Break the Silence: Stop the Violence – Group Award Nominee – 2006

Break the Silence: Stop the Violence (Leeds InterAgency Project, Education Leeds, Leeds Community Safety, Leeds City Council) is a multi-agency project that aims to raise awareness of domestic abuse in schools. The agencies involved produced innovative curriculum resources for schools to use as part of the PHSCE syllabus. There are separate packs for high schools and primary schools. Both packs take a wide-ranging approach to violence and personal safety. The primary pack helps younger children to learn about relationships, their bodies and personal safety through a range of engaging activities. The pack for High Schools looks at rights and responsibilities in relationships and raises awareness of what makes for healthy and unhealthy relationships. Both packs were launched in 2004 and have now been distributed to every school in Leeds. Feedback from teachers has been very positive. The purpose of the packs is to focus on, and the implications for teachers and schools. The resource is a practical introduction to tackling domestic violence and child protection, and will help: raise awareness, provide information, offer guidance for writing policies and procedures, and help schools begin to address concerns, across both the hidden and mainstream curricula. Whilst the materials are aimed at schools they can also be adapted to be used in other children and young people’s settings.