The Government is working on plans to open a second “war school” in the south of England, The i Paper can reveal, as part of efforts to tackle youth unemployment and bolster military recruitment.
The UK is the only European country to routinely allow 16-year-olds to join the Army, although they can’t be deployed until they turn 18. They also have no obligation to join the military after studying at the school, and their admission requires parental consent.
The school in southern England would act as a companion to Harrogate Army Foundation College (AFC), in North Yorkshire, which is routinely oversubscribed.
Around 1,700 students join AFC Harrogate each year, with many relocating hundreds of miles to do so. A second school could double the number of youngsters able to join at 16 and allow them to live closer to home.
While still in early stages, the plan is understood to have broad ministerial support.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is “on a mission” to slash the number of “Neets” in the UK – young people who are not in education, employment, or training – of which there were an estimated one million between January and March this year.
A source close to the Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “Wes recognises that the Armed Forces provide amazing opportunities for young people, especially those from working class backgrounds like his. He will make sure to maximise defence’s contribution to solving the NEETs challenge.”
The source said Streeting is “looking into the details but is instinctively keen to expand on the great work being done in Harrogate”.
Former Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis had backed the idea and was actively considering the proposal before being moved back to the Home Office under Burnham, The i Paper understands.
Planners are understood to be considering a range of funding options, including private financing or sharing costs with other beneficiary departments, such as the Department for Education or Department for Work and Pensions.
There are also suggestions that, unlike Harrogate, which is an Army site, the southern school could be run jointly by the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. Last year, the Government announced that recruitment would now be combined across all branches of the forces.
AFC Harrogate students receive a basic wage, travel home and classes to help them study to retake their GCSEs if necessary (Photo: Mark Owens/ Crown Copyright 2015)The location of the school has not yet been chosen, but Aldershot – the historic home of the British Army – is understood to be the frontrunner. If green-lit, it is expected to take several years before the site would be operational.
Aldershot MP Alex Baker said that she was asking the Government to establish an Army Foundation College for the South to “strengthen the bond between our Armed Forces and the next generation” in the face of growing global threats.
“As the proud Home of the British Army, with around 5,000 serving personnel and Standing Joint Command, there is no better place to inspire young people, build skills and prepare our country for the future,” she said.
Junior soldiers at AFC Harrogate live on site in 12-person dormitories and are paid £1,200 to £1,500 per month with funded tickets to travel home. The school provides basic military training alongside GCSE English and Maths for those who have failed their exams.
Proponents of the idea say the school offers a lifeline for youngsters struggling in mainstream education, by providing pay, skills and a possible future career. It would also bolster military recruitment, after the Army reached its smallest size since the Napoleonic era, despite warnings that the UK could be at war with Russia within five years.
The British Army is one of the few major UK employers to accept recruits with no formal qualifications, allowing entrants from Entry Level 2, which is equivalent to the reading standard for a seven-year-old.
Many AFC Harrogate junior soldiers have struggled in conventional education. Recruits come disproportionately from a lower socio-economic background.
The course teaches the same content as the Army’s adult basic training course over a longer time period, but also provides English and Maths lessons for those needing to retake their GCSEs. These are generally run in classes of fewer than 10 students compared to the 30 found in most state schools.
Students who spoke to The i Paper said it had made it easier for them to learn and receive focused support. More than a third of the 2021 cohort gained at least one qualification during their time at the college.
Junior soldiers from AFC Harrogate on exercise on Otterburn Ranges in Northumberland National Park (Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty)The Harrogate centre also focuses on character development, with classes on resilience, ethics and information literacy for all students. It is expected that the second site would adopt a similar approach to the curriculum and work on a similar scale.
Regimental Sergeant Major Ben Townley said that introducing 16-year-olds, many from difficult upbringings, to the military can be a “leveller” that gives them the respect and pastoral care that they may not have had before.
“We’re not bringing people into the Army at 16 and quick turnaround, train them and send them off to war. It just doesn’t happen,” Townley, who is the most senior soldier at AFC Harrogate, said when The i Paper visited the college this year. “Our priority here isn’t actually the soldiering side. The focus is on character development.”
There is evidence that the school produces better, more committed soldiers than other training institutions. Harrogate generates about 20 per cent of the Army’s annual intake, but former students make up around 50 per cent of Warrant Officers Class One, the most senior non-officer rank in the Army.
Richard Sheriff, CEO of Red Kite Learning Trust, which runs 16 schools in Yorkshire and works closely with the college, told The i Paper it has provided a lifeline to students otherwise struggling in mainstream education.
The college can offer a safe place to live, food and a “sense of belonging” – something that dramatically affects children’s development but is out of the control of most mainstream schools, Sheriff said. It can also manage access to social media and phones, and prevent the use of drugs and alcohol.
But in 2019, the Child Rights International Network (CRIN) accused the military of “leaning on teenagers from the most deprived backgrounds to fix its recruitment crisis” and called for an end to the recruitment of under-18s.In recent years, Harrogate AFC has faced allegations of sexual assault against both recruits and teachers, violence by staff, racism, and at least one attempted suicide. In response, Louise Sandher-Jones – then minister for veterans and people and now minister for the Armed Forces – told The i Paper that “unacceptable and criminal behaviour has no place in our Armed Forces”.
She noted that the Government’s new Armed Forces Bill delivers stronger measures to support and protect victims of serious and sexual offences, including an independent Tri-Service Complaints Unit, a “pioneering prevention programme” launched in November to address the cultural and behavioural root causes of unacceptable sexual behaviour in the military.
A recent Ofsted assessment that included welfare ranked the school as “outstanding”.
There is clearly plenty of work to be done, and should it come to fruition, a second teenage training college might not be welcomed by all. But many across Whitehall believe it could be one key strand in the fightback against youth unemployment – and Russian aggression.
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