In a corner of Hackney, east London, a small school is making a big impact.
The Boxing Academy, rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and oversubscribed year after year, is no ordinary educational setting. It’s a place where some of the most vulnerable and excluded young people in the system come for a fresh start. For many, it’s their last chance.
At the centre of it all is Anna Cain, the school’s principal. She believes schools like hers, a Boxing Academy, should exist in every city across the UK.
“There’s a real gap in provision for young people who don’t fit the mainstream mould,” she says. Anna is speaking at this year’s Festival of Education at Wellington College in Berkshire, sharing insights in a session titled Boxing, Behaviour and Belonging.
Step inside the Boxing Academy and it doesn’t look or feel like a traditional school. That’s very much by design.
“It looks and feels like a boxing club,” says Anna. “But we are a very ambitious school with high expectations for our children. Our classrooms are calm and purposeful.”
For the young people who arrive here, education is something that has generally been endured and not enjoyed.
The Academy’s model is different, putting boxing at the centre, not just as a sport but as a tool for personal growth. Every staff member who works as a boxer mentor must have competed at least once.
“If you’ve had a competitive fight,” Anna explains, “you’ve joined a boxing club, you’ve stuck to a training plan, stepped into the ring alone, and dealt with whatever happened. That takes emotional control and resilience. That’s exactly what our children need to learn.”
Vice Principal Jermaine Williams, a professional boxer himself, says the discipline of the sport provides a crucial outlet.
“Boxing breaks down barriers,” he says. “You’re working your mind and body at the same time. You have to be present. By the end of a session, whatever was bothering you before doesn’t feel as heavy. Either you’ve found a solution, or the stress is just not sitting in the same way anymore.”
Sessions like these are used not only for fitness, but also to defuse tension and reset behaviour. Rather than suspending students after an outburst, the Academy takes a more restorative approach.
“We don’t just send them home and hope things calm down,” says Anna. “We deal with it there and then. They talk it through, they apologise if they need to, and then they clean the gym or do push-ups and get on with the day. For many, it’s the first-time consequences have been immediate.”
The secret to the Academy’s success isn’t just boxing. It’s the relationships.
“The boxers are with the students all day, every day,” says Anna. “They’re there when things go well and when things go badly. That consistency means everything.”
Many students arrive convinced they’ll never succeed in school. A single mistake in an English lesson can lead to them ripping up the page. But the staff are quick to draw parallels with the boxing gym.
“If you made a mistake when learning your jab, what did you do? You kept going. That same mindset applies to English. It’s about learning how to persevere,” explains Anna.
The entire team, Anna says, is on the same page. “No matter their personality, every adult in the building is saying the same thing. Get to school on time. Do your work. Stay on track. We are here to help you do that.”
The results speak for themselves. Among the Academy’s alumni are a trainee accountant, a university student training to become a trauma surgeon, and a deputy headteacher Head of Year at a local secondary school.
