7-13.

Since 2001, Releasing Potential has been a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. We are governed by a board of trustees gathered from the worlds of education, social care and business, as well as an education steering committee that looks after the school. We now operate out of two school sites in Havant and Chichester, as well as a farm site, allotments, Linkenholt Adventure Centre, and several small social enterprise businesses. Since 2003, our provision has developed to include an Independent School, Forest School, Outdoor Education Centre of Excellence, Academic Institute, Educational Mediation Service , and Social Enterprise Businesses.