Mayor reveals driving factors behind violence affecting young people and invests in support for almost 100,000 more young Londoners

20/01/2022

by admin with No Comment News & Updates Press Articles Reports

City Hall publishes its most detailed analysis yet which lays bare the extent of the link between violence and poverty, deprivation and unemployment
Latest figures show that the overall number of knife crime victims under 25 is down, with youth violence, knife crime and gun crime also falling
Evidence shows the pandemic has exacerbated the factors that put young people at risk of being affected by violence
Sadiq sets out his commitment to provide positive opportunities for young Londoners and to give them hope for a brighter future

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today announced his commitment to support almost 100,000 more young Londoners over the next year, investing in opportunities to help them thrive and to help divert them away from violence.

Today, Sadiq has published new City Hall analysis that reveals the complex factors at play in people’s lives, homes and communities that can alter the likelihood of someone taking the wrong path and getting caught up in violence. This includes deep-rooted and ingrained social and economic issues such as poverty, inequality, high unemployment, school exclusions, poor mental health and a lack of youth services.

The new research City Hall released today shows that all 10 of the boroughs with the highest rates of victims of serious violence have higher rates of child poverty than the London average.

The analysis also shines a light on how violence is having a disproportionate impact on young Black Londoners who are significantly overrepresented, both as victims and offenders. For instance, Black teenage boys are six times more likely to be killed by violence than white boys in London.

Delivering a major speech at The Black Prince Community Trust in Lambeth, the Mayor will highlight the worrying impact the pandemic has had on young Londoners.

Research has demonstrated the link between high rates of unemployment and levels of violence, and City Hall analysis reveals the pandemic has exacerbated the factors that put young people at risk of becoming involved in, or a victim of, violence, by pushing more young Londoners into unemployment and poverty. For example, Universal Credit claims have risen by nearly 130 per cent – with the highest increases in the top five boroughs for rates of serious youth violence.

London also has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the country as the city has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic and the huge impact on the sectors such as hospitality.

More than a fifth of those aged 16-24 are currently unemployed, an increase of two per cent since 2019. [2] Six of 10 boroughs with the highest increases in unemployment are also in the top 10 boroughs for serious violence. [3] This is just one of the reasons that the Mayor was clear that a top priority for his second term in office would be ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ for Londoners. Through the Mayor’s schemes he is offering every Londoner who is unemployed or earning under the London living wage the chance to enrol on a course to retrain and help them find employment.

Reducing violence and making London safer is the Mayor’s number one priority. New analysis from City Hall shows that all types of serious violence experienced by young people have fallen over the last four years. Figures show that violence was falling in London before the pandemic, and over the past year knife crime, youth violence and gun crime have come down further. [1]. The research shows that serious crimes such as knife crime resulting in injury is down 36 per cent and under-25 knife crime has reduced 48 per cent, compared to the peak in the twelve months to December 2017. But the Mayor is clear there is much more to do to stop young lives being lost to senseless violence, and to prevent violence from happening in the first place.

Speaking in south London today about the commitment to redouble efforts to reduce violence as London recovers from the pandemic, Sadiq will set out how he will continue to be both tough on crime and tough on the complex causes of crime. This means ensuring the police have the resources they need to bear down on criminality, gangs and the drugs market, as well as the importance of investing in positive opportunities for young Londoners to give them hope for the future.

The Mayor set up London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) – the first in England – to deliver programmes that support young Londoners through education, training and help into employment. Sadiq will today announce that over the course of the next 12 months, City Hall and the VRU will be delivering a combined package of measures that will support almost 100,000 more young Londoners.

On his pledge to empower and invest in the future of young Londoners the Mayor is expected to say:

“Every death as a result of this needless violence is an utter tragedy. It leaves lives destroyed and families grieving, it tears communities apart, fuels fear and deprives our city of so much talent.

“The latest figures show that the overall number of knife crime victims under 25 is down by 39 per cent compared to 2019, and by 31 per cent compared to 2018. Overall, youth violence has been going down. Knife crime has been going down. And gun crime has been going down. The level of violence impacting young Londoners remains far too high and we clearly have a long way to go, but it’s important that we acknowledge signs of progress so that we can learn from what’s starting to work and build upon it.

