Gangs

LGfL's SafeguardED team met academic and expert Craig Pinkney and senior leaders at the Imperium Federation to film a series of short practical advice videos for schools supporting communities with serious youth violence, gangs and knife crime.

Why not select a few of the videos below to discuss in a staff meeting. Some obvious questions arise from each; plus each time, ask yourselves what might we do differently at our school? Return to this page via gangs.lgfl.net / find related support from other organisations at syv.lgfl.net.

Background to gangs, knife crime and serious youth violence

What actually is a gang?

Is the label gang useful; does it matter?

Where should schools' focus be - on knife crime or gangs?

What do schools need to know about serious youth violence?

What are the causes of serious youth violence?

Are today's young people more violent than they used to be, and what has changed?

Why do young people get sucked into violence and what can we do about it?

How do you spot it; how can you stop it?

How can you tell that a child is vulnerable to gang grooming?

How do you identify a young person who is at risk of joining a gang?

What preventative steps can a school take to minimise serious youth violence?

How can you stop a young person carrying a knife, or safeguard them when others do?

Impact of social media and drill music

Does social media encourage violence and what do teachers need to know about it?

How do gangs use social media to groom young people and what do schools need to be aware of?

How can we help young people to use social media positively?

Does drill music encourage violence and what do teachers need to know about it?

Help us now! Should we call the police? Who else can help?

Should we call the police if a student has a knife?

Next steps if you suspect gang membership

What should a school do as soon as they suspect a student MIGHT carry a knife?

What can we do if gang culture may have already arrived in our school?

What should a school do as soon as they discover a student DOES carry a knife?

The roles of schools, parents and visiting experts

How can schools be an alternative to a gang - what can they offer instead?

How can a school avoid inadvertently alienating young people?

How can schools and parents work in partnership to combat youth violence?

What's the role of visiting experts and why are school staff and peers critically important, too?

What about girls, peers, perpetrators & victims?

How are girls groomed to join gangs; what are the signs?

What role can peers play in identifying students at risk?

How can a school work with both victims and perpetrators?

A job for primary or secondary schools?

How does gang culture infiltrate primaries and secondaries in different ways?

What would you say to primary teachers who think SYV is a secondary school issue?

Why are primary schools just as important as secondaries? What can they do?

What should we teach young people, what not, and how?

How can schools run successful prevention and intervention projects around youth violence?

What is the role of transition and PSHE in saving children and young people from gangs?

How do you teach coping and resilience, whilst also helping YP to understand consequences?

How do we teach peace as opposed to focussing on rules and conflict?

How can you communicate with young people who don't like talking about their problems?

Case studies

Case study: Turning around a student who has been drawn into a gang

Case study: Building a school where gangs cannot flourish...without more time or money

The long view