Supporting young people, using the power of rugby
The problem
On average, 220 young people are excluded from school each week. The lifetime cost to the state of permanently excluding one young person is estimated to be £370,000, let alone the personal cost to a young person’s future prospects.
Our mission
We want to change the odds.
of excluded pupils achieve at least 5 GCSEs including English and Maths, vs 64% in mainstream schools.
young people in care are ten times more likely to experience school exclusion.
Our mission is to work with young people who have been excluded from school, and ensure that long-term they are not excluded from society.
What we do
We work with young people aged between 12-18 who are experiencing school exclusion to help support them in realising their full potential for the future.
Using 4 cornerstones of delivery:
Developing
life skills
Raising aspirations
Improving physical wellbeing
Focusing on mental wellbeing
Our approach
Often having experienced childhood trauma, youth violence or multi- generational unemployment, our young people do not always fit into the mainstream archetype of a ‘perfect pupil’ which leads to their school exclusion and need for additional support.
We use rugby as an engagement tool to build trusted adult relationships. We provide opportunities for young people to be more prepared for life after school, by providing employability opportunities such as a CV development and interview practice. We also work with a variety of employers to provide ‘Career Taster Days’, day trips to experience the workplace first hand which helps to increase a young persons likelihood of being in employment, education, or training post-18.
Our work is not a numbers game, it’s about real impact for young people that need it most.
Where we work
We work in challenging environments, delivering our interventions during the school timetabled day within Pupil Referral Units (PRU), Alternative Provisions (AP), Youth Offenders Units (YOI) and mainstream exclusion units.
Our 7 regions
• North West (Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington)
• North East (Newcastle, Sunderland)
• West Midlands (Birmingham, Solihull)
• East Midlands (Leicester)
• Wales (Merthyr, Cardiff, Bridgend, Swansea)
• London (Southwark, Wandsworth)
• East of England (Luton, Stevenage, Hertfordshire)
Our Squad
Our journey
View timeline of how we founded
RugbyWorks and our founder’s story
