Charity Partner Spotlight: Creating Tomorrow Trust – opening doors, changing lives
Meet Creating Tomorrow Trust – one of our charity partners – read about their work, their ambitions and why they want Brackmills businesses to be part of their story
When we introduced our new charity partnership model in 2025…moving away from a single Charity of the Year to support five causes at once…one of the organisations chosen was Creating Tomorrow Trust. It was a natural fit. Brackmills is home to more than 180 businesses and 18,000 employees, many in logistics and manufacturing. Creating Tomorrow Trust exists to help young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) prepare for exactly the kind of working world that Brackmills represents.
Here, we talk to Stacey Morris, Community and Employer Engagement Business Partner, about the Trust’s work, its ambitions, and why it needs businesses like those on Brackmills to be part of the story.
A family of SEN schools and colleges across the region
Creating Tomorrow Trust is a multi-academy trust – a family of special educational needs schools and colleges serving young people across Northamptonshire, with campuses also in Lutterworth and soon in Warwickshire. The Trust supports learners aged four to 23, with needs ranging from autism, ADHD and social, emotional and mental health challenges, to complex and profound learning difficulties.
“We have a real variety of different settings that specialise in different areas,” says Stacey. “But everything that we do is around preparation for adulthood. We look at that young person as an adult and then work backwards to see how we can help them to achieve that goal.”
That goal looks different for every young person. For some it means gaining paid employment. For others it may be supported living, volunteering in the community, or achieving greater independence through skills such as travel training. The curriculum is practical and hands-on, because as Stacey explains, these young people cannot learn everything in a classroom.
“They need to be able to have that sensory experience, to be exposed to different environments and really understand whether it’s something they can cope with, and whether it’s something they’ll actually enjoy.”
Learning where it matters: campuses inside real workplaces
One of the most distinctive aspects of the Trust’s approach is where its college-level learners study. Rather than placing them in standalone college buildings that simply replicate school, Creating Tomorrow has established campuses inside real working environments. Learners study at Chester House in Wellingborough, Iron Mountain fulfilment centres in Kettering and Lutterworth, and the Icon Centre in Daventry.
“Transition is one of the biggest challenges,” says Stacey. “Transitioning from education into college, or from college into the workplace. Having our campuses based within workplaces bridges that gap. Learners have to adapt their behaviour, get used to being in a different environment, and understand what it takes for an organisation to run. It’s a stepping stone.”
All college-level students have been identified as wanting to work, as being able to work, and as having family support in place to make employment a realistic next step. The Trust then works hard to make sure employers are ready to receive them.
A talented workforce that employers are missing
Here is a statistic that stops people in their tracks. Nationally, fewer than 5% of people with additional needs end up in employment, and yet more than 65% want to work. The gap is not about ability or motivation. It is about barriers in recruitment processes, assumptions made in interviews, and a lack of employer confidence around disability.
“Unless you’ve had lived experience of being around somebody with an additional need, it’s really easy to make assumptions based on what you read in the press,” says Stacey. “Some organisations have sat in an interview and thought, they haven’t given me eye contact, they can’t answer those questions the way I expected, so it’s a no. But that doesn’t stop their ability to do the job.”
The rise of AI-driven recruitment and automated screening is making this harder still, with many talented young people unable to get past the first hurdle. Stacey’s role exists precisely to tackle this: working with employers to build their confidence, challenge their assumptions, and help them see what they might be missing.
“This isn’t a charitable thing to do,” she is clear. “It’s a workforce strategy. It’s about addressing untapped talent and filling gaps. In somewhere like Brackmills, with its logistics and manufacturing businesses and real skill shortages, there are young people who could fill those roles. Employers who are struggling to recruit should be thinking about this.”
And when those employers do take the step? The results speak for themselves. “If you speak to employers who have taken on our learners, they will tell you they are the most dedicated and loyal employees they have,” says Stacey. A proud moment for Creating Tomorrow is the success of one of their long‑standing alumni learners, a young man who attended one of their schools, progressed through the college, secured a job at GXO through a supported internship, and has now been offered his first mortgage… all before the age of 25. His journey shows just how life‑changing the right support can be when it’s done well.
What the Brackmills partnership means in practice
Since being selected as one of Brackmills BID’s charity partners, Creating Tomorrow Trust has already started building connections across the estate. Stacey presented to one of the BID’s working groups and has been working with Festo, who reached out to develop a SEN version of their STEM workshop programme, a partnership Stacey describes as exactly the kind of relationship the Trust is looking for.
“Even if the conversations don’t immediately create something for our learners, they start to change mindsets and practices,” says Stacey. “For me, it’s about changing cultures and getting people to think differently, and that benefits everybody.”
There is also a longer-term ambition: to involve some of the Trust’s learners in BID community projects, giving them real-world experience while contributing to the estate’s initiatives.
There is already good practice happening on Brackmills – One example being ILG which has approximately 20% of its workforce classified as having a disability. Stacey is encouraged and hopes to see more businesses taking a similar approach.
“It shouldn’t be pockets of good practice,” she says. “It should be everywhere. It should just be part of our culture.”
How can Brackmills businesses get involved?
Creating Tomorrow Trust is not looking for businesses to do them a favour. They are looking for genuine partnership, and they are flexible about what that looks like. Whether it is offering a workplace visit so young people can see what a real business environment feels like, sending someone in to give a talk about their career, offering work experience, sponsoring an enterprise project, or simply starting a conversation about becoming more disability confident, all of it is welcome.
The Trust’s website also has a dedicated Futures Hub with a section specifically for employers, where you can find out more about how a partnership could work for your organisation.
If you would like to find out more or start a conversation, contact Stacey Morris directly or visit the employer section of the Creating Tomorrow Trust Futures Hub.
