This report presents the findings from the evaluation of the London Borough of Newham’s Divert-Ed! offer, which has been running since May 2020.

The Divert-Ed! team is part of a wider Divert! team which works with children and young people at risk of child criminal exploitation (CCE), child sexual exploitation (CSE) and children on the ‘edge of care’.

Practitioners working with the cohort recognised that their needs were wide-ranging. Research suggests that these needs can be complex and chronic, and that wellbeing, safeguarding and education needs are often interlinked.

Divert-Ed! was developed in response to this, offering education support to children and young people within Divert! and working with families, education professionals, and social care practitioners involved with the child’s care and education. The Divert-Ed! offer has been adapted from the NewDAy Schools and Learning offer, which operated between September 2017 and January 2020 and was focused on children and young people in families experiencing domestic abuse (Please see our previous evaluation report of NewDAy for more information).

The evaluation highlighted the effectiveness of the Divert-Ed! referral and assessment process and the importance of trauma-informed, systemic and strength-based approaches, as well as a highly skilled team, in achieving positive outcomes for the cohort. The project has demonstrated that there are potential benefits to allocating specific skills and expertise in education and schools to safeguarding teams in social care. Preliminary outcomes identified for young people, families and professionals include improvements in children and young people’s wellbeing, engagement with school, a reduced risk of exploitation for young people,; improved relationships between parents’/carers’ and professionals and children, improved understanding among parents/carers of young people’s needs and their own roles and responsibilities in supporting engagement with education, and improved skills, confidence and awareness for professionals in relation to young people’s educational needs.

For more information, please contact Colin Horswell or Suzie Langdon-Shreeve.