The Excluded Initiative (September 2020 – August 2024) was created to build the inclusion capacity of schools, reducing the incidence of permanent and fixed-term exclusions, and ultimately, improving life changes for young people and their families.

The challenges of ongoing exclusions are being disproportionately felt by the London schools
selected for the Excluded Initiative where permanent exclusions are four times the national average
and fixed term exclusions are over two times higher.

The Excluded Initiative funded eight secondary schools across London to help drive down permanent
exclusions. This £1.2million initiative was a high-profile campaign for social good. John Lyon’s Charity
and The London Community Foundation delivered the programme; each managing the fund in
four schools. Each of the eight schools in the Excluded Initiative operated a form of internal
alternative provision. The make-up of these Hubs, how they operated and the context of each school
was distinct. Schools were split in whether they began their three year initiatives in September 2020 or
2021 – with the latter schools delaying their start date due to covid.

The Excluded originally commissioned University College London (UCL) to work with each school on
their data collection and produce distinct theories of change for each school. Centre for Evidence
and Implementation (CEI) have since been commissioned as the evaluation partner to complement
the work developed by UCL and aims to understand how the schools’ inclusion hubs may have
impacted on exclusions numbers and the experiences of young people within schools.