For many young people, school is more than lessons, books and exams. It is where friendships form, personalities develop and where a trusted adult can guide young people in the right direction.
But across Bristol, more schools are facing growing pressure. Attendance, behaviour, exclusions, poverty, SEND needs and serious youth violence are not separate issues. For some young people, they overlap. When the right support is missing, a child can quickly move from struggling quietly to feeling completely disconnected.
That is where Lexia’s Support Across Bristol matters.
Lexia works with schools, local authorities, parents and carers to provide mentoring, tutoring and alternative learning support for vulnerable young people across the South West, including Bristol. Its work is rooted in trust, consistency and helping young people feel seen before they are expected to succeed.
Why Lexia’s Support Across Bristol is needed in 2026
Bristol is a brilliant city, full of creativity, culture and community. But for some young people, growing up here also means facing pressure from the wrong places before they have the confidence, guidance or support to step away.
Not every young person has a steady adult helping them make sense of choices, friendships and consequences. Some are drawn into peer groups where status matters more than safety. Some are influenced by older young people, online conflict, local rivalries, or the need to feel accepted. Some are growing up around instability, exclusion, poverty or poor role models, and this can shape the decisions they make.
The data shows why early support matters.
The Avon and Somerset Violence Reduction Partnership reported that serious violence offences in Bristol increased by 11% in 2023/24, while knife-flagged serious violence increased by 38%. The same report found that the number of 14–17-year-old knife crime offenders increased by 61%, and the number of 14–17-year-old knife crime victims increased by 75% in 2023. Personal robbery also increased by 24%, with personal robbery making up 49% of all knife-flagged offences.
Bristol’s youth justice data also shows that, between April 2022 and March 2025, there were 501 individual children committing 1,359 offences across the city. The rate of children aged 10–17 in the youth justice system was 12.5 per 1,000, with 15 Bristol wards sitting above the citywide figure.
These statistics do not mean young people are the problem. They show that too many young people are being pulled towards risk before enough positive support is in place.
Bristol’s 2025 Thematic Child Safeguarding Practice Review into Serious Youth Violence describes serious youth violence as including ABH, GBH, weapon-related offences, homicides, gang violence and drug dealing, including county lines, involving victims and offenders aged 11–25. It also notes that between 2016/17 and 2018/19, serious youth violence offences in Bristol rose by 24%, while serious knife crime offences rose by 45%. In 2018/19, more than half of knife crime offenders were aged 19 and under.
This is where schools become so important.
A young person may be laughing with the group that is slowly leading them into trouble. They may be missing lessons because school no longer feels relevant. They may be testing boundaries because no one has helped them understand where those boundaries are. They may be looking for belonging in the wrong places because they have not yet found it in the right ones.
Bristol’s safeguarding guidance for education settings highlights risk factors linked to serious youth violence, including peer influence, gang membership, parental relationships, education, mental health, deprivation, areas of high crime, low social cohesion and reduced opportunities.
That is why mentoring cannot just be a “nice extra”. For some young people, it is the steady support that helps them pause, reflect and choose a different path.
Lexia’s Support Across Bristol gives schools another trusted adult around the young person. Someone consistent. Someone who can build trust. Someone who can challenge them without judging them. Someone who can help them see that their future does not have to be shaped by the people pulling them in the wrong direction.
The link between safety, school and belonging
Not every young person affected by crime is involved in crime. Many are simply growing up around fear, pressure or instability.
Bristol’s youth justice data shows that, between April 2022 and March 2025, 501 individual children committed 1,359 offences across the city. The same profile also notes that young people in the criminal justice system are less likely to succeed in education and more likely to face poor outcomes later in life.
At the same time, Avon and Somerset’s Police and Crime Commissioner reported 825 serious violence crimes in the force area in the year ending March 2025. The report said the six-year trend was stable, but the last two years showed an increasing trend.
This is why early support in schools matters so much. A trusted mentor can notice the small signs: a young person arriving late, avoiding lessons, becoming withdrawn, reacting quickly, or struggling to regulate emotions.
With support, that young person has a chance to pause, talk, reset and rebuild. Without support, they may drift further from school and closer to risk.
This is exactly why we do what we do.
What Bristol school data tells us
Bristol’s education challenges are also clear.
The city’s Children and Young People’s Health Profile shows that 29.2% of school-age children in Bristol receive Free School Meals, higher than the national average of 24.6%. It also reports that over 14,500 pupils have SEN, around 20.6% of all pupils in Bristol.
The same profile shows that 18,844 children under 16 live in relative low-income families in Bristol. That is 23% of children, above the UK average.
Bristol City Council’s Children and Education Plan says persistent absence damages a child’s chance of achieving good outcomes. It also states that disadvantaged pupils are more likely to be persistently absent or excluded, and that pupils eligible for Free School Meals, those with EHCPs, global majority pupils and children in contact with social care are key groups most affected.
Nationally, school absence is still far above pre-pandemic levels. In 2024/25, 18.14% of pupils in England were persistently absent, compared with 10.86% in 2018/19. Severe absence also rose to 2.39%, up from 0.85% before the pandemic.
For schools in Bristol, this means support cannot just be academic. It has to be emotional, relational and practical.
How Lexia supports schools in Bristol
Lexia’s Support Across Bristol focuses on the young person first.
That means working alongside schools to understand what is really happening beneath the behaviour. A student may be missing lessons because they feel unsafe. They may be angry because they feel unheard. They may refuse work because they already believe they will fail.
Lexia mentors help create a bridge back into learning by offering:
- Consistent one-to-one mentoring
- Support for young people with SEMH and SEN
- Positive role models from local communities
- Emotional regulation and confidence-building
- Support with attendance, engagement and behaviour
- Close work with teachers, SENCOs and pastoral teams
Lexia describes mentoring as building meaningful connections with young people and guiding them towards their potential. Its mentors support emotional wellbeing, resilience, confidence and belonging.
For young people with complex needs, this kind of support can be the difference between another failed day and a small step forward.
Why schools need trusted partners
School staff are already doing so much. Teachers, pastoral leads, SENCOs and safeguarding teams are often holding heavy situations with limited time and stretched resources.
Lexia does not replace that work. It strengthens it.
By placing trained mentors and tutors around the young person, schools can add another trusted adult into the support network. Someone who can build rapport. Someone who can meet the young person where they are. Someone who can help them feel that school is still a place where they belong.
We support more than 1,000 young people each week and works with schools and local authorities across South West England.
That scale matters because the need is not small. But the work still has to feel personal. The young person still needs to feel, “This person gets me.”
A better route forward for Bristol’s young people
The statistics tell us Bristol’s schools and communities are facing real challenges. But they do not tell the whole story.
They do not show the young person who finally walks back into class after weeks of refusing. They do not show the student who starts talking instead of kicking off. They do not show the pupil who begins to believe they have a future beyond the label they have been given.
That is the work Lexia believes in.
Lexia’s Support Across Bristol is about helping schools respond earlier, build trust faster and give vulnerable young people the steady support they need to re-engage with education.
For schools looking for mentoring, tutoring or alternative learning support in Bristol, Lexia offers a grounded, human approach built around the child, the school and the community around them.
Need support for a young person in your school? Book a conversation with Lexia and explore what the right support could look like.
