Alternative pathways away from violence and into teamwork, mentoring and belonging.
Teams Not Gangs is Capital Kids Cricket’s frontline intervention for young people who are excluded from mainstream education or at risk of criminal exploitation. Working in partnership with pupil referral units (PRUs) and alternative provision across London, we provide structured, consistent support to young people who have fallen through the gaps.
Cricket provides a trusted and structured engagement platform through which we build relationships, restore routine and create a sense of belonging. It is not simply sport — it is the vehicle for mentoring, behavioural support and personal development.
Through regular in-school delivery, the programme combines:
We work with young people who are permanently excluded, persistently absent, or vulnerable to gang involvement and criminal justice pathways. By embedding within schools and building strong relationships with staff, we create sustained opportunities for re-engagement, confidence building and positive future direction.
Our Teams Not Gangs project aims to take a ‘prevention and cure’ approach to working work with children and young people (CYP) aged 10 to 16 who are at-risk of being excluded/expelled from mainstream education or have been excluded/expelled and are attending Pupil Referral Units (PRUs)/Alternative Provision.
Children and young people (CYP) end up in PRUs/Alternative Provision due to a wide range of often complex problems, such as a traumatic home life, living in poverty, and/or being isolated. In a young person, these challenges, can manifest in behavioural difficulties, anger, and sometimes violence that then leads to them being excluded or expelled from mainstream education.
Once in a PRU/AP, behavioural problems, social isolation, trauma, and marginalisation are exacerbated and these vulnerable CYP are targeted by gangs and are lured into criminal activities, including drugs (taking and selling) and violence.
86% of young men in Youth Offenders Institutions have been excluded from school at some point.*
*Data and quote taken from The Commission on Young Lives’ All Together Now report, April 2022
A team gives a young person something a gang never can — a future.
— CKC Teams Not Gangs lead