The need: Suspensions have risen by 80% compared to pre-pandemic levels, while persistent absence and severe absence rates are near record highs. School leaders are increasingly looking to specialist interventions to re-engage students, improve attendance, and reduce exclusions.

Our portfolio partner: School of Hard Knocks (SOHK) empowers young people living in complex and challenging situations to fully realise their potential. Working with children at risk of exclusion and disengagement, SOHK delivers a holistic programme to drive improved attendance and reduce suspensions and exclusions. The programme combines high-impact rugby sessions, group social and emotional learning sessions, and one-to-one mentoring - all with a focus on building long-term trusted adult relationships.

Our impact: Through our Driving Impact workshops, SOHK decided to focus their delivery exclusively on young people, reaching them with interventions before challenges become entrenched. They have correspondingly restructured their senior management team to support this upstream work in schools and have recently launched their new strategy for expansion across England, Scotland, and Wales, developed through pro bono support from Bain.