Bourne Academy are partners with the Royal Foundation’s Homewards BCP Coalition and the UK homelessness charity Shelter. Together they provide ‘work shops’ to school students to educate them on homelessness prevention.
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The Prince of Wales sat with sixth form students at Bourne Academy (Image: NQ)
Arriving promptly at 12:30pm, Prince William was greeted by excited and screaming crowds at the neighbouring Kingsleigh Primary school before stepping into Bourne Academy where he met with the Principal, Mr Mark Avoth.
The Prince of Wales visits Bourne Academy, Poole (Image: NQ)
Also in attendance at the secondary school visit was homelessness charity Shelter and representatives from Bournemouth and Poole college. The group spoke in depth with The Prince about how they have been activating different support initiatives for students to provide them with quality education resources on handling personal crisis and preventing homelessness early on.
The Prince of Wales visits Bourne Academy, Poole (Image: NQ)
Homewards is a five‑year homelessness initiative led by Prince William and is delivered through The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales.
Launched in June 2023, it aims to show that ending homelessness is possible by making it rare, brief and unrepeated across the UK.
The initiative currently covers six different locations including Aberdeen, Lambeth, Newport, Northern Ireland, Sheffield and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
Homewards works alongside partners such as major retailers, employers and finance sector organisations to support the delivery of bespoke initiatives to each area with a goal of ending homelessness by 2028.
In addition to its partners, Homewards also provide £500,000 funding to it’s locations and, research partners that collect specialised data to evaluate problem areas and success measures across the initiative.
During the visit, His Royal Highness also sat down with organisations that are partnered with the Upstream programme.
Upstream works collaboratively with schools and communities to identify issues for young people such as school disengagement, poor mental health and wellbeing and family conflict.
It then provides early interventions and support to help reduce the risk of problems escalating in future.
The Prince of Wales visits Bourne Academy, Poole (Image: NQ)
Upstream achieve this through a universal screening process.
Young people complete the Upstream survey in their classrooms.
This identifies the individuals who will then be invited to meet with a member of the Upstream team to explore whether support would be right for them.
This support is individualised for them and their families and can include 1:1 mentoring, school and career advice, family support and mediation, or support with referrals and access to other services.
His Royal Highness then sat down with a group of year 12 and 13 students to discuss the success of the workshops that have been delivered to them through the schools partnership with Shelter.
The Prince of Wales sat with sixth form students at Bourne Academy (Image: NQ)
When discussing the topics which are covered in the workshops with students, Prince William said: “There’s a lot of things to think about and worry about, isn’t there.
“It’s not to add more burden to your plate, but hopefully it’s a start to thinking about it before it becomes an issue.
“Do you feel that’s helpful for you guys, has it given you confidence?”
Sixth form students were in unanimous agreement that the workshops provided under the Homewards coalition with BCP and Shelter have strengthened their confidence in housing related topics such as deposits, tenancy agreements, money handling and moving out.
Sixth form students from Bourne Academy (Image: NQ)
Mohamed Jaber, a year 12 student, said: “I did think it was just going to be another regular, boring PSHE lesson but now that Prince William came here, I think, like, it’s actually real.
“It’s actually going to help me.
“It’s going to benefit me in my future.
“It’s helped me realise that there is more to school, I can learn more at school other than just tests.”
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Prince William greeting BCP residents 2026 (Image: NQ)
After chatting with the students, The Prince of Wales departed Bourne Academy but was soon greeted by elated bystanders who couldn’t believe a member of the royal family member was walking down their street on a sunny afternoon in Bournemouth.