Our pre-vocational programme recently welcomed St Giles Trust to host a seminar and speak to our learners about County Lines.

We welcomed a gentleman called Cairo to deliver the session, who has had a previous involvement in organised crime and county lines in the past, making the discussions during the seminar powerful to hear, and allowed our learners to learn from his lived experiences. Cairo shared the misconceptions he had during his involvement in organised crime, explaining that he initially believed it would be a glamorous lifestyle. However, he soon discovered that it was far from glamorous, revealing the harsh and troubling reality behind it. There were 25 learners in the room who accessed the session, with many staying behind after to speak with Cairo, ask questions and get advice.

For many of our young people, the risk of involvement with county lines and organised crime is significant due to a number of factors. This makes having the lived experience of Cairo and support from St Giles Trust truly positive and impactful.

Joe Radcliffe, Head of Pre-Vocational Learning, said, "We were pleased to welcome St Giles Trust and Cairo as guest speaker to Weston College to talk to our pre-vocational students. Cairo's message was extremely powerful, and we are hoping that this with resonate with the learners and encourage safe activity out in the community. We are hoping to continue to work closely with St Giles Trust and Avon and Somerset Police with the intent of supporting young people to make informed choices when they are out in the community to ensure they are keeping themselves safe from crime and exploitation."

We look forward to working with St Giles Trust again in future and want to say a big thank you to Cairo for his time with our learners!

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