A secure school designed to turn around the lives of some of Britain’s most violent young offenders is set to open in Kent.
The Oasis Restore school in Rochester is the first of its kind and will see young offenders receiving vocational training and one-to-one learning support during their imprisonment.
Funded by the government and NHS England and run by the Oasis Trust, the facility is almost ready to open after £48 million of renovations.
Oasis founder Steve Chalk MBE said: “People will come here most of the time because they’ve been involved in violent crime, sometimes very violent crime.
“They’ll often come here because they feel that they’ve never fitted in.
“It’s called a secure school but actually the first thing it is is a secure home.
“There are no cells here, there are student flats and bedrooms. There are no bars, there are windows. There are no keys jangling and steel doors.
“It’s set up and designed to be a therapeutic environment.
“Oasis Restore represents a revolution in youth justice – a revolution that’s built on both science and experience.
“The core principle behind the secure school and the work of our staff team is an unshakeable commitment to the belief that the only way to create positive change for the young people we serve, as well as to make our streets and communities safer, is to ensure that restoration sits at the very heart of the youth custodial system.
“That is our privilege and our task.”
The school will be home to up to 49 children at any one time, both boys and girls.
Placement decisions will be made internally by the Youth Custody Service.
Every young offender will be enrolled in formal education or training and encouraged into further study or secure employment on release.
With more than 200 staff and 20 teachers, the school will provide opportunities for dozens of young offenders to engage in vocational work.
On the premises there are music studios, workshops and a salon to help them develop the skills they need to leave their criminal past behind.
Staff will be trained to offer one-to-one learning support and they will set challenging targets in core academic subjects such as English and Maths.
Rochester’s other young offenders institute, Cookham Wood, sits just down the road.
It had numerous reports highlighting its lack of staffing and poor conditions.
In March it was announced the institute is set to shut down and reopen as an adult prison by the end of this year.
Conservative MP Edward Agar (Con), who is Minister for prisons, parole and probation said: “This secure school is a very different model.
“It’s right that those young people who’ve committed serious crimes are sentenced to custody, and here they will be deprived of their liberty.
"But it’s also important that the focus is on working with them.
“They’ve often been excluded permanently from school, they’ve got underlying mental health or substance abuse issues.
“So we want to work with them to get them back on the straight and narrow.
“We’ll give them the opportunity when they’re here through what will be a rigorous regime of teaching and learning and vocational training to make a positive life choice about the direction they want to go in when they come out.”
The new secure school is set to open in Sir Evelyn Road in the coming weeks.
