Bexhill High's new venture

BEXHILL High is pioneering a bold new venture which will see a serving police officer work for the school full-time along with educationalists.

The aim is for the officer to work closely with pupils facing exclusion from school in a bid to seek new direction for their lives.

So advanced is the thinking behind Bexhill High School's joint Pathways project with Sussex Police that Chief Constable Joe Edwards has already visited the self-contained unit at the Gunters Lane site.

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In what is believed to be a "first" in Sussex, PC Mike Turnbull will be working with High School staff members Marilyn Fishwick and Naomi Friedlander from the beginning of the Autumn term.

The project agreed between High School head Mike Conn and Acting Chief Inspector Richard Coates aims to provide pathways to a new future for a small group of High School pupils at risk of permanent exclusion from the school.

Co-operation between the High and Sussex Police resulted in the BBC revealing three weeks ago that the school had called in officers more often than any other in the South East.

But headteacher, school governors and local police chief maintain that this is simply a reflection of an "open door" policy of co-operation which is yielding good results.

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Preparatory work is already under way for the use of a former sports pavilion and nursery for the Pathways project.

PC Turnbull said: "Colleagues have said to me, 'Is it not blurring the role between police officer and teacher?'

"I say that is exactly what it does do!

"It is trying something new. If at the end of the day we can help young people turn their lives around it doesn't matter if divisions are blurred.

"I have had police experience in dealing with new recruits and in mentoring.

"It is the remedial role we need most - to show the young people some life skills which perhaps they haven't had shown them before."

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