St. Wilfrid’s Academy has been invited to take part in an exciting pilot to provide intensive multi-agency support to vulnerable children and young people in Alternative Provision (AP) most at risk of disengaging with education, being criminally exploited by gangs and becoming involved in county lines and knife crime.
This programme responds to the known issue: that vulnerable young people in AP are at high risk of disengaging from education and becoming involved in serious violence and county lines.
It will test the impact of co-locating in AP schools, specialist workers from across health, education, social care, youth services and youth justice. Co-locating this workforce full-time in AP should remove the need for referrals to outside services and provide opportunities for practitioners to build trusted relationships with AP pupils.
The pilot will run for 2 academic years, with a focus on reducing truancy, NEET rates, involvement in serious violence, and improving mental health and well-being.
If successful, the intention will be to encourage wider adoption of this approach improving the specialist skills in AP schools by enhancing the relationships between AP schools and the wider landscape of local partnerships.
More details on the pilot and its impact will appear here following its official launch in Autumn 2021.