“My main message today is not one of despair, rather a message of determination that we are redoubling our efforts to reduce violence as we recover from the pandemic.

“A crucial part of the solution is always going to be supporting the police to bear down relentlessly on criminality, which I will continue to do. But we must be both tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. Because the truth is we know there’s a complex set of factors at play in people’s lives, homes and communities, which can alter the likelihood of someone taking the wrong path and getting involved in violence.

“The vast majority of young Black Londoners are not involved in violence in any way. But young Black Londoners are significantly more likely to be a victim or a perpetrator of serious violence. That’s because it’s not skin colour that determines your chances of being a victim or an offender, but societal and economic factors, such as the disproportionate rates of poverty, unemployment and school exclusions that affect Black lives.

“When I highlight these conditions associated with violence, I’m not excusing criminality in any way. But any sensible society understands that it’s in our own interest to remove the conditions that allow criminality to thrive. To provide positive opportunities for young Londoners who could otherwise be vulnerable to exploitation. To proactively tackle the structural barriers and racial inequality that Black Londoners face – from housing and poverty to education and the workplace. And to give young Londoners hope for a brighter future.

“Surely, we must all want young Londoners to feel like they have a stake in society, rather than feeling so hopeless that they’re willing to stake their lives for so little.

“I’m pleased to announce that next year – over the course of just 12 months – we’ll be stepping up our work with a package of measures that will support almost 100,000 more young Londoners.”

Notes to editors

The new analysis, published by the Greater London Authority’s City Intelligence Unit, looks at the driving factors behind young people becoming involved in or a victim of violence.

This reveals the link between violence and school exclusions, deprivation and poverty, including areas where people are most likely to struggle to access food. In addition, the research highlights the disproportionate impact violence is having on young Black Londoners.

Understanding the most serious violence among young people in London, Greater London Authority’s City Intelligence Unit: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/serious-youth-violence

Key findings:

Young Black Londoners are disproportionately represented amongst the victims of all types of serious violence – they are three times more likely than young White Londoners to be a victim of knife crime, and five times more likely to be a victim of homicide.
Rates of offending for the most serious violence, knife crime and homicide were highest for those aged 15-19
Under 25s knife crime (non-DA) down 48% compared to its peak in the twelve months to December 2017
Total knife crime resulting in injury was 36% lower than the peak recorded in twelve months to November 2017
Gun crime was 50% below the peak recorded in twelve months to July 2017
Lethal barrelled gun discharges were 52% lower than the peak recorded in the twelve months to December 2018
Burglary was 34% below the volume recorded in the peak period of twelve months to October 2019
Absence rates from secondary school were also a significant factor in predicting Boroughs with the highest rates of offending relating to serious violence [1]
London has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the country. More than a fifth of those aged 16-24 are currently unemployed, an increase of two per cent since 2019. [2] Six of 10 boroughs with the highest increases in unemployment are also in the top 10 boroughs for serious violence. [3]
During the pandemic, Universal Credit claims have increased by 186 per cent in Brent and 177 per cent in Newham – two of the top five boroughs for rates of offending.[4]
54,000 young people aged 16-24 in London claimed unemployed-related benefits in October 2021 – 7.3 per cent of Londoners in that age group, up from 3.8 per cent in March 2020.[5]
The number of food parcels given out by the Trussell Trust more than doubled in London in 2020/21 – higher than in any other part of the country. Seven of the boroughs with the largest increase were also in the top 10 for serious violence.[6]

Refences

[1] Understanding the most serious violence among young people in London, Greater London Authority’s City Intelligence Unit: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/serious-youth-violence

[2] ONS Labour Force Survey

[3] ONS Claimant count by sex and age

[4] Department for Work and Pensions most recent data for March-September 2021

[5] ONS Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information

[6] Trussell Trust report: https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/end-year-stats/

SOURCE TAKEN FROM: https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/driving-factors-behind-violence-affecting-young-pehttps://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/driving-factors-behind-violence-affecting-young-pe

Stop and Search

14/01/2022

by admin with No Comment Knife Crime Legal & Law Press Articles

Stop and search has been a controversial feature of policing for decades. You might think it was being reduced, in a post-Macpherson, post-Black Lives Matter world, where people have been talking about how to decrease the grossly disproportionate overpolicing of black communities for so long. But shockingly, provisions in the policing bill will widely increase its use and water down the need for suspicion in a number of ways. If it passes, the bill will enable police to stop and search people subject to certain orders at any time without any suspicion; and anyone at all in a certain area, if they believe certain types of protests might take place nearby.

