The Prevent duty

Our wide range of safeguarding and child protection duties includes the government’s Prevent Strategy.

From 1 July 2015 all schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This duty is known as the Prevent Duty for Schools.

At Russell Lower School, we recognise that safeguarding and creating a safeguarding culture is the responsibility of everyone who works here. 

As a school we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is no different from safeguarding against any other vulnerability. 

At Russell Lower School, we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British Values and enabling our pupils to challenge extremist views.

The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. All our staff receive annual training on Prevent.

The aim of Prevent is to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent also extends to supporting the rehabilitation and disengagement of those already involved in terrorism.

You can find guidance here Prevent duty guidance: England and Wales (2023)