The Wheels Project has been delivering progressive education programmes in motor vehicle studies to disadvantaged and disaffected teenagers since 1979.  They work with students referred from a range of agencies such as Schools, Alternative Learning Provisions, Youth Groups and the Criminal Justice System. The young people arrive with poor academic performances, lack of self-confidence and little ambition. The Wheels Project changes this so that the students start to re-engage with education, particularly in numeracy and literacy skills, with in 2024, 83% of Year 11 enrolling at a FE college.

​

It costs Wheels about £300,000 a year to run programmes from its workshops in Brislington. They receive 30% in course fees from referral agencies each year and rely on Charitable Trusts and Foundations to make up the balance.  John James Bristol Foundation has supported The Wheels Project every year since 1996 in order to enable them to sustain their valuable services.