We are all exposed to news and events from around the world that can be upsetting and difficult to process. Understanding these situations can be challenging for adults and even more so for young people and children. In light of this, we would like to draw your attention to the following suggestions:

The Linking Network, who have pulled together guidance for schools on dealing with sensitive issues due to external events (attached here).

The Teacher’s Standards, which set out clearly the way in which teachers are required to remain impartial in all matters political. See The Teachers Standards 2021 (PDF)

Prevent Guidance 

Many young people will have a strong personal interest in these issues, and we are aware that in some schools this may lead to political activity by older pupils.  Schools should ensure that political expression by pupils is done sensitively, avoiding disruption and feelings of intimidation or targeting for other pupils and staff.  Schools should also make every effort to ensure that this activity does not extend to discriminatory bullying or involve the expression of antisemitic, anti-Muslim, or other discriminatory views. Where this does happen, the Department for Education expects schools to deal with these incidents with all due seriousness, in line with their behaviour policy.

Depending on the circumstances, safeguarding leads may also look to determine whether abusive and discriminatory views expressed or shared by pupils are representative of a wider susceptibility and consider the appropriateness of engaging with support through the Prevent programme. We trust teachers and other staff to exercise their professional judgment about whether a referral is appropriate, as they do for all other safeguarding risks.  Further training and more discussion around radicalisation will help in addressing this, and advice and guidance is available on Educate Against Hate and GOV.UK to support safeguarding leads in making these decisions.

Schools should also be mindful of their legal duties regarding political impartiality and should always avoid working with organisations that promote antisemitic, anti-Muslim or any other discriminatory views. The Department for Education has published clear and comprehensive guidance to help those working with and in schools to better understand legal duties on political impartiality.  The guidance can be found on GOV.UK

Please do not hesitate to seek further clarity on what you can do to support your students during this difficult time.

PSHE Resources

The PHSE Association has released free resources for schools (no membership required)

Addressing Misogyny and Andrew Tate

• Misogyny KS2 Presentation
• Misogyny KS3 Presentation
• Report on Andrew Tate - Hope Not Hate

Free Resource on Knife Crime

The Ben Kinsella Trust and the National Justice Museum in Nottingham have jointly produced free knife crime lesson plans for schools for KS2, KS3 and KS4. The two charities have shared their expertise to produce four new primary school lesson plans on topics surrounding knife crime.

These PSHE lesson plans for schools teaching KS2, KS3 and KS4 are based on video testimony from ex-gang members, victims and offenders. The lessons include all the worksheets, activities and film that you need to run a successful lesson. The lessons, for school years 5 and 6 (Key Stage 2), focus on video content from real people with real lived experience of knife crime. The four lessons are: 

• Keeping Safe
• Consequences of knife crime
• Laws on knife carrying
• Communicating the problem

Click here to download the resource

A fantastic resource for ages 15 to 18-year-old students has been produced by the Metropolitan Police to support discussions within school/colleges and youth provisions relating to Hate Crime and Prevent. They are based on a video made by Humza Arshad, the actor & comedian behind Humza Productions on YouTube. His productions include "Diary of a Badman" and "Badman".

There are 5 sessions in total, including an assembly presentation, video, and lesson plans.

If you would like more information or a link to the resource, please contact us.

Staff Prevent Training

• PREVENT Duty Guidance (GOV.UK)
• PREVENT Duty Training (GOV.UK)

Resources for Schools

Contact us if you require a specific topic to be covered.

Secondary School 

• What is Prevent Film - Hollyoaks (YouTube)
• What is extremism and What is extremism lesson plan - Hollyoaks
• What is radicalisation and What is radicalisation lesson plan
• Conspiracy theories and Conspiracy theories lesson plan
• Conspiracy Theories explained with Instagram clips
• Conspiracy Theory Chart

Primary School 

• KS2 Conspiracy Theories and KS2 Conspiracies Lesson Plan
• KS1  Lies and KS1 Lies Lesson Plan

Other 

• Educate Against Hate - a government website that has a wide range of resources for classrooms of all ages, including those with autism spectrum conditions, giving teachers the information and guidance to enable them to teach these sensitive subjects with confidence
• Zak Resource -University of Kent online interactive resources
• EqualiTeach - run workshops for all ages on radicalisation and critical thinking
• Bucks Safeguarding Prevent
• The National Literacy Trust offers fake news and critical literacy resources, including lesson plans for different subject areas.