What makes us Unique?
What makes Us Unique ?
What makes CERA Cycloan (registered as Cycloan Education and Restorative Approaches Ltd) unique is how we blend a fully operational community bike shop with restorative social care and alternative education.
​Based in Stockport, England, we don’t just teach people how to fix bicycles—we use the bicycle as a vehicle for personal growth, community rehabilitation, and practical business education.
​The core elements that make our educational model stand out include:
​1. The Intersection of Mechanics and “Restorative Practices”
​Unlike standard vocational schools, Cycloan is deeply rooted in a restorative ethos. We work closely with local authorities, schools, and the justice system to provide alternative education for disengaged youth or individuals who have faced barriers in traditional settings.
The learning environment is intentionally designed to be, openplan, calm and collaborative, using restorative conversations to resolve conflict, build accountability, and foster self-esteem.
​2. A “Live” Business Classroom
​Students aren’t just working out of a textbook or simulated lab. They learn inside a live, fully equipped cycle workshop. Beyond learning how to index gears or mend punctures, the curriculum teaches comprehensive business acumen, including:
- ​Micro-economics: Understanding profit, loss, and the cost of manufacture.
- ​Digital Skills: Photography, I.T., and marketing to help run the online shop.
- ​Customer Service: Interacting directly with the public who come into the shop for bike servicing.
​3. Radical Sustainability and Re-cycling
​Cycloan teaches students to see value in things that others throw away. They take donated, broken bikes and completely strip them down.
- ​Refurbishment: Young people rebuild these bikes to roadworthy standards, and the revenue from sales is directly ploughed back into buying new parts for the next project.
- ​Rare and Vintage Parts: Some bike that come in to us are damaged but we use the good parts that are usable or still safe for a bicycle and offer them for sale via our website.
​4. Peer Mentoring and Lifelong Support
​The program utilizes a robust peer-mentoring scheme. Individuals who have successfully gone through the program and lived through specific hardships are trained to become mentors for the next cohort. This bridges the gap for new students, providing them with “proximate living examples” of people who have successfully changed their path.
​5. Inclusive Community Integration
Our education extends beyond the classroom walls and into the broader community.
We offer unique Parent and Child workshops where families share a mechanical workstation to learn a lifelong skill together.
Through Stockport Community Cycling Club who host community rides with a strict “only go as fast as the slowest rider” rule, ensuring absolute inclusivity,
At CERA Cycloan we provide volunteering opportunities – one of which is the opportunity to become a peer mentor – working alongside our staff members.
We offer a robust training scheme to ensure that our peer mentors are equipped with the necessary skills to pass their learning onto others who could benefit from their experience.
our story playlist
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Mentoring
Life has the uncanny ability to place boulders in your path and sometimes it can seem impossible to remove or even climb over them. Each and every person has the ability to remove these boulders, all it takes is self-belief and the confidence to act.
Accreditations
Queen's Award
In 2018 we have proudly received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (MBE for Voluntary groups) in recognition of the work CERA Cycloan has done for the community and our ongoing commitment to help people get the fresh start they need.
Cycle Mechanic workshop with 6 professional Park Tools workstations
CERA Ltd has developed a trio of cycle maintenance, business acumen, and personal development courses. These include our own professional 16 module Cycle Mechanics course, Personal Development through customer service, and Business Enterprise experience. We also include I.T., photography and marketing with students, encouraging them to understand profit, loss and business principles.
Upcycle re-cycle Workshop and online Shop
Meet The Team
Brian
Company Director
Level 3 qualified Tutor (PTLLS), Level 3 Restorative Practitioner, Level 2 Cycle Mechanic, National Standards Instructor, Qualified Ride Leader
Simon
Qualified CYTEC cycle mechanic, Qualified level 3 Tutor (PTLLS) and trainee Restorative worker.
Christine
Company Director
Accounts, Finance and administration Â
Tom
Manager in training, Qualified Level 3 Tutor (PTLLS), Restorative tutor, Level 2 Qualified Cycle Mechanic, Restorative Worker, Qualified Ride Leader and First Aider
Mike
Qualified Level 3 Tutor (PTLLS), trained restorative tutor, Level 2 cycle mechanic, and Qualified first aider
Michael
Qualified Level 3 Tutor (PTLLS) , trained restorative tutor
Level 2 cycle mechanic, National Standards Instructor, Ride Leader and Qualified First Aider
Peter
A Trusted Volunteer and Restorative Worker
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Trusted Volunteer, Cycle Mechanic, Restorative Worker
Andy
Paul
TRUSTED Volunteer, Cycle Mechanic.
Biking is Not Just a Hobby, It’s a Way of Life
At CERA Cycloan we provide volunteering opportunities – one of which is the opportunity to become a peer mentor – working alongside our staff members. We offer a robust training scheme to ensure that our peer mentors are equipped with the necessary skills to pass their learning onto others who could benefit from their experience.
Our Vision
Peer mentors possess real life experience, with an understanding of the impact of poor decision making and how such consequences have a negative impact on future choices. By sharing experiences with others, our peer mentors can pass on their knowledge on how to overcome or address issues, explain what support is available and show others how to access such support.
Our Mision
We believe peer mentors are an important cog in our educational work as they are able to share their experiences, knowledge, and in some cases expertise, with those who are experiencing life challenges.
Our bike Company partners
