Swindon Borough Council has taken an innovative approach to address anti-social behaviour among young people.
Utilising funding from the Government’s Safer Streets Fund, the Council has commissioned targeted programmes to be implemented in schools and colleges, educating students and promoting community safety.
Securing £1.4 million in the latest funding round, the Council has strategically allocated resources to run workshops and one-to-one sessions for students referred by schools. Since October 2022, these efforts have already reached over 1,299 young individuals across 25 educational institutions.
With the majority of the budget allocated to secondary schools, Swindon serves as a pilot area for the programme, laying the groundwork for potential expansion to other regions.
Three distinct programmes have been launched under this initiative. The first, delivered by Iprovefit, offers anti-social behaviour workshops and one-to-one sessions for students with behavioural challenges. Working with parental consent, 415 young individuals have benefited from weekly sessions focused on fostering positive values and enhancing community engagement. The introduction of this initiative has yielded encouraging results, with students exhibiting increased awareness of the dangers associated with bringing knives into schools.
Barnardos, a well-known children’s charity, was entrusted to run a similar programme specifically tailored for young girls in Swindon. Drawing inspiration from their Real Love Rocks initiative, 420 students have participated in workshops that emphasise the importance of healthy, consensual, and safe relationships within the community.
The third initiative, ‘Our School Now,’ adopts a youth-led approach to combat public sexual harassment (PSH) through education. Nearly 400 students and staff members have attended training sessions, empowering young people to challenge harassment and stereotypes. Participants actively engage in designing awareness campaigns to address PSH and generate ideas for tackling the issue.
The impact of these initiatives has been profound. After the sessions, 71% of students felt more informed about PSH and its underlying causes. Additionally, 77% reported increased knowledge on how to address PSH effectively, while 73% expressed a stronger sense of empowerment to initiate positive change in combatting the problem.
A Health and Social Care Lecturer at New College Swindon praised the workshops, highlighting how students were genuinely engaged and inspired to be proactive in addressing real-life experiences of PSH. The creativity and dedication displayed by the students resulted in impressive pieces of work.
Councillor Jim Grant, Cabinet Member for Communities and Joint Working at Swindon Borough Council expressed his delight with the positive feedback received saying “I’m pleased to hear such positive feedback about these programmes which were commissioned by the Council.
“As we move into the next school year, the programme will continue to provide young people with the opportunity to feel informed about community safety and how to make a positive contribution to the town and themselves.
“I look forward to seeing how these will continue to make a positive impact on our young people.”
