Creative Engagement Services CIC are proud to announce the launch of our Engage & Response Detached Support Team, working in conjunction with The Waltham Forest Council Safer Routes Pilot.

From January 2025, we will deploy teams of qualified detached youth workers to cover North, Central and South of the borough. Our teams will focus on increasing safety for children and young people with a visible presence on school routes during peak times, which tend to be between 3pm – 6pm, Monday to Friday.

Our Aims

1. Increase Safety

We will make children and young people’s safety everyone’s focus and work together to continue to look out for each other.

2. Build Relationships

We will build relationships with young people to ensure they have trusted adults visible on school routes who can support them and signpost them to opportunities and services in Waltham Forest.

3. Support Well-being

We will ensure children and young people feel safer going to and from school. We believe that if children feel safe leaving school, this will have a positive impact on their emotional well-being and allow them to continue to thrive in education

Engage & Response / Safer Routes concept

This pilot is defined as a universal school and community-based intervention, covering specified routes to and from schools and the pupils and community members who use them. The main feature of the model involves recruiting suitable adults and placing them on high-footfall routes used by pupils walking to and from school at the start and end of each school day. The key outcome of the detached team being present on routes is to reduce crime and/or violence and increase feelings of safety for children/young people. 

The idea for this pilot originated during the engagement workshops the council undertook with community groups and specialist engagement professionals for the The Serious Violence Duty (SVD) strategy. We understand from the strategic needs assessments (SNA) undertaken as part of the SVD strategy that in Waltham Forest victimisation of U18s by serious violence is more likely to occur during school days and between 3pm to 6pm.

The pilot is being created to intervene during a key time of risk for children and young people and to support them in getting to and from school safely. The pilot will focus on routes that have been identified as hotspots for victimisation of children/young people. These routes will be somewhat fluid as they will be informed regularly by data (quantitative and qualitative).

In addition to being present on the routes, the CES Engage & Response Team members will also interact with students and community members (local shop owners, businesses, others), introducing themselves and the pilot and enquire about local issues.

Through this engagement work we hope to mobilise the community, increase the number of staff deployed and build sustainability. The role of Engage & Response won’t just be to be based strategically in identified routes but through their interaction with students and community members they will also be able to conduct active outreach work and signpost to activities particularly to those more at risk students.

Creative Engagement Services CIC also run several safe space youth hubs around the borough, offering positive diversionary activities for children and young adults. https://creativeengagementservices.com/youth-spaces/

CES (Creative Engagement Services CIC) Founder Wayne George has said, “After many years of managing violence reduction, on-street detached teams and support services around East London, I feel very pleased to be given the green light to roll this service out in Waltham Waltham Forest. “I’m passionate about making a difference in communities, and this project is a step towards that goal.

The pilot is funded by the MyEnds partnership fund from MOPAC.

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