Levelling the Playing Field has linked with a host of partners in Newport to find new ways of supporting children in the ethnically diverse area of Maindee through sport and physical activity.
Maindee Primary School has partnered with Newport Youth Justice and Positive Futures (a sport-based social inclusion programme run by LtPF’s strategic partners Newport Live), Community Youth Project and others to pilot a unique early intervention project.
The school firstly identifies pupils who may need additional guidance and positive role models. Those boys and girls are engaged in after-school sports sessions as well as workshops that deliver information and advice on issues such as knife crime, drug misuse, gangs, youth violence and healthy relationships.
Young people are encouraged and supported to attend open-access sport and youth sessions which provide safe places and safe faces for youngsters who would otherwise be at risk of becoming involved in crime, violence, anti-social behaviour and exploitation.
On Friday (January 21) a group of eight Year 6 boys and girls from a variety of ethnic backgrounds visited St. Michael’s Boxing Gym in Crindau, Newport, as part of the project and received coaching from Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Sean McGoldrick (a Positive Futures ambassador and sporting role model) and local amateur Welsh title-holder Orlando Holley-Sotomi.
One child who took part in the boxing session said: “When I get mad, words come out that I shouldn’t say and I break stuff. After today, I feel like boxing could really help me stay in control.” Another boy commented: “I want to be a professional boxer!”
“This project is creating a unique ‘Levelling the Playing Field referral process which is led by need’,” explained Lucy Donovan, Senior Development Officer for Positive Futures.
“A lot of these children aren’t on the radar of statutory services – or by the time they reach their attention, it becomes much more difficult to reverse their lifestyles and patterns of behaviour.
“By engaging with the children at a younger, ‘preventative’ age, our frontline team can highlight individuals or families who need extra support and guidance. Through sport, the children can form positive relationships with trusted adults and have someone there to support them.”
“We hope this process will be more effective than waiting for children to come to the attention of police, youth justice or social services before they then refer them on to us or other costly services.”
Martine Smith, Equity Lead at Maindee Primary School, has trusted relationships with many families at the school and is a huge advocate for supporting families who are living in extreme poverty and experience barriers to accessing services.
She hopes last Friday’s boxing session will become a regular feature of the Friday night prevention sessions in Maindee. She said: “This gives young people on our programme the opportunity to engage in sport instead of being on the streets where they are extremely vulnerable.”
“The work we’re doing with our partnerships is absolutely vital for our community. The support we offer at school can only do so much, so giving young people safe spaces and safe faces outside of school hours means they have adults they can trust and places to go when they’re out and about in the community.”
Matt Elliott, Youth Justice Worker at Newport Youth Justice, is currently based within the Positive Futures team. “It’s all about making education fun, learning about street life and keeping the children safe,” he said.
“Week in, week out, at our sessions the children tell us they’re worried about knife crime, drugs, alcohol, gangs and being exploited. We have children coming into school carrying knives because they are told by their older brothers that’s the only way they can keep safe. It’s awful.
“Words can’t express how valuable it is for them to come here to St. Michael’s Gym and do something positive and energetic that promotes a healthy lifestyle and teaches them about controlling their own behaviour. It’s phenomenal. It makes a massive difference.”
The Friday night prevention provision is run by Positive Futures, a Gwent-wide sport for development programme funded via the Office of the Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner and Sport Wales.
Justin Coleman, Levelling the Playing Field Lead, has been supporting the dynamic new partnership. He said: “Newport has a unique community; a network of organisations that are more like a family and support each other every day. They are all resilient and yet 100% interdependent.
“This unique multi-agency approach will demonstrate to children and their families that people in their community care about them. It ensures ethnically diverse children across Newport can always find safe places and safe faces that will help them forge positive futures.”
This project, which is currently being researched by the University of Birmingham, strengthens the work of Newport’s LtPF specialist organisations towards our two common goals:
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Increase the number of ethnically diverse children taking part in sport and physical activity
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Prevent and divert ethnically diverse children from becoming involved in the Criminal Justice System
