This section of the toolkit aims to provide you with a step-by-step roadmap for change within your school, college or setting. It is the responsibility of school leaders to ensure that all children and young people feel safe from harassment and abuse in school. Achieving and sustaining improvement requires the involvement of all staff at every level and requires schools to:
- Make an honest assessment of the current culture.
- Provide staff training to the whole staff team around gender-based violence (GBV).
- Integrate Prevention work into RSE and the wider curriculum.
- Develop policies and procedures that ‘institutionalise’ change.
- Monitor and evaluate progress.
What Ofsted recommends
As part of its rapid review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges, Ofsted cited recommendations made by the ‘Beyond referrals’ project, to help schools develop an environment where children and young people can talk to professionals about abuse. These included:
- Engaging students in small-group sessions.
- Mapping in-school and out-of-school spaces to identify where harmful behaviour takes place.
- Using a curriculum-based approach to tackle culture where reporting is perceived as ‘snitching’.
Call to Schools
“Listen to us and believe what we tell you.”
The End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) co-created their ‘Call to Schools’ alongside young women and non-binary young people. This charter contains ten demands, outlining what young people need from school leaders and staff in response to sexual harassment and abuse.