A charity has welcomed government confirmation that the innovative Medway Secure School will open in 2022.

Assurance came in a new white paper "A Smarter Approach to Sentencing", published this week, which said the government was committed to opening the school in two years.

The first of its kind in the UK, the secure school replaces the Medway Secure Training Centre in Rochester , which closed in March, and the new site will be run by the Oasis Charitable Trust.

Trust founder Steve Chalke, said his organisation was thrilled to be part of the initiative.

He added: "The Government has committed to opening the first secure school in Kent in 2022, which will be run by the Oasis Charitable Trust. This is the biggest reform to youth justice in history and will have the potential to vastly improve the lives of young offenders.

“The Ministry of Justice reported that the reoffending rate of young people who serve a custodial sentence is a staggering 70% in the first year of release. We know that is because the current justice system has yet to catch up with modern day understanding of young people, mental health, and behavioural issues. We need to follow the science – our systems, policies, practice, and leadership need to respond and innovate.

“Secure schools are an alternative to young offenders’ prisons which place child-focused education, health and resettlement at the very heart of the youth secure estate. We will use a therapeutic approach designed to build on individual strengths and develop life and social skills that support children’s transition back into the community. We are so pleased to see that the Government is ensuring this important commitment is met.”

The new White Paper said the principles of secure schools were an "education-focused regime, smaller more ‘homely’ units, wrap-around health services and greater proximity to the communities from which children in custody come."

And it said those principles were central to protecting the vulnerable, changing lives and reducing the high risk of reoffending.

It added: "Secure schools will be schools with security rather than prisons with education. They will have education, healthcare and physical activity at their heart and will be run by

child-focused providers who will create a therapeutic environment in a secure setting.

"Evidence suggests that reoffending can be better reduced through well-implemented therapeutic interventions than punitive or surveillance-based programmes.

"Work is being done to improve the therapeutic interventions delivered in the current secure estate, but we recognise it was not designed with such therapeutic approaches in

mind.

"In secure schools we want to engage visionary, not-for-profit, child-focused providers and trust them to deliver the best outcomes for children including on reoffending, education and health. A high proportion of the organisations that are not-for-profit and meet the criteria we are looking for in secure school providers are charities. We are proposing legislative change to clarify that operating a secure school could be a charitable activity."

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