Opinion

I’m a police officer, and I fear increased powers of stop and search will undermine public trust

Andy George

We know that stop and search is overwhelmingly used on one particular group: black people are at least eight times as likely as their white counterparts to be stopped and searched. The constant threat of stop and search makes young black men and boys nervous around the police; it chips away at trust and respect and means the very people who are meant to be viewed as protectors, are viewed as oppressors.

Community engagement needs to be seen as crime prevention and essential to effective policing. Gangs thrive where policing is not legitimate and if we want to protect communities from the minority of people involved in serious violence, we must ensure we have meaningful and long-term community engagement in the most deprived areas. Real crime prevention requires police to work with communities to build trust so that they feel confident in letting us know who is causing most harm. You simply cannot enforce your way out of serious violence.

I know that all too well from my time spent living and policing in Northern Ireland, which witnessed the most violent and protracted conflict to take place in the UK in living memory. I joined as a constable in 1999 and spent 10 years in the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s armed response unit before being promoted to inspector. In 1999, we had about 13,500 police officers, backed up by more than 7,000 military personnel with static checkpoints going into most towns and cities.

I have no doubt the use of stop and search in Northern Ireland saved lives, but despite the heavy footprint and use of powers, the killing still continued until we sat down with those engaged in the violence and put measures in place to deal with the causes of violence. Now, we police a larger population with about 7,000 police officers, and with no military personnel routinely patrolling with us. Despite the progress that has been made, we still have active paramilitaries coercing and exploiting the community; these paramilitaries thrive in areas where trust in the police is low and where communities feel powerless to speak out against them. Individuals will often work with the police if they are treated with courtesy and respect instead of as suspects with no sufficient grounds.

Both the College of Policing and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary have questioned the effectiveness of existing stop-and-search powers in the detection and prevention of crime. Both bodies concluded that the overuse and misuse of the power has clearly undermined public trust and confidence in the police, specifically among Black and Asian communities who are so disproportionately targeted.

These warnings should be heeded. It’s often said that it’s natural for police to want ever more powers. The old adage is it’s for police to ask and the minister to say no. In this case, though, important voices from within policing, and policing oversight bodies, are united in their opposition to the increased use of stop-and-search powers included within the policing bill. The last thing we need is more of what doesn’t target the causes of crime or reduce serious violence.

Andy George is president of the National Black Police Association

Source:

Supervision and effective social work practice

14/01/2022

by admin with No Comment Health & Wellbeing Mental Health Reports

Professional supervision is central to effective social work. I think we can all agree on that. It plays an important role in the wider functioning of any children’s social care organisation. It is good to see the government setting out the role of practice supervisors in its knowledge and skills statements: not much to argue with there.

Children’s social work can be highly pressured and, at times, extremely stressful. So, whether you’re a frontline social worker, team manager or working with children in another social care setting, effective supervision helps you to do your job well.

Supervision involves talking through the impact the work has on you personally, as well as exploring decision-making. It is vital for practitioners’ well-being, professional development, and management oversight. Most importantly, supervision helps you to achieve the best possible outcomes for children.

What does good ‘reflective’ supervision look like?

For Ofsted, supervision is an important part of the conversations that inspectors have with frontline workers. Has it benefited an approach to a particular case? Has it helped professional development? Inspectors will always look for evidence of the quality and impact of any supervision.

As ever, there is no particular model that works best. In the areas that do supervision well, we see many components coming together to make sure that it works.

In these places, supervision takes place in an environment and relationship that feel safe, both to the supervisor and the supervisee. It is emotionally supportive, but challenges practitioners to truly reflect on their practice and on the needs of the children and families they are supporting.

