We need to talk about Knife Crime.

The tragic murder of a teenage girl in Croydon is devastating. This loss of another young life is horribly familiar, but we should never fail to be shocked, and we should redouble our efforts to break the cycle of teen violence.??

We need to be honest: too many vulnerable young people are on a trajectory from exclusion to exploitation, violence, and the criminal justice system.?

If we are to divert young people away from harm, make our streets safer and stop teenagers carrying weapons, we need to take a radical new approach to supporting those most at risk of becoming involved in serious violence. ?

But what about those children who have already been exploited and criminalised? Those who have committed serious violence by now? Those living with the consequences of our society’s faults??

While fewer children are entering youth custody than ever before, those who do end up detained are the most vulnerable, with the most complex needs and behavioural challenges. Reoffending rates are sky high, and too many young people have left youth offender institutions without the skills or opportunities to build a sustainable and positive career, or further their education.??

Challenging the decades of failure to rehabilitate and reintegrate many of the young people in the youth justice system is crucial if we are to change the system permanently for the better and consequently turn around more lives, cut the cost of crime, and make our streets and communities safer.?

Working with the Ministry of Justice, the NHS, and others, Oasis will be opening Oasis Restore, the first secure school in the UK, in Kent, in 2024, offering therapeutic, integrated, and bespoke support for children in custody, along with pathways for successful transition that equips them to actively and positively contribute to a safer community.?

We call it Oasis Restore because it will provide restoration and reintegration by building a safe environment and taking a holistic approach to education, care, and health, for children both on remand and once sentenced. Oasis Restore will be a place of care where every child is given an opportunity to thrive. We will do this through a system of aspirational education surrounded by individualised therapeutic care, within a restorative school community focused on helping children make sense of their experiences, make amends where they can, develop and take real and practical steps towards a more positive future.?

Interrupting the patterns of system failure that have held back too many young people will be a challenge, not only for us, but for the whole youth justice system. But I’m confident that the team we are building at Oasis Restore will create a secure school which revolutionises the way society rehabilitates young people, and which restores hope. We relish the challenge.?