It is no ordinary school setting, rather a place where vulnerable youngsters excluded from mainstream education come for a fresh start — for some, it is their last chance.
Staff are taken on if they’ve been in the ring themselves because that gives pupils the skills of training and having to deal with whatever life throws at them.
And The Boxing Academy is now over-subscribed each year and rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.
Principal Anna Cain is at the centre of it all.
Step inside her academy at Monteagle Way in Lower Clapton and it doesn’t feel like a traditional school.
“It feels like a boxing club,” Anna tells you. “There’s a real gap in education for those who don’t fit the mainstream mould. Our classrooms are calm and purposeful.”
Education for the young people who arrive has generally been endured rather than enjoyed.
The academy puts boxing at the centre, as a tool for personal development. Every boxing mentor on the staff must have competed in the ring at least once.
“You’ve stuck to a training plan if you’ve had a competitive fight,” Anna explains. “You’ve joined a boxing club or stepped into the ring alone and dealt with whatever happened.
“That takes emotional control and resilience — exactly what our children need to learn.”
Vice principal Jermaine Williams is a professional boxer himself, using that philosophy as an outlet for the youngsters because boxing “breaks down barriers”.
Jermaine puts it on the line.
“You’re working your mind and body at the same time,” he says. “Whatever was bothering you doesn’t feel as heavy by the end of a session. Either you’ve found a solution or the stress is just not sitting in the same way anymore.”
Sessions are used to defuse tension and reset behaviour as well as for fitness.
The academy takes a restorative approach, rather than suspending pupils if they have an outburst. It doesn’t send pupils home and hope things calm down, but deals with issues there and then. They talk things through. The youngster apologises if they need to, then cleans the gym or does push-ups and gets on with the day.
The boxing staff are there when things go well and when things go badly.
The philosophy is to keep going if you make a mistake when learning your boxing jab. That mindset also applies to English lessons, for example. It’s about learning how to persevere.
The results speak for themselves. Among former pupils are a trainee accountant, a university student studying to be a trauma surgeon and even a deputy headteacher at a secondary school.
