Michelle Stansfield, Director of Nail it and Thrive talks about her delivery of Silver Arts Award in nail art with home educated and flexi-schooled communities and how their young people develop not only their creative and leadership skills, but the skills needed to prepare them for whatever career path they are interested in.
Nail it and Thrive is a remote Arts Award centre working primarily with young people who are home educated or flexi-schooled to help them achieve Arts Award at Bronze or Silver levels. We support young people to identify their strengths, career options and next steps towards a job that will suit them and give them enjoyment.
Where it all began
I began offering Silver Arts Award in nail art at Nail it and Thrive after I created the course for my daughter, who is very passionate about nail art! My daughter is neurodivergent and has been home-educated and, when I founded Nail it and Thrive, I was aiming to share things that I had found to be effective with her. It was about capturing the imagination of teens and near teens, sharing the therapeutic benefits of nail art and building learner’s confidence, creativity and leadership skills to help them thrive when they enter the workplace, whatever their career choice.
Since launching the Silver Arts Award course, it has become a firm favourite among the home educated and flexi-schooling communities, and we have welcomed six cohorts in its first 12 months. Nail it and Thrive is now expanding with new courses, including AI content creation which will be linked to Arts Award, planned for September 2026.
Impact and value
Many children who are home educated have had challenges at school. They may be neurodivergent, have experienced school-related trauma and/or have had other personal circumstances that have interrupted their ability to study in a school setting. The first Nail Art cohorts are now beginning to achieve their Arts Award and both parents and learners are reflecting on the positive impact they have seen.
One Nail it and Thrive student told us:
‘Since I have not been able to attend school, nails have always been the one thing I can do which allows me to forget how I am feeling, it is the only thing I can sit and do for hours without getting bored or wanting to give up’,
Her mum said to me:
‘Thank you Michelle, I cannot express how much purpose this course has given Boe!’
And another mum of a student who recently completed the award spoke about the positive impact the course had had for her daughter:
‘She’s absolutely loved the course. I’m so glad we found you!’.
For many learners who have done Silver Arts Award in nail art with Nail it and Thrive, it has provided a much-welcomed stepping stone into a career in beauty or nails, which would otherwise be inaccessible until an apprenticeship at 16. For other students the value has come from the balance it has given to their home-learning schedule and for others it has been an opportunity to develop employability skills such as leadership and organisational skills for a career they expect to start after university.
Creative ideas
I am forever blown away by the fabulous creativity of our students and the wonderful ideas they come up with and successfully deliver for Unit 1 Part A (Plan an arts challenge), Part B (Implement and review the arts challenge) and their Unit 2 arts leadership project. It is so rewarding to be able to support young people’s achievements, wellbeing and sense of purpose, no matter what their strengths and aspirations. For Unit 1 Part A (Plan an arts challenge) and Part B (Implement and review the arts challenge) young people have set themselves nail art design challenges involving fruit and animal creations in 3D gel through to planets with glittery star dust and designs that make use of a range of up-to-date nail art techniques.
For Unit 1 Part C (Review arts events), our young people review a mixture of nail art events, helping to give them inspiration for their work.
In Unit 1 Part D (Arts research), our young people contact nail artists and find out about how they got into doing nail art. Sometimes the students go and meet them in person and take notes of their discussions, sometimes they film it, other times they have e-mailed them a set of questions and got replies, or sent them questions via text message or a social media app and received answers back via the same method.
For the Silver Unit 2 arts leadership project students have, for example, enjoyed delivering skills development sessions for other people to learn how to do nail art, and run a nail-art themed pamper evening event for their family and friends.
Helping learners ‘Thrive’
I’ve had a long career leading Organisational Capability and Organisation Effectiveness functions for some of the largest employers in the UK. With a background in recruitment, apprenticeships, employee development and employee engagement and performance, I saw the need for making young people more ‘employer ready’. Importantly this is not just about getting young people more qualifications. It’s about building their confidence, wellbeing, self-awareness, career path awareness and employability skills.
I’ve blended engaging online Arts Award courses (with both live Zoom and pre-recorded delivery options) with optional ‘Thrive’ sessions. These sessions can be done 1-1 online, with parental support if the young person wants it, and we look at the learner’s strengths, their aspirations, if applicable what limiting factors they might have, and plan positive next steps for their path into employment. Many of our learners have a career aim linked to the topic of the course but that’s not always the case and certainly isn’t necessary. Whether young people want to be a successful nail technician, a doctor, an IT specialist or an accountant, we have the skills and knowledge to help them.
Additional skills
One of the things that I think makes Nail it and Thrive special is the wide range of skills we bring together to benefit the young people that engage with us. Alongside the creative skills relevant to their Arts Award course, we bring expertise in psychology, child-focused trauma therapy, neurodiversity and the worlds of both public and private sector recruitment, career development and leadership.
Some people aspire to be their own business owners too and doing Arts Award via Nail it and Thrive also provides support and encouragement for budding entrepreneurs. We’ve had students who, because of the course, have sold their work online, giving them an insight into what it is like to run their own business and the ability to develop many skills that successful business owners need.
It’s not easy for parents or children when they are thrown into a world of home education or flexi schooling when they weren’t expecting it. I’m immensely grateful for the large number of families who have trusted Nail it and Thrive to develop confidence, creativity and leadership in their young people via our courses, and I hope that we can support many more families to experience the special positive benefits that Arts Award can bring.
Find out more
To find out more about Nail it and Thrive and the courses we run for young people visit www.nailitandthrive.com, or our Facebook page.
Image: By Nail it and Thrive