Running time
Full Webinar: 1 hr 10 mins

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Tanayah Sam in conversation with Dr Margot Sunderland

About this webinar

We are so privileged to have Tanayah Sam in conversation in this webinar. Tanayah now dedicates his life to helping children and young people in schools to turn away from the allure of gangs, do their GCSEs and/or follow their particular dream for what they want to do with their life. From his own lived experience he is in a unique position to know what schools can do to prevent young people turn towards crime and violence 

Tanayah fired his first gun age 14. His father gave it to him. In year 8 he was a top student in Maths and English. In year 9 he was violent in school and shouted at to “Get out of my classroom”. He was, in his own words, “Still reachable then”, and he had key teachers who meant a lot to him. But tragically no teacher ever sat down with him and asked him to help them understand about the dramatic change in both his learning and behaviour. No one took the time to listen to his story. Instead, he was excluded from school for stabbing a schoolmate with a screwdriver. As a young person, Tanayah spent years running with gangs, carrying guns and knives, and dealing drugs. He served time in 13 different prisons. 

In the webinar Tanayah explores how gangs and county lines are superb at meeting all of the vulnerable young person’s fundamental emotional needs.  He talks about how schools need to get far better at doing this so that gangs are not such an allure. He will also talk of the essential importance of engaging vulnerable  young people at school in meaningful relationships with key adults who must be culturally informed 

Benefits from watching

• Hear Tanayah’s profound wisdom (from his own lived experience) about what needs to happen if schools are to truly support and connect with vulnerable children and young people, so they don’t turn to gangs to address all their unmet emotional needs.
• Hear how Tanayah is able to engage hard to reach young people through meaningful conversation during sport activities 
• Learn from a true hero who has known rock bottom and as phoenix passionate about supporting schools to offer something profoundly different from the current school to prison pipeline 
• Understand why it’s vital schools employ emotionally-available staff to support vulnerable young people.