New scheme to keep young people safe on route to school

A new scheme has been launched in Birmingham to help keep children and young people safe on their journey to and from school.

The Step Together project has initially partnered with Erdington Academy in Birmingham and will see youth workers based along routes to school, acting as trusted adults and a point of contact.

Their job is to de-escalate potential violence and to build positive relationships.

Schools, young people and community members have helped to identify where along the route the youth workers would make the most difference.

While the scheme is launching in Erdington, seventeen other routes across the West Midlands will also open in the near future and will operate until the end of the school year.

The Home Office and the Youth Endowment Fund are investing £1.2 million in the project to test if this approach increases safety, as well as improving attendance at school. If successful, other schools around the country may also adopt the scheme.

The schools that are taking part are all keen to be proactive and to tackle the early signs of harm, before violence occurs.

The West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit is a multi-agency unit that includes local authorities, education, health, youth, faith and community groups as well as the police. All of these partners have been involved in bringing Step Together to the West Midlands.

The Violence Reduction Unit is funded by the Home Office and is hosted by the Police and Crime Commissioner. It was launched in late 2019 to help organisations work together effectively to tackle the root causes of violence.

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster (pictured) said: “Preventing violence and keeping young people safe is exactly what the Violence Reduction Unit is all about.

“Every pupil has a right to walk safely to and from school and I hope this initiative will help them do just that.

“I 'm delighted to jointly launch this project and help get more youth workers back on the streets to support our young people.

“Preventing violence reduces the number of victims, which is what we all want to see. ”