1. Tell us a little about yourself.

We are Thomas and Tony Seisay, both hairdressers and married for 9 years with two beautiful, adopted children. Collins 8, and Savannah, 3. While we are not your “normal” family, we celebrate being different and wouldn’t change a thing!

2. Where did the idea for a hairdressing academy for care experienced young people come from?

Following Covid and lockdown we decided we wanted to open a hairdressing academy. We had lots of discussions. How would we do this and where could we be based?  Most of all why did we want to do it?

It was simple really. Our children are a constant motivation for us. Unfortunately, we witnessed first-hand the struggles our son faced with being labelled ‘different’ in education. We were acutely aware that our children’s outcomes could have been very different had they not been adopted. We knew we wanted to make a positive change for care experienced young people. We felt like the mainstream education system in this country is there for the majority - we wanted to provide something available for the minority.

3. What is your vision/hope for the academy?

Our mission is to support and allow our young people to thrive and succeed in the hairdressing  industry. We want to equalise opportunities for care experienced young people and elevate them so they can stand tall next to their peers, feeling empowered and worthy. 

4. What would this opportunity offer people with care experience?

Alongside a full hairdressing qualification our learners will complete a employability programme from one of our partners Work Smart people. This will be working on range of subjects from money management to CV writing to interview techniques and will give them a qualification at the end of the programme. We also are working with 3 health and wellbeing services to provide our learner with workshops to help them build confidence and promote positive mental health.

5. Is there an age limit?

There are 3 levels to our course:

Level 1: This level is aimed at 14/15-year-olds who are disengaged with education. It focuses on several units within the hairdressing qualification.

Level 2: Full qualification on all aspects of hairdressing

Level 3:  Full qualification including more technical aspects of hairdressing

We have no age limited and we will support all care experienced people. All participants at each level will be at our training salon every week to have continuous practice. Each learner will have a minimum of 3 weeks works experience at our sister salon, Tony Robertson Hair Spa Kilwinning.

6. How can people find out more or get involved?

Email [email protected] or call Thomas on 07983476611