The children you support deserve to stay connected to school, even when treatment comes first
AV1 gives seriously ill children a live, active presence in their home classroom during treatment and recovery. Supporting education, friendships, and a sense of normality throughout the hardest periods of their lives.
Illness takes a child out of school, which turns into isolation
Children living with serious illness, disability, or complex medical needs often experience a quieter, less visible loss: a gradual drift away from school, friendships, and the everyday structure that shapes childhood. While their peers move forward together, these children can find themselves left behind, not just academically, but socially and emotionally too.
Your charity plays a vital role in closing that gap, working to ensure these children remain connected, supported and included despite the disruption they face. Tools like AV1 can strengthen that work, offering a consistent, tangible way for children to stay part of their school community even when they cannot be there physically.
Charities are increasingly asked to show how their interventions translate into real outcomes for children: improved wellbeing, sustained engagement with education, and stronger social connection. This means prioritising solutions where the difference made is not only meaningful, but also visible and evidence-based.
A live presence in the classroom, managed and funded through your charity
Your charity receives a referral or identifies a child in need
Families, schools, hospital teams, or support workers can all initiate a referral.
AV1 is placed in the child's home school classroom
Setup is simple and typically completed immediately after a request is made.
The child joins lessons and school life from wherever they are
From a hospital ward, a living room, or a treatment centre, the child can see, hear, and speak; raise their hand; look around; and be seen as a member of their class.
Impact is visible, measurable, and easy to report
Usage data, family feedback, and qualitative outcomes can be gathered to support grant reporting and demonstrate the value of your programme to funders and trustees.
Wider package of family support
For charities, AV1 sits naturally within a wider package of family support. It complements the emotional, financial, and practical work your organisation already does
Charlie's story: how a year 13 student completed his A Levels during cancer treatment through AV1
At 17, Charlie from south London was half-way through his A-Levels and starting to think about which university to go to. These plans, however, were thrown up in the air when he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He started receiving treatment immediately, which fortunately was successful. However, it greatly damaged his immune system and left him unable to leave the house, let alone go to school.
"All of a sudden the prospect of university seemed very distant."
His treatment was at King's Hospital, which is connected to The Chartwell Cancer Trust. Chartwell are huge advocates of AV1 robots, and quickly identified them as a great solution for Charlie. He accepted, and the robot was sent to Charlie's school, while Charlie downloaded the AV1 app, ready to reconnect with his learning.
"I had almost no idea what to expect, but we filled out the forms anyway in the hope of it being mildly useful to me."
He then, through AV1, connected to school most days and participated in lessons almost as usual, adding:
"You definitely don’t want to be watched, so having the robot as the thing that people focus on - and not your actual face - is good."
Charlie was so impressed with AV1, and thankful he was given one, he wrote a letter to the company that funded it through Chartwell – called Laptops and Lipstick. In the letter he said:
"The technology surpassed any expectations that I had had by a distance. It allowed me to realise that whilst my body was unable to physically attend school, this did not affect my mind."
Incredibly, Charlie went on to achieve an A* in Politics despite his illness and 2020 exam cancellations. This helped him get a place to study politics at York University the following year, something he said at one point he thought he'd never do.
What AV1 looks like when charities lead the way
SpecialEffect, an Oxford-based charity supporting people with physical disabilities, became one of AV1's earliest UK adopters. After their founder heard about a young boy with cancer who had used AV1 to connect with schoolfriends at lunchtimes, the charity established BubbleBusters, a dedicated service providing AV1 robots to families of children who cannot attend school due to serious illness.
SpecialEffect has up to 50 robots deployed at once. The programme grew organically through family support groups and word of mouth, with children using AV1 not only for lessons but for school trips, playground time, nativity plays, visits to London Zoo, and even Ben Nevis.
The Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust provides holistic support to children and families facing childhood cancer. Recognising that social isolation during treatment was one of the most damaging aspects of serious illness, they deployed AV1 as a core part of their support offer.
The charity liaises directly with schools to set up deployments, runs a regular feedback process with families, and uses the data to report impact to funders.
Children using AV1 through the Trust have included primary pupils and those preparing for GCSEs.
Results to be proud of
Over 5000 AV1s are used to support children across UK and internationally with consistent outcomes.