Category of Solution: Work Readiness
Solution Name:Â The Zaian Centre, CroydonÂ
Your Name, Position and Submission Date: Joy Madeiros, Founding Director, Oasis UK
Solution Description: (3-5 sentences including educational setting e.g. primary, secondary school, FE college etc.):Â
2021 was the worst on record for teenage murders in London. There were 30 in total. Five happened in Croydon - more than any other borough in the capital. The fifth was the fatal stabbing of 15 year-old Zaian Aimable-Lina, an Oasis student, on 30th December.Â
Each of the five young people murdered in Croydon last year was killed by someone who had been excluded from school. The result of being permanently excluded/sent to alternative provision often further distances a child from developing the social, emotional and intellectual capabilities that enable a young person to progress on to further education and employment. 86% of boys in young offender institutions have previously been excluded from school.
Oasis has since committed to creating a legacy in Zaian’s memory with the aim of ending the borough’s reputation as 'London's knife crime capital', and creating a model that can be applied across the UK.Â
The model will focus on providing ‘navigation’: ongoing one-to-one personal support and mentoring for every young person at risk of exclusion.Â
Potential for systemic impact (EXCLUDING Equity)? (What does success look like? What would we see differently in our education system if the solution were widely adopted?)Â
Success will be fewer young people being excluded/more students staying in mainstream education with fewer referrals to alternative provisions/also known as Pupil Referral Units, with improved wellbeing and therefore improved attendance and achievement.  Â
(Just 7% of children who were permanently excluded and 18% of children who received multiple fixed period exclusions achieve good passes in English and maths GCSEs. Only 4.5% of pupils educated in AP achieved a good pass in English and maths at GCSE).
Can the solution also improve Equity? (explain)Â
The groups most likely to be excluded include:
Children with special education needs or and/or a disability (SEND), particularly children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) including in relation to attachment and trauma
Children who have been supported by social care including Children in Need, looked after children and those who have left local authority care via adoption, Special Guardianship or a Child Arrangement Order
Irish, Black Caribbean, Mixed Race, Gypsy and Roma children.
Children eligible for free school meals, boys and older pupils.
Barriers to adoption relating to Accountability Rules and Funding Formulae: (e.g. schools don’t get P8 points, Ofsted doesn’t really care, most schools don’t have a budget for the solution)Â
In order to provide navigators, Oasis is already partnering with a large range of small and local ‘grass-roots’ youth work, youth mentoring, and parent support organisations, that have grown up in Croydon, often out of a particular tragedy. In working with these types of organisations, there will also be hurdles to overcome e.g:
Demonstrating to schools that the scheme is safe/the right safeguarding standards are n place, that the navigators are accredited, that the scheme will keep student personal data safeÂ
Once the system is established, that it is worth investing in such a service as there is no time or resource in schools to help run such a service
As part of the work of the Zaian Centre Oasis will offer all navigators:
Training around contextual safeguarding, attachment and trauma awareness, bias informed understanding and restorative practice, etc. Â
Supervision and a ‘kite mark’ guarantee of competency and assurance.
Inclusion on an easy-to-use website for local schools listing quality assured providers
Barriers to adoption (other):Â
If grass-roots agencies survive, they are normally badly funded, forced to bid competitively for short-term grants and contracts, and measured by equally short-term outcomes rather than any long-term benefit. There is little if any co ordination of these agencies, meaning that some groups get overlooked or there is replication.Â
The Zaian centre will, and is already beginning to, create an umbrella of inclusion and recognition to these groups.
This will require resource and skill to co ordinate local groups and willing volunteers.Â
Additional comments?: (What haven’t I asked?)Â