Forming an Alliance to Provide Wrap Around Support to Families

This presentation will examine a case study conducted in Peterborough, England. Peterborough had one of the worst school drop out rates in the UK and an alliance was established to support vulnerable children who were at risk of dropping out of school, this was happening for a host of reasons such as anti social behaviour, gang involvement, fighting at school, or simply not turning up. What was very quickly identified is that in almost all instances where children were at risk of dropping out of school, they were living with violence at home. There were situations where children were witnessing violence in the evening, not being fed, and not getting any sleep, who were then turning up at school the next day and not being able to engage because of the trauma they were reliving at the back of the classroom. The school, with no idea why the pupil was so distant and not doing any homework, were not able to provide the support that the student needed and the student became incredibly vulnerable to dropping out of school. By providing a wrap around approach where the child is able to receive the support they need from the safety of the school, school becomes a safe place. The project ended up with Peterborough going from 2 drop outs a week, to around that number in a year. The project has since then been adapted for the unique challenges that Australian families face, and can be used to provide the same support to children here.