This is where you can find out more about some of the people Nacro works
with and their stories.
For more stories and an overview of Nacro’s work, please see Nacro’s
annual review:
Making a difference.
Che’s story
I was 14 and coming to the end of year 9 when my head teacher told my mum
to take me out of his school otherwise I would be permanently excluded. He
persuaded my mum that taking me out herself would be the best option and I
would be better off in a new school.
My mum followed his advice and then tried to get me into many schools in
the local area. But no one was willing to accept me because I would have
been going into year 10, my GSCE year, and I hadn’t had the opportunity to
prepare any coursework and had a lot of catching up to do.
After various visits to the local education authority and without any
success of returning back to mainstream education, my father met with a
local Connexions worker who then referred me to Nacro’s education and
employment project in Brixton for 13-16 year olds who are excluded or at
risk of exclusion.
I had been absent from mainstream education for approximately one year and
a half when I joined the Nacro project. At first I found it hard to get up
in the mornings, attending every day and being in an educational
environment again. Up until then, my experience of education had been
negative because the teachers didn’t show the students any respect, where
as at Nacro the teachers treated everyone equally and didn’t look down on
us and treated us with respect.
At Nacro I had the opportunity to have one to one sessions with Clovis, my
key worker, who used to help me with my work or any other problems I had.
Although I couldn’t do my GCSEs at the Nacro centre, during my time at the
project I achieved a City & Guilds in basic ICT and learnt word
processing, database, spreadsheet skills and completed a basic skills
programme. I also attended a peer education training course every
Thursday, where I learnt how to be a peer educator delivering educational
workshops to other people my age. At the end of this course I had achieved
the equivalent of a GCSE qualification.
I left Nacro on 29 July of this year and with the help of my key worker,
Clovis, I achieved my long-term goal of getting a place at Lambeth College
to do an NVQ foundation in Child Care Education. I attend a placement
twice a week at a local nursery as part of my course and I hope to
progress next September onto a diploma, with the view to eventually
getting a place at uni.
I’d like to thank all the Nacro staff at the Brixton project, but most of
all Clovis for helping me achieve my goals and get to where I am today.
Paul’s Story
Saneka’s story
John’s story
