Archive for category: Uncategorized

Surrey Police Women’s Network invited the High Sheriff to join them in celebrating International Women’s Day as part of their day-long Teams seminar. 

In her talk, Dr Llewelyn spoke about the role of High Sheriff and obstacles she had overcome in her professional life and gave some advice on navigating careers as a woman.

Dr Llewelyn said: “I was honoured to be asked and thoroughly enjoyed a very interactive session with the Surrey Police force, answering their wide range of questions on topics including networking, health and work-life balance.”

The High Sheriff was delighted to meet Chris Hickford, chief executive of The Eikon Charity, in person again at the Fullbrook School in West Byfleet, having only been able to ‘meet’ the Eikon team on a Zoom call last year.

After a chat with the students at the Eikon lunch club, Dr Llewelyn met the school’s youth support practitioner Claire Matthews and a young person who has benefited from Eikon’s support.

Dr Llewelyn said: “I have always been impressed by the fantastic work Eikon does to help young people, so I was pleased to visit and hear more. They even have an award-winning garden with an Owl of Wisdom.” 

The charity works together with organisations such as schools and health and social care to give young people emotional wellbeing and mental health support.

Claire is one of The Eikon Charity’s specialised support workers in six schools in Surrey who help children and young people struggling with difficulties and promote ‘whole school’ wellbeing.

Learn more about The Eikon Charity.

A meeting between the Surrey Police Youth Engagement team and the not-for-profit organisation Take the Reins at Lingfield Park racecourse promises to help young people at risk of permanent school exclusion to change tack.

The High Sheriff joined the Youth Engagement team, with whom she works throughout the year, at the racecourse to hear about Take the Reins.

The Surrey Police Youth Engagement team does whatever it takes to help prevent disadvantaged children and vulnerable young people to get back into education and divert them away from antisocial behaviour and the criminal justice system. One of the ways they do this is by introducing young people to programmes run by charities where they have a new experience and learn a skill.

Take the Reins is a perfect example. It is opening in Surrey, offering a broad range of experiences and training in all aspects of the racing industry. They have been very successful in helping young people change the course of their lives in other parts of the country.

Surrey has an extensive racing industry, and the young people on Take the Reins programmes get to experience all aspects ranging from working in training yards to hospitality and catering. Many of the young people they work with have never touched a horse yet find the Take the Reins programmes incredibly valuable.

Dr Llewelyn said: “The officers were at once able to think of several young people they’d like to introduce to new opportunities at Take the Reins, which promises to be a great success. It was fascinating to see behind the scenes at the racecourse and hear all about the challenges of keeping the courses in good order for the busiest racecourse in the country.”

Cross-agency cooperation shone through at the second summit on reducing permanent school exclusions in Surrey, convened by the High Sheriff, facilitated by Jim Glover OBE DL, and generously hosted and sponsored by the Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL).

The second summit focused on the outstanding progress made across Surrey in implementing the recommendations since the first summit in July 2021, when they were initially discussed with the same audience.

Around 70 delegates attended, including representatives from local authorities, teachers, the voluntary sector and Surrey Police, who work with children at risk of being excluded from mainstream education.

Dr Llewelyn said: “It was great to feel the positive energy in the room as people met with each other face-to-face again and heard about the excellent progress made.”

Data points to success in decreasing exclusion

The second summit also coincided with publishing the full report of the RHUL research work on permanent school exclusion in Surrey. Authored by Dr Emily Glorney and Natasha Rhoden, it includes evidence-based recommendations for Surrey based on analysing extensive data on children who had been permanently excluded and extensive interviews with stakeholders.

Dr Glorney presented the full report findings and focused on the risk factors for permanent school exclusion in Surrey that the data proved have distinct differences from the national picture.

One of the first summit’s recommendations was enhancing the implementation of the Surrey Alternative Learning Programme (SALP) across the county quadrants to offer alternative styles of education better suited to children at risk of exclusion.

Ron Searle, chair of Trustees Inclusive Education Trust and SALP’s central board, spoke about its rollout. The data showed SALP’s effectiveness in some county regions, driving the decision to make equal provision across the whole of Surrey. The number of permanent school exclusions has already decreased.

He said: “We are not doing badly in Surrey now, in terms of exclusions, but let’s work together to make sure that no young person gets anywhere close to exclusion.”

Police focus on needs of the child first

The police are often associated with a child or young person being involved in the criminal justice system, but Surrey Police places more importance on preventing them from getting to that point.

Chief Constable Gavin Stephens QPM said Surrey Police wants to avoid permanent exclusions by developing a Surrey risk index that identifies at-risk children early and supports them, rather than making permanent exclusion a ‘critical incident’.

He explained: “We are trying to mitigate some quite drastic risks through early intervention.”

After a short break, Anne Longfield CBE addressed the audience. She said: “I have seen a determination and commitment to build inclusive schools and communities. This is the next step in building the bold and ambitious plans that children need to thrive.”

Dr Llewelyn added: “It is a measure of the importance of the work done to date that Anne, who was children’s commissioner until 2021, attended the summit. She spoke about the importance of significantly preventing children ‘falling through the cracks’ as the pandemic has affected education. She also commented that this work was positive and will be helpful in other regions.”

Inspiration and support from the third sector

At the first summit, the audience was inspired by Maureen Mckenna, who has pioneered Glasgow City Council’s success in reducing exclusions through a child-centred, whole-school approach. This included a mentoring programme by charity MCR Pathways that has increased attendance and attainment at secondary schools so dramatically that it is now in place across Scotland and extended to Hertfordshire. A Surrey pilot will soon be set up. 

The afternoon closed with the Community Foundation for Surrey (CFS) announcing the launch of a new £1 million fund to help young people in Surrey who have mental health issues. These often go hand in hand with school non-attendance issues, and CFS has had a massive increase in the number of requests for funding in this area. It will fund large multi-year projects that are strategically targeted to maximise impact. 

Dr Llewelyn closed the meeting by celebrating the excellent progress and concluding that it was now necessary to fully develop the Surrey risk index of exclusion and integrate it into the support systems to increase the life chances of the children and young people in the county. 

---

You can download the agenda and full PowerPoint presentation below, as well as the video MCR Pathways played during their presentation.

Inspired Schools, Education and MCR Partnerships (YouTube video link)

An essential part of the High Sheriff’s role is to work with the prisons in their county, but the pandemic limited prison visits. So, Dr Llewelyn was delighted to take the opportunity to spend time at HMP High Down, the men’s prison in Sutton, together with Lynn Cooper, the High Sheriff of Greater London.

After discussing the plans for changing to a Category C institution in April 2022, Governor Amy Frost gave both women a prison tour.

During the two-hour visit, Dr Llewelyn and Mrs Cooper learned the difference between the routines in the house blocks. They enjoyed seeing classes in action in the education unit, where they spoke with an inmate in an English class.

They visited the impressive visitors centre and learned about the range of employment training opportunities that are starting to run again post-pandemic.

Dr Llewelyn said: “It was excellent to do a joint visit with the High Sheriff of London. We were both so impressed that we gave the whole team at High Down a High Sheriff’s Award for their dedication and hard work during the pandemic.”