Using cricket to re-engage young people who have been excluded from mainstream school.
Pupil Referral Units support some of the most vulnerable young people in London — children whose education has been interrupted and who often feel failed by the system.
Our PRU programme uses cricket to build trust before anything else. A weekly session gives young people a routine, a safe space and an adult who shows up for them, week in, week out.
Cricket is a brilliant tool for re-engagement because it demands both teamwork and personal responsibility. Every session mixes sport with mentoring conversations about the future.
We measure success in small, huge ways: a young person who turns up three weeks in a row, who leads the warm-up, who asks when the next session is. Those are the wins that count.
By the end of a term, many young people are ready to take the next step — back into education, training or a community cricket club where they belong.
A young person who has been written off just needs someone to bowl them a ball.
— CKC PRU coach