Awesome: schoolboy raps to Duchess of Cambridge as she opens new mental health charity centre for children and families in London

Robert Jobson1 May 2019

The Duchess of Cambridge was today moved by a boy who rapped a poem about how he rebelled after his mother died the he was just nine.

Leo, 13, revealed he was left angry and lonely at the sudden loss of mum Sharon at just 33, in a freak incident when she was bitten by a horsefly.

He rapped how he was "was always robbing and stealing, Because I didn’t care about my feelings, I wasn’t able to move on, Because I was still healing."

Leo could not live with his father and moved to be with his grandmother, Sue, in Westminster, but struggled with his behaviour at school.

At the risk of being expelled he was given a place at the Pears Family School in King’s Cross, which Kate formally opened today.

Part of The Anna Freud Centre of Excellence, of which she is patron, it specialises in children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, which often cause them to play up in class.

The Duchess of Cambridge at the Anna Freud Centre - In pictures

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Families are asked to witness their child’s troublesome behaviour and are coached on how they can deal with it at home.

Thanks to the school’s work, Leo is about to returning to mainstream schooling after a year and says he has been taught to cope with his anger and emotions.

Looking smart in a shirt and tie, Leo told the duchess: "I was 9 when my mum died, And I wasn’t doing fine, I felt angry and alone, And felt I had nowhere to go, Now I am 13 and I’m living fine, trying to get back to school so I can live my life, I’ve had good and bad times at TFS [The Family School], I’ve put some stuff to the test, thank god my anger has now gone to rest, Cause now I can really do my best.’

"Awesome," the duchess told him. Honestly, I’m really, really impressed.

Duchess of Cambridge wore a dress by Emilia Wickstead.
REUTERS

"Who’s your favourite musician"

Eminem, Leo told her.

"Well here comes the next Eminem!" Kate said.

Kate was returning to public duties following the Easter beak as she joined parents going back to school at the project for children who have been excluded from mainstream education, which requires all parents to sit in on classes in order to learn how to help their children.

She has made "early years" intervention one of the cornerstones of her public work after seeing how so many problems faced by adults she had met – including those suffering with mental health issues, addiction and social exclusion – stem from their childhood.

The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the Anna Freud Centre of Excellence.
PA

She has set up a task force of experts to investigate the issue, with a view to announcing a series of findings and recommendations later this year.

The Pears school, which has already been running as a pilot on a temporary site, is set to take 48 children aged five to 13.

All of those attending will have been excluded from school for bad behaviour caused by ‘conduct disorders’ and emotional problems.

Kate will open the new Kantor Centre of Excellence.
PA

In the first four years of the pilot, 60 per cent of the children were able to return to mainstream schooling after four terms – and 95 per cent of those children remained there.

It has been so successful that the charity is now working with several local authorities across the country to replicate the model elsewhere.

School leaders say the intervention is vital to stop children becoming ‘stuck’ in permanent exclusion – which can make youngsters vulnerable to grooming by criminal gangs later on.

The duchess spent more than 30 minutes chatting donors, supporters, architects and staff from the charity.
PA

New research from the Anna Freud Centre shows excluded children are more likely to experience behavioural and attention difficulties, emotional problems, difficulties with peers, and perceived stress.

Stephen Taylor, founding head teacher of the school, said: ‘As part of the deal, the parent has to agree to be part of the school.

‘Having parents there is key to making a change.

‘It means that when the child gets back into mainstream, this is a parent that is supportive of the school, because they’ve realised some of the difficulties, rather than being a parent that maybe assumes that a school is picking on their child or has got it wrong.’

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