Effective supervision relationships allow practitioners to develop personally and professionally through trust, honesty and empathy. When done well, supervision contributes to how staff performance is managed, and includes practice development and teaching and coaching.

Individual supervision can also be enhanced by (but not substituted for) group support and challenge. The right balance has to be struck between recording group and individual supervision.

How supervision ‘feels’ is important

Having been both supervisor and supervisee, I know that how supervision ‘feels’ is important! The following questions are a good guide:

Does the way I am supervised contribute to my job satisfaction and make me want to continue to work for this organisation?
Does it make me feel that my employer cares about me and my practice?
Does it increase my confidence, competence and critical thinking? Does it make me a more effective advocate for children?
Does it help me make better decisions for children? Am I able to change my direction of thinking when that is the right thing to do?

If the answer to these questions is yes, supervision is probably both effective and satisfying to supervisor and supervisee alike. Even more than that, it is likely to have a direct, positive impact on children and families.

Statutory children and family social work is all about managing risks and making good-quality decisions. To do this successfully, information about risks and how they are being managed needs to be shared between social workers and their managers at all levels.

In places that do it well, supervision happens in a dedicated space and time. This is helpful for practitioners because they know when to expect it and can rely on it. It forms a regular outlet to reflect on what has gone well and what has gone less well, and to learn from both.

Do inspectors expect every child’s experiences to be explored at every supervision session? No. Supervision should always be proportionate to risk: prioritising worker’s greatest worries, but over a number of sessions, making space for all children’s experiences to be discussed.

Supervision and case records

Sector colleagues often ask me what Ofsted is looking for on a good supervision record and on a child’s case record. There is, of course, some overlap between the two, and I do not want to suggest a prescriptive approach.

For some practitioners, supervision records will include getting the basics right or compliance with practice standards. For all, it should be an ambitious expectation for the best possible interventions and a place for professional dialogue and debate.

Well-recorded practitioner files will evidence how that person’s professional development has evolved through training, skills development and knowledge, and how they have applied this in their practice with children and families. It will explore responses to stress, personal ‘baggage’ and how these impact on the person’s ability to do their job.

When it comes to a child’s record, this has to serve many audiences – not least a manager’s scrutiny and a future social worker’s ability to pick up that child’s case. Will they understand how decisions were arrived at and the rationale for particular interventions? The decision-making resulting from supervision is clearly relevant here.

Critically, that same record will be used in future years, when the child, now an adult, seeks to understand their childhood and how they came to be brought up as and where they were.

Finally, let’s never lose sight of the context of children’s social work. Children and families have a right to receive help and care from properly qualified and experienced practitioners who are continually developing their practice. Effective supervision is a cornerstone of this development, while the way it is recorded is a means of evidencing that professionalism

Source :

Communicating Change

06/01/2022

by admin Uncategorized

What is Communicating Change?

Communicating change is an initiative designed to enable the greatest amount of change for individuals and their wider communities.

This is an opportunity to bring together a collective of professionals and young people to look at improved ways of managing and maintaining specific aspects of safety to produce solutions to the increase in serious youth violence and mental health challenges.

The initiative will also focus on best practices and working together in collaboration moving forward.

A special Thank You to Park View School for facilitating this event

A multi organisational event to address the impact of serious youth violence and mental health

We are constantly hearing the same narrative when it comes to "knife crime" and sadly nothing is changing! with the rise in county lines, grooming and criminal exploitation in a post covid world we feel bringing interested groups together is an effective approach to finding a host of solutions that can help to benefit young people and the wider communities that they live in.

The approach here is a specific focus on solutions and not the problem.

The challenges are not just a Tottenham problem, but a there is clearly a pandemic of issues across London and the home counties. For change we must collaborate and share best practices in order to produce a new approach to managing topics such as serious youth violence and grooming. We are inviting community leaders, local authority and statutory organisations to join us on an open forum to help find solutions that will benefit all moving forwards. Yes, there are Grassroots organisations working in isolation, tackling some of the hardest to reach young people. There are also specific organisations and charities that are at the forefront of change. However, a unified approach is needed to make sure that moving forwards enables an approach that sees organisations actively working as one to reinforce the change we need.

