The Reverend Steve Chalke, of Oasis Academies, which won the contract to run the school on behalf of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), said tough love was not a “hippie” concept but a way of building trust with children who “nobody has cared too often’ before. The home will have gardens laid out by a Chelsea Flower Show winner and is modeled on similar healing institutions in Scandinavia. It is made by Medway Secure Education Centre, a youth detention center which closed in March 2020 following a series of abuse scandals. The secure school was originally due to open in autumn 2020, but now hopes to welcome its first pupils in early 2024 after costs rose from £4.9m to £36.5m. The National Audit Office said the estimate jumped “primarily due to significant design reviews following due diligence”. The school will be run by a “headmaster”, Andrew Willets, rather than a prison warden, and children will be looked after by teachers, not guards, said Chalke, who oversees 52 Oasis academies in England. “We don’t have young offenders. We have students. Just like we have bedrooms and we are home. There is nothing left of this alienating language,” he said. Instead of living in wings, children will be grouped into four “houses” and will be able to relax in living rooms “with couches and a table you can put your feet up on.” Chalke said he was determined that the children’s bedrooms would not have bars on them and would instead be reinforced with toughened glass. Everything about the school’s design, from the colors to the furniture to the garden, is meant to “soothe” children who are “overcoming trauma and grief and violence and loss and neglect,” Chalke said. An expert in ‘healing colours’ worked as a consultant on the project to advise which paint would help keep the children calm. When children misbehave or commit crime, “they carry some of the stress and chaos into their lives,” Chalke said. “My wife tells me the more anxious, the more stressed I am, the more stupid I act. We all act and do stupid things when we are stressed and stressed. We want to care for these young people and that’s why we called it Oasis Restore, because it’s about restoration.” As well as studying a full curriculum including English and maths, students will be able to record songs in a music studio set up by Judah Armani, who founded InHouse Records, a pioneering record label run by and for prisoners. Those who have taken part in the music program in traditional prisons, including Isis Prison, a young offender institution, have a recidivism rate of less than 1%. “The studio will teach young people life skills and capture their imaginations. It will give them trips to good employment, beyond our walls, at the same time as working with them therapeutically,” said Chalke. In December 2016 the Ministry of Justice announced its intention to create two new secure schools in England, one in the North West and one in the South East. No plans have been released for the north school. “Youth justice must be reformed. A revolution is needed,” Chalke said. Just under two-thirds (64%) of children and young people released from care reoffend within 12 months of their release, and each commit an average of four new offences. As of February 2022 there were 414 young people in youth detention – in secure children’s homes, young offender institutions and secure education centres. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST A maximum of 49 children – girls and boys aged 12 to 18 – will live at Restore, either after their conviction or while in custody awaiting trial. The Justice Department’s placement board will decide which children to send to the school, and Chalke said Oasis had no veto power over who to accept. The school, which will work in partnership with NHS England, is soon to start recruiting 180 staff. Unlike much of the rest of the prison system, no services will be outsourced. “Everyone should be passionate about young people. Our theme is relentless love,” Chalke said. “You know, I’ve been asked about it. And people say ‘oh, you can’t just lovey-dovey, you know’, or ‘that sounds hippie’ or whatever. But relentless love has limits, it has respect.” He said he wanted Restore’s strap to “set the children free,” but it was vetoed. Instead, his slogan will be “creating a secure future for young people”. But Chalke said his original idea was important. “If we don’t release them, it’s a waste of public money.”
