Sonic youth: the UK school turning teenagers' lives around
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Loading... - AMELIA OSBORNE
- 21 Jun 2021
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It is midday, and a teenage boy has been removed from class for causing trouble. But instead of being sent to the headteacher’s office, he is jamming on a keyboard while a teacher adds in some drums.
“It calms them down,” says Nick Stillwell, the co-founder of the SupaJam school in Swanley, Kent. “They realise life’s OK, and put the knife down.”
With its leopard-print wallpaper and vinyl records playing in the entrance hall, SupaJam is not your average educational institution. The Pink Floyd bassist Guy Pratt has been known to pop by to run workshops.
“We try to create an environment that’s a little forgiving,” says Stillwell, a music industry professional who set up the music school four years ago with his business partner, David Court. “This whole thing has been established so it doesn’t feel like school.”
Drawing on their expertise the pair created a course in the music industry for young people who who have fallen out of education – 16- to 18-year-olds not in education, training or employment, as well as those aged up to 25 with special educational needs. Some students have spent time in young offenders’ institutions, or have drug or alcohol problems. Some were gang members.
SupaJam’s success rate is remarkable – 97% of those who complete the course leave with a nationally recognised business diploma, and 85% go on to further education or employment. “That’s huge for these kids,” says Stillwell, “because everyone’s been telling them how rubbish they are. We give them things to brag about.”
Stillwell and Court self-funded the school for its first two years, before winning a contract with the Department for Education. As well as traditional classrooms it has a recording studio, editing suite and enough instruments to start an orchestra. Industry professionals drop in to offer lessons and work experience; the US singer-songwriter Sonia Leigh performed here last year. This summer the students have been given their own stage to curate at the Black Deer music festival near Tunbridge Wells.
“Did you know Albert Einstein played the violin?” asks second-year student Katie, 17. “A teacher told his parents they should take him out of school, he wasn’t smart enough. And then they bought him a violin and he sailed through.”
Katie has also experienced the power of music. Bullying and family problems shattered her GCSE year, and with only a scattering of Cs and Ds she felt she had nowhere to turn. At SupaJam she has become a star pupil, even creating her own blog about music and mental health. “In formal education they don’t take into account anything you might struggle with. You might be having a bad day but that isn’t the person you are,” she says. “Nick and David actually give you a chance.”
SupaJam’s co-founders can identify with their pupils. They met at 15, both kicked out of school without qualifications. “We were the naughty boys, but we were lucky because we had nice families. We weren’t abandoned by the adult world, like some of these kids,” says Stillwell. After setting up their own company they offered an internship scheme, but when it attracted only middle-class children they decided to try something different.
The initial idea was to help six local teenagers – they now have 70 pupils and 31 staff, including welcomers to meet students as they arrive; safeguarding specialists in every class; and one-to-one maths and English tutors. Getting the young people into work is the primary objective.
“They will often be the only person in education or employment in their family,” says Court. “Sometimes we have to battle with the parents because the kids can earn more money if they’re out on the streets dealing than in school.”
While the special requirements of the students vary – from learning difficulties to physical disabilities – they are not taught separately, although all staff are trained in dealing with disabled students. “We decided to mix them all up and they naturally started to self-support each other,” says Court. “They don’t label one another, they just get along. It puts all of us to shame. These kids are inspirational.”
Ahead of the Black Deer festival, the students have been working with professionals on every aspect of production, from choosing and booking the acts to running the sound and lighting. Gill Tee, the festival’s co-founder, says she could have found herself in a similar position to the students when she was young.
Growing up on a council estate, her teenage brother was murdered when she was 12. “I used to nick my mum’s tranquillisers,” says Tee. “I wanted to escape the pain at home, seeing my beautiful mum shattered.” But she stayed out of trouble, and began her music career making tea at Capital Radio. “It shows these kids that they can do the same.”
Last year the first three SupaJam graduates were accepted into university, a proud moment for the school. But taking up those places proved intimidating for the students. Stillwell and Court responded by setting up a charity that will run a mentorship programme and send tutors along with the students for the first six weeks of their studies.
Their dreams for SupaJam are even bigger: plans to open a second base in Ramsgate, and then to expand nationwide. “These kids are too young to abandon,” says Stillwell. “This is our society and we have to fight for them.”