Young People's opinions matter

The panel and young people are invited to explore best practices that can be used by all when working together. The young people will also be from a cross section of the Tottenham community and will have strong links to the local schools and current services available to them.

The event will also be screened virtually to expand on the audience capacity.

There will also be a live Q&A that can be accessed by mobile device.

Janet Hills MBE

Community

Janet Hills MBE became the first female Chair of the Metropolitan Black Police Association in 2013 and was the National President of the NBPA from 2015-17. Her career in the London Metropolitan police service began at Brixton Police Station in 1991 and includes time in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Community Safety Unit and the Human Trafficking Unit.

She grew up in Croydon, her parents are Jamaican. In her spare time Janet is a netball coach. She is also a non executive trustee with St Giles Trust.

She was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list 2021 for services to Policing and to Community Relations.

Gwenton Sloley

Community

Independent candidate Gwenton Sloley is campaigning to be elected as the next Mayor of Hackney, he campaigns under the Hackney People Before Profit banner, wants to see more help for people suffering from the last two years.

“The whole community needs access to trauma support,” he said.

As one of the founders of the London Gang Exits programme, he works to help keep young people from getting involved in crime.

He arrived in Hackney from Jamaica and grew up on Gunton Road in Stoke Newington.

Anthony Peltier

Education

Special Constable Anthony Peltier is a real life community champion and hero. A Head Teacher by day and a Met Assistant Chief Officer by night, working on the London streets for the last 20 years as a police special.

Not only is he an amazing community champion but he is also the recipient of a Binny Award for his act of bravery and Pride Of Britain award, and for the record he is one of life’s true gentlemen.

Raised on the Kingsmeade Estate in Hackney, one of the roughest estates possible, Anthony knew hardship from the very start of his life.

Lynette Charles

MIND Haringey

CEO of Mind in Haringey, where for the past 5 years she has used her extensive knowledge and experience of Mental Health and Wellbeing to lead Mind in Haringey from near closure to a position of not just surviving but thriving!

team building up the music stage for a festival, with personal protective equipment

Project Hard Graft

09/11/2021

by admin with No Comment Arts & Culture

The Project Hard Graft is a new initiative designed to help young people gain valuable skills in the events management and Construction industries. Working with young people at risk of offending and training them to be ready for work!

It will then be used for training and supporting their journeys into owning their own small business or gaining full or part time employment. Watch out for more information on this amazing project 2022!!

Undated file photo of female students walking along a corridor. Core school spending per pupil in England will remain lower in real terms than in 2009-10 despite the Government's funding boost, an analysis suggests.
Schools serving disadvantaged communities face the "biggest challenges" as they have seen larger cuts in per pupil spending over the past decade, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) researchers have warned. Issue date: Thursday September 2, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story EDUCATION Funding. Photo credit should read: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

Schools can tackle bullying by teaching children anger management and empathy, study finds

07/11/2021

by admin with No Comment News & Updates Parenting

Source: Will Hazell Education CorrespondentSeptember 2, 2021 4:34 pm(Updated 5:36 pm)

About 800,000 children are bullied each year – but research suggests schools can do something about it

Schools can effectively tackle bullying by teaching pupils skills such as anger management, conflict resolution and empathy, research has found.

The Early Intervention Foundation charity conducted a review of nearly 30 studies looking at bullying and antisocial behaviour.

It found that schools could explicitly teach skills to prevent the onset of behaviour problems and to reduce the likelihood that young people will engage in aggressive behaviour or bullying.

Getting children to practice certain positive traits helped to develop skills such as anger management, empathy, problem-solving, conflict resolution, communication and decision-making which meant they were less likely to be bullies.

The review also found that taking a “whole-school approach” to bullying – for example by creating a supportive school environment and raising awareness of mental health – is also effective in reducing aggressive behaviour.

Tackling bullying also had a number of other beneficial consequences for young people, including “improved psychological functioning, wellbeing and quality of life”, reductions in police contact and even reduced smoking, alcohol and drug use.

Schools meanwhile saw reduced participation in disciplinary procedures and less truancy.

