PREVENT

The Prevent strategy, published by the Government in 2011, is part of our overall counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. The aim of the Prevent strategy is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. In the Act this has simply been expressed as the need to “prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.

 The 2011 Prevent strategy has three specific strategic objectives:

• Respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it;
• Prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support;
• Work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address.

 As young people grow and become independent, it is not unusual for them to take risks, explore new things and push boundaries. Teenage years are often a time when young people will be searching for answers to questions about their identity, faith and belonging, as well as looking for adventure and excitement.

This can mean that they are particularly vulnerable to extremist groups, who claim to offer the answers, as well as an identity and a strong social network. Due to the fact that young people are vulnerable, extremist groups often target them using the internet and social media to spread their ideology.  There have been a number of tragic examples where young people have been misled by extremist groups, with some travelling to Syria and often becoming involved in hate crimes against minority groups.

Every member of staff at Bow School is trained to know the signs of a young person who is vulnerable and possibly susceptible to becoming radicalised. As much as we educate all our young people to make the right choices in life it is impossible for us to monitor their decisions and the influences around them when they are outside of the school. It is therefore imperative that parents and carers are aware of who their children are talking to both online and face to face.

In 2016 the Government launched the website ‘Educate Against Hate’ designed to provide both parents and teachers practical advice on protecting young people from radicalisation and extremism.

Please follow the link to familiarise yourself with this important resource.

Talking to young people about terrorism incidents can be difficult and upsetting. It is natural for children to be inquisitive and to want to understand what is happening.

For advice on how to have these important, open conversations please click on the video below, provided by the NSPCC called ‘How you should talk to children about terrorism’.

Parent pamphlet on the Prevent Strategy

Parent Guide: Protecting your children from extremism

Talking to your teenager about radicalisation