About us

You will find answers to questions like, “what help can I get at school?”, “who can help me with learning?” and “what is an educational psychologist?”.

You can have your say on the young people's blog and find out what's on in your area by using the map of clubs. You can also send Enquire an email with your queries or feedback, get our contact numbers and download all our guides.

There are downloadable voice recordings and videos for people who use British Sign Language (BSL).

If you are thinking, “What is Enquire?”, here is a story about a boy, which will explain a bit more.

I'm not going to use his real name; we're going to call him Sam...

Meet Sam

Sam loves music, hates swimming, loves computers, likes maths and doesn't like reading. He's 14. His favourite food is carrots, and his best mate is Anil, who laughs at him for eating carrots all the time, but is generally a good lad.

Sam and Anil have got Standard Grade exams next year, which Sam's not too bothered about apart from English and French, which he finds really hard. Sam goes to see the learning support teacher once a week to do extra English and French work. He prefers to use a computer to write because, as he says, his handwriting turns into a total mess when he tries to write quickly, and computers point out your spelling mistakes.

Sam emails about getting help

Sam comes across the Enquire website when he was surfing the web at home one evening. He reads the bit about getting ready for exams, and it gets him thinking, so he sends Enquire this email.

“Hi people at Enquire. My name is Sam and I'm doing my Standard Grade exams next year. I get extra help with English and French work because I have dyslexia. Will I get extra time for my exams?”

Enquire suggests talking to a teacher

“Hi Sam, thanks for your email. We can't tell you if you will get extra time for your exams, but we can say that the law says you should get it if you need it to be able to do your best. The thing to do is to ask either your form teacher, your guidance teacher or your learning support teacher about it — or you can ask your parent or carer to do that if you don't want to.

You can get different kinds of help with exams including extra time, someone to help you read the questions or write the answers, and sometimes people use computers instead of writing. Think about what might help you, and try to make sure you get the chance to do a practice exam — a prelim — with any extra help you are going to get before the main exams. Hope that answers your question — email again if you want to ask anything else.”

Sam gets a meeting with the deputy head

Sam's form teacher Mrs Craig is really nice, so the next day he tells her that he thinks that using a computer to write his answers would help him to do his best in his exams. She says she is pleased he's asking about this, and that she will speak to the deputy head about it. Three days later, Mrs Craig tells Sam that the deputy head wants to have a meeting with him. This makes Sam a bit worried, and he tells Anil what's happened. Anil says he should email Enquire again, so he does...

“Hi Enquire people. Help! I asked my form teacher Mrs Craig about getting a computer to do my exams, and now the deputy head wants to have a meeting with me. Am I in trouble? And what will I do at the meeting? Sam.”

Enquire gives advice about the meeting

Enquire emails Sam back,

“Hi Sam. Thanks for your email. It's OK, you're not in trouble for asking about this. It's really good that you are asking for help and remember, if you do need something extra to make sure that you can do your best in exams, then the law says you should get it.

There are a few things you can do to make your meeting easier. Number one, find out why the deputy head wants to see you (perhaps ask Mrs Craig). Once you know what the meeting is for, you can plan what you want to say. It's probably so that the deputy head can ask you why you think a computer would help you, so write down (or type up) your reasons and take these notes with you to the meeting to remind you. You could ask Mrs Craig or your parent or carer to come to the meeting too — they could even make your points for you if you don't want to.

Remember, you have done the right thing by asking for extra help. Well done and good luck. Email us anytime if you have any more questions.”

Sam gets his point across...

After reading this, Sam decides he will go to see Mrs Craig again. She reassures him that he is definitely not in trouble, and that she will come with him to see the deputy head. Sam types up his reasons for wanting a computer, and they go to the meeting. The deputy head listens to Sam, and says that he is glad Sam is thinking ahead. He says he'll speak to the learning support teacher about the computer.

and gets his computer

Three months later, Sam sends this email to Enquire:

“Hi Enquire people. Just to let you know that I sat my Standard Grade prelims the other day. I used a computer for everything apart from Maths. It really helped, and I'll get one again for the main exams. Cheers, Sam.”

The end!

So, if you have a question about school or help with learning, you can do what Sam did and email us, or you can use the phone or textphone to get in touch. Anything you tell or ask us will be keep private, unless you tell us you are being harmed by someone. We'll do our very best to give you information and ideas whatever your question.

Click here for answers to your questions about using the helpline.