Dr Jo Casebourne, the EIF’s chief executive, said: “Research shows bullying in the teenage years can lead to increased risk of suicide, getting in trouble with the police, anxiety disorders and a whole host of other negative outcomes.

“We know that both bully and the bullied can be adversely affected. The upside is we know that support in schools can be effective both for the bully and the victim.”

The research found that teachers were equally as effective as external professionals in delivering bullying prevention programmes.

However, teachers were less effective than technology experts when it came to providing cyberbullying prevention programmes.

In 2020, about 800,000 children in England reported that they were bullied in a given year, with 2.5 million children experiencing some form of bullying before the age of 18.

If a young person experiences bullying during their teenage years it increases their risk of having an adult mental health problem by more

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Pupils face income loss of £46,000 due to Covid disruption

06/11/2021

by admin with No Comment News & Updates

Children and young people face losing thousands of pounds in earnings during their lifetime from the impact of the pandemic on lost learning, according to new research.

Source

The figures are based on an analysis by the Education Policy Institute, which was commissioned by the Department for Education, which warns that ‘significant’ Government investment is needed to avoid lasting damage.

Based on an estimated range of learning loss, this would result in total lost lifetime earnings of between 1 and 3 per cent. In this scenario, the EPI calculated that this is likely to be at least £16,000 lost in earnings per pupil, but this could range from £8,000 to £46,000 per pupil, depending on the extent of learning loss.

These earnings losses would generate a total long-run cost of between £78bn and £463bn across the 10 million children in the education system in England. This range is likely to be a highly conservative estimate of the true long-run costs of lost learning, the thinktank states.

The Government has so far committed £3.1bn for education recovery, the EPI points out this it is a far lower proportion per pupil than that of other countries, such as the Netherlands and the United States.

The report recommends a £13.5bn fund, which is closer to the £15bn that was recommended by the Government’s own catch-up tsar Sir Kevan Collins, who resigned in the summer over the lack of Government support for his plans.

The researchers have calculated lost learning by region and pupil characteristics, and found that while pupils across the country were affected, those living in the north and the Midlands have suffered the most.

They found that, for example, in October 2020, in the first half of the autumn term, in primary maths, losses ranged from 2.0 months in the South West and 2.5 months in London, to 5.2 months in the North East and 5.8 months in Yorkshire and the Humber.

By the second half of the autumn term, average losses in maths for primary pupils had improved slightly, but were still 0.5 months in the South West and 0.9 months in London to 4.0 months in the North East and 5.3 months in Yorkshire and the Humber.

For disadvantaged pupils the gap was greater. By October 2020, average learning losses for disadvantaged pupils (those on free school meals) were 4.3 months in primary maths. By December 2020, average losses for disadvantaged pupils recovered to 3.3 months in primary maths.

How much should the Government spend on education recovery?

The Government has committed £3.1bn for education recovery in England between 2020-21 and 2024-25 – around £310 per pupil in total. In stark contrast, education catch-up plans for the Netherlands (£2,100 per pupil) and US (£1,800 per pupil) are far larger and more ambitious, the EPI said.

The report calculates that an education recovery funding package of around £13.5bn will be required by the Government.

How should funding be allocated?

For young children, the researchers’ fully-costed education recovery plans include an extra £400 million over three years for the Early Years Pupil Premium.

They also recommend funding a pilot study into the effect of higher quality early years education on young children at a cost of £83m.

The report said that funding should be allocated through a dedicated grant which provides funding to all schools, but progressively more to those in the most disadvantaged parts of the country and also by the proportion of pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium.

Other recovery interventions in the £13.5bn package should include, among other policies: an increase and extension of the Pupil Premium; extended school hours; a new continuous professional development fund for teachers: and a new 16-19 Student Premium.

Natalie Perera, chief executive of the EPI, said, ‘The Government’s existing education recovery plans have fallen well short of what the evidence says is required to support pupils – but it now has the opportunity to prioritise recovery in the forthcoming spending review.

‘Pupils in parts of the north of England and the Midlands are facing learning losses that are greater than those in other regions. Current education recovery support for young people, including the Government’s National Tutoring Programme, is yet to address these disparities – leaving the Prime Minister’s levelling up agenda under serious threat.

