Parent Guide App Prototype

A prototype digital tool being developed to help families navigate Additional Learning Needs support in Wales.

The Parent Guide App is currently in prototype stage. It is not yet a fully operational mobile product.

We are seeking funding to develop this prototype into a fully operational mobile platform with appropriate technical leadership and supervised student developer support.

At this stage, the prototype helps demonstrate direction of travel, test ideas, and show how digital navigation tools could support families more effectively in future.

View the prototype Send feedback

How this fits within our wider model

Learn Without Limits CIC supports families through three connected stages:

  • Prevent - guidance, information, and tools to help families navigate earlier
  • Bridge - re-engagement and confidence-building when education begins to break down
  • Progress - return routes into school, college, training, or work through handover to statutory or mainstream systems

The App Prototype sits within the Prevent layer. Its role is to make information, navigation, and practical support easier to access earlier.

Prevent, Bridge and Progress

A simple view of how Learn Without Limits helps families earlier, supports re-engagement when education begins to break down, and then signposts progression through onward handover.

Diagram showing Prevent, Bridge and Progress model. Prevent focuses on early support and guidance. Bridge focuses on re-engagement and confidence-building. Progress is return to school, college, training or work through statutory or mainstream systems.

Progress itself is usually delivered by schools, colleges, training providers, employers, and statutory services. Learn Without Limits helps families engage earlier, more clearly, and more effectively before handover.

What the prototype is for

The prototype is helping us test how families might use a digital tool to find clearer routes through the ALN system in Wales.

  • testing structure and navigation
  • exploring how guidance can be organised more clearly
  • showing funders and partners what a future mobile tool could become
  • learning from lived experience and feedback before full development

What it is not yet

  • not yet a fully developed mobile app
  • not yet a finished public product
  • not yet a replacement for professional advice or statutory services
  • not yet the final technical build we intend to scale

What the future app may include

  • clear guidance on Welsh ALN pathways
  • parent FAQs and practical navigation support
  • printable templates for letters, requests, and IDP-related processes
  • signposting to trusted resources and community support
  • wellbeing and reflection tools for families under pressure

These features are still being shaped through iterative development, lived experience, and testing.

Why funding matters

The prototype demonstrates the concept, but moving from prototype to a properly operational mobile platform will require technical leadership, development capacity, and structured delivery.

Our aim is to secure funding for a CTO or technical lead who can oversee a safe move to a mobile stack and supervise student developers appropriately.

This would allow us to build a more robust, accessible, and sustainable digital tool for families across Wales.

Looking for practical guidance now?

If you need clear information and guidance today, our Blog is currently the strongest live part of the Prevent layer.

Read the Blog

When education has already broken down

If your family needs support after disruption, Bridge is the part of our model focused on re-engagement, confidence-building, and structured pathways.

Explore Bridge

Feedback and interest

We welcome grounded feedback on the prototype, as well as interest from potential collaborators, technical supporters, and funders.

Share feedback or get in touch