Prevent
From 1 July 2015 all schools were made subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. This duty is known as the Prevent duty.
The duty placed on schools covers 4 key areas:
- Risk Assessment
- Working in Partnership
- Staff Training
- IT Policies
Further details of the 4 key areas above can be found by following this link: Preventing extremism in the education and children’s services sectors
The Prevent Duty for schools (2015) states that as a minimum, schools should ensure that the Designated Safeguarding Lead Person undertakes Prevent awareness training and is able to provide advice and support to other members of staff on protecting children from the risk of radicalisation.
The Home Office developed training for this purpose known as Workshops to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP). WRAP/Prevent has safeguarding at the heart of its role and the idea is to raise awareness of the issues of extremism and radicalisation.
At Christ Church C of E Primary School, The Designated Safeguarding lead persons, Mrs Taylor and Mrs Bell have attended WRAP workshops and PREVENT training which has been shared with staff and governors.
In addition the school curriculum supports The Prevent Duty through, for instance PSHE, RE and the development of SMSC.
Advice for Parents
The DFE have launched a new website – Educate Against Hate
This website provides practical advice for parents, teachers and school leaders that will help to protect children from extremism and radicalisation. The website was created in response to calls from parents and teachers for more information and advice about spotting signs of radicalisation and where they can turn to for further support.