Blackwater Community Primary School

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Prevent Strategy

Prevent Leaflet.pdf

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 the extreme right wing, violent Islamist groups and other causes.

How does the Prevent strategy apply to schools?

From July 2015 all schools (as well as other organisations) have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism. This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from drugs or gang violence. Importantly, we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues so they better understand how to protect themselves.

What does this mean in practice?

Many of the things we already do in school to help children become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy. These include:

Exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity
Challenging prejudices and racist comments
Developing critical thinking skills and a strong, positive self-identity
Promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy

We will also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example by using filters on the internet to make sure they can’t access extremist and terrorist material, or by vetting visitors who come into school to work with pupils.

Different schools will carry out the Prevent Duty in different ways, depending on the age of the children and the needs of the community.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Prevent relate to British values?

Schools have been required to promote British values since 2014, and this will continue to be part of our response to the Prevent strategy.

British values include:

Democracy
The rule of law
Individual liberty and mutual respect
Tolerance of different faiths and beliefs

Isn’t my child too young to learn about extremism?

The Prevent strategy is not just about discussing extremism itself, which may not be appropriate for younger children. However, it is about teaching children values such as tolerance and mutual respect.

The school will make sure any discussions are suitable for the age and maturity of the children involved.

Is extremism really a risk in our area?

Extremism can take many forms, including political, religious and misogynistic extremism. Some of these may be a bigger threat in our area than others. We will aim to develop children’s own skills to protect themselves from any extremist views they may encounter, now or later in their lives.

Prevent - Our school's Prevent Lead is Evey Evison- Head Teacher

From 1 July 2015 specified authorities, including all schools as defined in the summary of this guidance, are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (“the CTSA 2015”), in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism, also known as the Prevent duty. Bodies to which this duty applies must have regard to statutory guidance issued under section 29 of the CTSA 2015 (‘Prevent Guidance’). Paragraphs 57-76 of the Prevent Guidance are concerned specifically with schools.

The School Prevent guidance summarises the requirements in terms of four general themes: risk assessment, working in partnership, staff training and IT policies.

We understand the risks affecting children and young people and understand how to identify individual children who may be at risk of radicalisation and what to do to support them. We will assess the risk of children being drawn into terrorism, including support for extremist ideas such as Right Wing, Far Right, International, Incel, Far Left, and Environmental related influences.

As part of this Duty our designated safeguarding lead will:

undertake Prevent awareness training and be able to provide advice and support to other members of staff on protecting children and young people from the risk of radicalisation.
ensure that children and young people are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet with us and ensuring that suitable filtering are in place.
ensure that the Guidance for Schools Duty is fully met as part of a risk assessed approach
ensure staff are clear on the definition of Extremism, Radicalisation and Terrorism (KCSIE, 2022)

We utilise the ‘educate against hate’ website which provides us with information, tools and resources we need to recognise and address extremism and radicalisation. Training on making Prevent referrals and E- learning is accessed regularly.

How do we support this in school?

All staff at Blackwater School share a duty to protect pupils from the risk of radicalisation, as part of our safeguarding duties and we also seek to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils.

We do this by…

Promote the fundamental British values in our curriculum
Make sure that Blackwater School is a safe space for pupils to discuss sensitive topics, including terrorism and extremism
Ensure that we have robust safeguarding procedures to identify children at risk
Engage with local authority risk assessments to determine the potential risk of individuals being drawn into terrorism in our local area
We make sure that we have measures in place to protect pupils from harmful online content, including appropriate filtering systems
Our staff receiving training to help them identify pupils at risk, challenge extremist ideas, and know how to act if they have a concern

The designated safeguarding lead (DSL) has Prevent awareness training.

What should I do if I have a concern?

Staff will follow the school’s usual safeguarding procedures.

If you are a pupil, a relation or anybody with a concern, you can discuss these with the DSL, and they will decide whether to involve other agencies such as the LA, police, social services, or Channel, the government’s programme for identifying and supporting those at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

Please email Evey Evison, the Designated Safeguarding Lead if you have any concerns:

eevison@blackwater.tpacademytrust.org