Ilfracombe College ASB Clinic

Thematic Work Area: ASB

What was the need?

Ilfracombe was identified by Safer North Devon as a priority area and was already identified as a focus for Neighbourhood Management resulting in applications for national grants including Neighbourhood Pathfinder and Objective Two Funding.

I spoke with the Police Neighbourhood Beat team who were fully supportive of the proposed project and particularly with Police Community Support Officer, Ade Drury who has specific responsibility for Ilfracombe College. PC Lees (Youth Intervention Officer) was also advised of the scheme and wanted to be involved with the running of the clinics and meeting young people that had not yet entered the criminal justice system but were causing ASB problems during school and outside school. Early intervention is considered as essential in diverting behaviour and is shown to have the best results in terms of help, assistance and guidance to young people and their families.

What have we done?

The overall objective of this pilot project was to achieve the following:

• Encourage better-structured communication between schools and the Police regarding pupil’s Anti-Social Behaviour inside and outside of school.

• To use a multi-agency approach to supporting schools in tackling pupils challenging behaviour.

• Reduce levels of exclusions.

• Increase referrals to external agencies including YISP, Y-Smart, Family Group Conferencing, Women’s Aid and CAMHS team to support young peoples needs.

• To educate schools and pupils on the Anti-Social Behaviour escalation process.

• To reduce levels of offending behaviour and individuals progressing through the ASB escalation process.

To involve parents in the process by encouraging them to tackle their child’s behaviour in an appropriate manner.

What are the results of our work?

To date 3 Clinics have been held at Ilfracombe College with 15 students being referred. The pilot was discussed with the Deputy Head at Ilfracombe College, Sharon Barnes and the Police in the spring term of 2008.

The initial clinic was held in June 2008 with further clinics being held in September and January this year.

A report on the evaluation of the Ilfracombe ASB clinic was presented to the ASB Steering group on the 19th March 2009.

It has been agreed by the ASB steering group at this meeting that these clinics will be rolled out into all Comprehensive Schools by September 2009. I have received very positive feedback from Ilfracombe College who have found the process very useful for staff and students. As most of the young people who have been referred to this clinic are not on the Anti-Social Behaviour escalation process it is appropriate to involve the Youth Intervention Officers at all stages, as a major part of their role is preventative intervention. Sgt Mark Harper (Neighbourhood Support Team) is happy for his team to lead on this project and be responsible for managing the whole process.