‘Without a bold education recovery funding settlement targeted at those pupils who need it most, any wider plans from the government to address longstanding regional inequalities are consigned to fail.’

Dr Jo Casebourne, chief executive, Early Intervention Foundation, said, ‘The report puts into perspective the shocking impact the pandemic has had on young people, especially in certain parts of the country and among more disadvantaged pupils. To ensure any programme of learning catch-up works we believe it needs to go hand-in-hand with a focus on mental health and wellbeing.

‘Past studies show the link between mental health at school age and exam results later. Without additional support for pupils’ mental health, improving attainment through tutoring and other measures, especially among those who’ve fallen furthest behind over the course of the pandemic, is unlikely to have the greatest effect.

‘It’s also very important that schools take every available opportunity to close the gap in educational outcomes between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities and their peers. We know that this gap has long-term impacts in terms of qualifications and employment and earnings, as the report highlights, and even aspects of physical and mental health into adulthood.’

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said, ‘The Government is still trying to do education recovery on the cheap. The EPI now estimates £13.5bn is needed over three years. The Government’s own recovery tsar Sir Kevan Collins proposed a package of £15bn and resigned when this was not accepted.

‘The scale of learning lost in the pandemic cannot be overcome by some short term, piecemeal measures such as catch-ups. Recovery will require years of work and investment. It is for the Government to meet that funding challenge in the Comprehensive Spending Review to make sure no child is left behind.’

A Department for Education spokesperson said, ‘We are significantly expanding the National Tutoring Programme this year, building on the progress from last year when more than 300,000 children benefited, and giving schools more flexibility to deliver tutoring that works for them and their families.

‘This investment in education recovery – of over £3 billion to date – comes on top of the £14.4bn this government is investing in schools in total over the three years up to 2022-23, helping young people leave school better educated, better skilled and ready for the world of work.’

Bexley Council commission Youth Unity to deliver Outreach Work in the borough

27/10/2021

by admin with No Comment London Borough of Bexley

Youth Unity will be working in the Bexley area over the next year giving support and reassurance to the local residents.

Our aim is to promote the positive benefits of community participation and social activism and to empower vulnerable young people with practical ways to remove violence from their lives.

Our aim of is to ensure, whether identified through formal (e.g., schools) or informal (e.g. outreach) routes, that when young people need safeguarding against serious youth violence, exploitation and other forms of vulnerability they can find support easily and to be able to trust it.

Central to building trust is ensuring a child’s need is met by the right response from parents and professionals alike so the project uses workshops to ensure they are prepared to identify and respond.

If you would like to know more please get in touch

FotoGenix-London Int Film Fest Awards 2021-11

SICK the movie, wins an award at London International Film Festival for best short screen play

27/10/2021

by admin with No Comment Arts & Culture

Paul McKenzie took seven young people over the half term and embarked on a massive film project to highlight the need for more focus on mental health, they didn’t use knives, they didn’t need guns, all that was needed was a passion to change the narrative and a drive for change.

The young people chose to address the mental health issue. So many young people are displaying early signs of mental health challenges and it is this that has inspired the making of the short film SICK. To reduce stigma, mental health needs to be seen as something that concerns us all. Using film as a platform offers a chance to bring mental health into the spotlight and raise awareness on the indicators that young people can identify with and seek help.

Discussing a film can help people with mental health problems to broach difficult subjects. Screenings of our films that focus on mental health are used to foster discussion, create empathy and reduce stigma

The Short film SICK went on to be screened exclusively at the National Gallery, making history in black history month by being the first short screenplay to ever be screened at the National Gallery. It has also been selected for awards at other festivals across the globe.

The latest project enables more young people to access training and experience in media and film, with the emphasis of accrediting these workshops for young people that find it hard to access mainstream education. These workshops will promote and enable young people to become more confident in many areas of their lives.

Paul has five sons and understands the need to be congruent in his approach to helping other young people to overcome challenges they may be facing. Paul remains proud to have contributed to some major changes in the way we address specific issues that challenge communities, especially the issues that affect our youth.