National Youth Homelessness Scheme

Reaching young people

Most organisations delivering preventative work in schools do so through the Personal, Health and Social Education (PHSE) and the Citizenship curriculum.

Working with classes of around 25 young people is the most usual way to deliver this work, but some organisations deliver to larger groups with success through assemblies and youth clubs using an interactive delivery style.

Another consideration is the age at which it is appropriate for young people to start to consider the issues of homelessness. There is no guidance on this. Some organisations are working with primary schools; others believe that young people do not engage fully in the issues until they are in Year 11, their final year of school. Most organisations tend to work with years 8, 9, 10 and 11.

In order to be allotted a lesson, or series of lessons on the timetable with a class, good practice suggests that the following steps are helpful:

  • Work at a strategic level with children's and young people's services as well as housing departments; if you have positive working  relationships with senior officers in the local authority, they can find ways to  introduce you to schools and sometimes  put information out to schools about your work through their mailings
  • Because timetabling happens well before the beginning of the academic year, to get space earmarked on the timetable, write during the Spring Term or early in the Summer Term to the Head Teacher and Heads of Year for the  groups you want to work with in the next academic year. Provide information about your organisation; explain why you want to do the work and send an outline of the programme of work you want to deliver
  • Following up the letters with face to face meetings with head teachers, or heads of year and heads of PHSE and Citizenship is helpful. Find out who is in charge of producing the timetable and make contact with them.

Schools face a range of pressures but many welcome other agencies to work with them, especially if they are seen as reliable, understanding of and able to fit into the school environment and bring all their own resources/equipment.

Another consideration, particularly for large local authorities, with lots of secondary schools, is to try to target work with schools in those areas that are particularly high in youth homelessness. Data on rough sleeping, sofa surfing, young people in bed and breakfasts and young people presenting themselves as homeless can be used to make those judgments. Once the areas are understood and sessions booked with local schools, monitoring of homeless applications from young people in those areas can provide useful information about the impact of the work. 

Targeting young people at most risk of homelessness is an important consideration for many local authorities and their partners. Some of the young people most at risk are those who are:

  • Excluded or at risk of exclusion from school
  • Involved in the criminal justice system
  • Looked after

Working with Pupil Referral Units, looked after children education teams, the behaviour support units in schools, Connexions and Youth Offending Teams are ways of reaching some of these young people.

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