15 March 2019 weekly update

Dear Colleagues

Supporting Families Against Youth Crime Fund

Kent has secured £1.3m from the Government’s Supporting Families Against Youth Crime Fund to help prevent young people becoming involved in gangs and youth violence. The key aims for the Supporting Families Against Youth Crime project are to:

• Reduce the risk of criminal exploitation for children and young people.
• Improve the wellbeing and resilience of vulnerable young people.
• Increase the quantity and quality of trusted relationships between young people and adults.
• Increase community resilience and responses to county lines.

The funding will be channelled through the Troubled Families programme, which helps vulnerable families with a wide range of problems including absence from school, adults out of work and families affected by domestic violence. Kent will use the funding to provide support for vulnerable people across the county through peer mentoring and community support workers, linking up services for those who may otherwise become involved in knife crime and gang violence.

By educating young people on the dangers of joining a gang and by providing peer mentors for young people at risk, communities will become more resilient and able to resist gang involvement.

Kent and Medway Gangs Strategy 2018-2021 provides a framework around which we can focus our resources and energy to have the greatest impact, with an emphasis on prevention and diversion alongside enforcement. Most importantly we want to stop young people from becoming engaged with gangs at the earliest stage and to make it easier for them to exit gangs when they are already involved. This strategy encourages all partners to work together to achieve these goals.

Brexit FAQs

As part of Kent’s commitment to providing support to schools in the event of disruption following the UK’s exit from the EU, the link below sets out some Frequently Asked Question (PDF, 246.0 KB) for schools and education providers. These FAQs build on our guidance (PDF, 326.8 KB) initially issued to schools prior to Christmas and we hope that this will cover all of the queries that you, your staff, your pupils and their parents may have. However, if you do have further queries not covered in this document, please contact your Area Education Officer.

These FAQs are primarily to enable school leadership teams to field questions and allay concerns. Wider distribution direct to parents and other stakeholders is not recommended.

Matt Dunkley CBE
Corporate Director
Children, Young People and Education