The Red Balloon Learner Centre was set up in 1996 to provide a sanctuary for secondary-age students. Based in Carrie Herbert's house in the centre of Cambridge, it offers a full-time educational service for children who are suffering from bullying or have suffered some traumatic or confidence-eroding incident.

The Centre can take up to ten students at any one time. It takes young people for a negotiated period in order to, in the short term, provide them with a safe place to be, in the medium term to redress some of the negative feelings they have about themselves, and in the longer term to re-introduce them back into mainstream school.

Students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning by choosing the subjects they wish to study, negotiating tasks and goals, and evaluating their own progress.