I would like to begin by thanking all of our wonderful students, tutors and team members for your commitment, support and hard work over this past academic year and the nine years since the conception of the Tower Hamlets Recovery College.
As mentioned earlier, sadly this will be our last term operating as the Tower Hamlets Recovery College. I have had the great privilege of managing and leading this service since 2018. I inherited this role from my predecessor the late Rob Pritchard, who set up this college in 2016 as the first Recovery College in East London. Rob's commitment to setting strong foundations of the college in the values of Hope, Control and Opportunity enabled me to continue his work and bring his vision to life.
Since its conception the college has grown from strength to strength. We have expanded our service offer to include a robust Individual Learning Plan offer followed by the launch of the Community Inclusion and Young Adult learning streams to better meet the needs of the Tower Hamlets communities. We have also established an amazing garden and classroom to offer a yearlong weekly gardening offer at Mudchute Park and Farm.
Alongside this work we have continued to offer carefully curated courses which are designed to meet local population health needs, demands and changes happening in our day to day living. Amongst all of this growth and expansion, our peer tutors have remained the beating heart of our service, ensuring that the lived experience voice remains at the centre of all of our work and courses. As this will be our last term we are holding a number of courses that we have run previously but remain in demand or are relevant to the current needs of the local Tower Hamlets population and will be delivered against the high quality standards that we have always held ourselves to.
The new East London Recovery College will be open on the 1st of April 2026, meaning the Tower Hamlets Recovery College will close on 31st of March 2026.
In line with the formal procedures, we do not know who will be employed in this service and our staff team are going through the necessary processes to establish what their next steps will be. Whilst this is a difficult time, we want to convey that we all remain committed to the Tower Hamlets Recovery College and are keen to preserve the amazing journey we have had until our closure. In doing so, we will hold an end of term and closing of the college event which we open to all students, families, carers friends and staff to attend. If you are interested in this please ensure that you contact us and that we have your most up to date contact details.
Before signing off the final Tower Hamlets Recovery College prospectus, I would like to take this opportunity to express a special thanks and expression of sincerest appreciation to Marisa Bouman, Dr. Lucja Kolkiewicz and all the experts by profession who have contributed to the college along the way. These people have supported the college by taking time out of their existing roles to coproduce courses, advocate for the college and many other ways of supporting and representing us. Without these amazing peoples earnest commitment behind the scenes we would not have been able to deliver this service at the standard and quality we have done.
It has been one of my greatest honours in my career to manage this service and lead the amazing team that work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that this service is delivered professionally with the needs of the local population as the priority. I am ever inspired by their goodness, courage and work ethic and it is bittersweet to say goodbye but I am comforted and excited to know that they will share this forward beyond Tower Hamlets and into their careers.
But alongside this, what has always given me the greatest joy at work is the privilege and gift of knowing our amazing students. Thank you to all students past and present for trusting us with your journey, for sharing your highs and lows with us and creating the community we are so honoured to be in. Without you we would not be here today, we would not have overcome challenges over the years and we would not be looking at the prospect of the Recovery College expanding over East London. Thank you so much!
With the humblest of thanks and appreciation, for the last time, welcome to the Tower Hamlets Autumn Term 2026!