Prevent Duty
| What is the Prevent strategy? |
Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes.
The Prevent strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including political and religious extremism.
| How does the Prevent strategy apply to schools? |
All schools have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism.
This means schools have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views, in the same way we protect them from abuse or neglect.
Importantly schools provide a safe place for children to discuss these issues so they can understand how they can protect themselves.
| What does this mean in practice? |
At St Leonard's we have a Prevent policy which sets out how we plan to educate and protect children from extremism and radicalisation. Many of the things we do in school are as part of our Safeguarding polices and procedures. Our curriculum forms a major part of ensuring we support children and families through:
- The promotion of British values of Democracy, the Rule of Law, Individual liberty and Respect and Tolerance of different faiths an beliefs
- Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our pupils
- Exploration of other cultures and religions through RE, cultural focus days and visits to places of worship
- The use of Netsweeper to filter our internet use in order to protect children from exposure to extremist views
- Challenging prejudice, racist comments and stereotypes
- A progressive PSHE curriculum
| Isn't my child too young to learn about extremism? |
The Prevent strategy is not just about discussing extremism, it is about teaching children values such as respect and tolerance of others. We always ensure that any discussions we have with children are suitable for the age and maturity of our children.
Is extremism really a risk in our area?
Extremism can take many forms, including political, religious and misogynistic extremism. The skills the children learn at St Leonard's will help protect them from any extremist views they may encounter, now or later in their lives.
For more information:
Contact the school if you have any questions and read our Prevent Policy in the 'Policies' section of our website.
https://www.lancashirepreventpartnership.org.uk/
https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/safeguarding/report-radicalisation-prevent/
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance
https://www.england.nhs.uk/safeguarding/workstreams/prevent/
https://www.educateagainsthate.com/