This blog post was published under the 2019 to 2022 Conservative government

By Georgina Frost, Principal of Park Hall Academy and Michelle Johnstone, Lead for School Improvement for The Orchard Community Trust

As members of the Headteachers’ Prevent Board in Stoke-on-Trent, we recognise the importance of equipping children with the skills and tools they need to maintain a positive mindset when faced with challenges in their lives. We aim to ensure all children across our city and beyond see their futures as being full of possibilities. Together we build inclusive and caring communities, where every child is valued and understands that they are special and important. In turn, our children learn to value themselves and others, recognising their responsibilities towards one another.

Our primary curriculum builds resilience across our diverse communities by:

• building positive relationships within and beyond our school communities.
• promoting shared values to create a sense of purpose and belonging.
• creating a safe and nurturing environment where children are able to be inquisitive and their voice is heard.
• fostering curiosity, providing opportunities to discuss challenging questions about the world around us.
• educating our children to know we are all unique and enabling children to develop an adaptive response to change and challenge.

Using the Prevent Audit tool (a self-assessment tool created for our City by the Board to aid compliance with the Prevent Duty), we were able to identify many areas of good practice across our schools. It was important for us to be able to share our learnings with educators in a creative way to ensure children across Stoke-on-Trent benefit from the sharing of best practice. This has included a multi-academy trust creating a parliament, with elected representatives from each school being able to network and discuss ideas, and another school hosting a ‘faith trail day’ with pupils visiting different places of worship and having talks from faith leaders.

With the support of school leaders across Stoke-on-Trent, we created a video to showcase innovative practice. This has allowed schools to share their ideas and use the video as a training resource to support an individual school’s journey in building resilience.

We hope the video will become a series of resources to support educators in their drive to create confident, resilient and respectful communities in Stoke and beyond.

The Stoke-on-Trent Headteachers’ Prevent Board was established in 2015 as a unique collaborative partnership and is the first group of its kind in the country. The focus of the group is teacher directed improvement and development of the Prevent strategy within the City’s schools, colleges and alternative and specialist providers.

Next steps:

• Check out British Values Games – a set of three lessons on fundamental British values which aims to build resilience for KS1 pupils.
• Visit Getting on Together – a programme of lessons for KS2 which help to promote tolerance and fundamental British values.

Please note, the resources above and any associated products have not been produced by DfE. Schools should always assess resources produced by external agencies carefully to ensure they are in line with your school’s policies.