Prevent Policy

1. ‘Prevent’ is a scheme introduced by the UK government to protect vulnerable people and reduce the risk of their becoming radicalised or involved in extremism.
2. Everyone has the right to their own beliefs and opinions. However, if they seek to harm others as a means of achieving/enforcing their beliefs, this is extremism.
3. Extremism includes hatred or intolerance of others due to factors such as their race, gender, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.
4. All students at a language school may well be living in an unfamiliar environment or culture and therefore at risk of exposure to those who wish to encourage extreme views and behaviour such as acts of violence or terrorism.
5. Under the terms of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015, Lexis School of English accepts it has a responsibility to prevent people from becoming radicalised or involved in terrorism. We firmly believe in respect and tolerance of others and their beliefs and encourage this in the day to day running of the school.
6. We will therefore aim to act swiftly if there are any signs that a student is behaving in a way which raises concern. The following are just a few examples of such signs:

- Sudden changes in behaviour

- A drop in attendance

- A fall in performance in class or in work produced.

- Expressing extreme opinions and / or wishing to impose them on others

- Accessing extremist material online

- Using social network sites to spread extremist views.

7. Prevent is a safeguarding issue and staff should report any concerns in this area to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Elena Logara-Panteli. If Elena is unavailable, they can also speak to the co-DSL, Steve Austin.
8. All Lexis staff take the UK government’s  free online prevent training:

https://www.elearning.prevent.homeoffice.gov.uk/.