From Excluded to Empowered: How Oscar is Proving Potential Can’t Be Written Off
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Every day in England, dozens of young people are permanently excluded from school. Last year alone, 7,900 students were removed from classrooms—pushed to the margins of society long before they’ve had a fair chance to build their futures.
And the consequences are devastating:
* Only 4% of excluded pupils pass English and Maths GCSEs.
* 60% of the prison population were once excluded.
* Thousands of young people end up isolated, unemployed, and without hope.
For many, exclusion marks the start of a downward spiral that can take years—sometimes decades—to recover from, if at all.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
This is Oscar’s story.
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A System That Gives Up Too Soon
When a child is excluded, society often decides they’re a “problem” to be dealt with rather than a person to be helped. Labels like “disruptive”, “unteachable”, or “troublemaker” stick to them, while the support they need disappears overnight. What’s left is a sense of rejection that can cut deeper than most adults realise. It’s not just the loss of lessons—it’s the loss of belonging, purpose, and belief in their own worth. Oscar knows that feeling all too well. Before joining Genuine Futures, he was struggling with isolation. The days blurred together as he withdrew more and more: “I was always in my room, barely speaking to anyone,” Oscar says. He wasn’t learning. He wasn’t socialising. He wasn’t living. And like many excluded young people, he felt forgotten.
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Turning the Tide: Three Sessions That Changed Everything
Then Oscar joined Genuine Futures. We don’t believe in writing young people off—we believe in meeting them where they are, showing them their potential, and giving them real opportunities to thrive. Oscar started attending our Big Pop Up Car Wash, a youth-led initiative designed to teach practical skills, teamwork, and entrepreneurship. At first, he was quiet, unsure, almost invisible. But something shifted. With each session, Oscar began showing up on time, getting stuck in, and learning the value of hard work—and the joy of being part of a team that believes in him. After just three sessions, we saw the spark that had been buried under months of isolation. Oscar says it best: “I feel amazing. I’ve made new friends. I’ve got more people to talk to. The programme has helped me a lot.”
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We Shine Any Car: A Business and a Future
The car wash is more than just a way to keep busy—it’s the start of a youth enterprise that gives excluded young people a sense of ownership and purpose. Oscar is now part of We Shine Any Car, a youth-led car cleaning business where young people learn to manage customers, handle money, and develop real-world skills that open doors to future employment or self-employment. And the future is getting brighter. Oscar is excited to help launch We Shine Any Car as a permanent car cleaning enterprise at The Scrappers. This move will not only give him consistent work but also create pathways for other young people to gain training, experience, and a second chance at success. He’s no longer the teen locked in his room with no one to talk to—he’s a young man with a business, a team, and a dream.
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The Bigger Picture: Why We Can’t Keep Failing Young People
Oscar’s transformation is inspiring, but it also shines a harsh light on the reality facing thousands of excluded young people across the UK.
When we exclude a child from school without proper support, we’re not solving a problem—we’re planting the seeds for much bigger ones:
* Isolation: Young people retreat from social interaction, losing confidence and motivation.
* Mental health struggles: Anxiety, depression, and low self-worth often follow exclusion.
* Limited education: With little to no academic support, future opportunities shrink drastically.
* Pathway to prison: The link between exclusion and crime is undeniable.
We can’t keep pretending that exclusion is the solution. It’s a symptom of a broken system that fails to recognise and nurture potential.
What Oscar has achieved shows what’s possible when we invest in young people instead of writing them off.
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A Call to Action: Investing in Potential, Not Punishment
Oscar’s story is one of many we’re proud to witness at Genuine Futures. But we need more people—schools, businesses, communities—to join us in breaking the cycle.
Every young person deserves:
- A second chance to learn and grow.
- Real opportunities to gain skills and earn money.
- Adults who believe in their potential, even when others don’t.
We know what happens when society gives up on its young people. The statistics are there for all to see. The prisons are full of their stories.
But we also know what happens when we choose hope, support, and opportunity instead: lives change, futures open up, and young people like Oscar prove what they’re truly capable of.
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Contact us: hello@genuinefutures.co.uk
Visit: www.genuinefutures.co.uk<http:
Let’s stop judging, labelling, and writing them off.
Let’s start investing in their potential.