Our Story
By Jonathan Davies
The SMS journey started in 2007. I had previously spent time abroad in the United States and Thailand as a professional footballer and sports coach. During this time I felt privileged to work with some of the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities in society and I knew then that I wanted to make a difference and give back. When I returned to the UK, I set up a coaching company, working in schools and football clubs. As part of this, I was asked to go into mainstream and SEN schools to help the students who were not engaging well in their education. This was where I found my passion – helping the young people who needed a little extra.
Using sports as the key motivating factor – focussing on football, boxing and fitness – I developed a variety of programmes to help these young people.
Within a few years, I had set up my own Alternative Provision for schools and PRUs to access with their disengaged young people.
Over time, students wanted to access a wider range of sports and an educational curriculum while they were with SMS, so I found a site where I built a specialist provision offering a wide variety of vocational options.
We built our school in Ferranti House in Failsworth in 2017 and have nurtured and educated over 200 young people since then with our unique offer of academic and vocational learning.
In June 2019 we gained our Independent School status for SMS Changing Lives School, and now operate with a full time school offer and Alternative Provision side by side catering to young people from all over Greater Manchester. In 2023, as the demand for our education services has grown, we opened a new school site in Old Trafford.
SMS Coaching Changing Lives School is proud to Educate, Motivate & Inspire hard-to-reach young people. Our objective is to embed valuable life skills within a nurturing education package, helping to prepare and empower our students to take on the challenges of day-to-day living and work towards living a more independent life.
Jonathan Davies
Proprietor & Business Development