Guest post courtesy of Claire James, Policy Officer at Mentor, a charity that works to protect children and young people from the harms of drugs and alcohol, which has recently produced ‘Reviewing your drug and alcohol policy: a toolkit for schools’.
The Department for Education commissioned Mentor to produce
resources on drug and alcohol education and prevention for schools. Government
policy is now to minimise guidance given to schools where possible, so the
current DfE & ACPO Drug
Advice for Schools is just 12 pages, focusing mainly on schools’ responses
to drug and alcohol incidents. Mentor’s toolkit aims to
build on this, helping schools take a wider view and a proactive approach to
drug and alcohol use.
Where school drug and alcohol policies are considered carefully, they are much more likely to be effective and result in good outcomes. Yet many policies end up being made as a rushed response to an unforeseen incident. One suggestion in the toolkit is that schools consider whether their policy adequately deals with a range of scenarios. Schools can then be better prepared and be clear with pupils, parents and staff about the rules that are agreed. Key aspects to review might include:
- What are the rules about alcohol use on school trips? This should include thinking about staff responsibilities. For secondary schools and colleges, should there be different rules for 18 year olds?
- Should wine be provided at evening events for parents or offered as a raffle prize for fund-raising?
- Are there any particular sensitivities around alcohol that need to be taken into account when planning the school’s drug education, for example at a school with many Muslim pupils?
- Can the school support parents in setting rules around alcohol? As well as providing information to parents, being able to discuss this issue in groups can help parents feel more secure in setting reasonable rules, for example around teenage parties.
Good links with local drug and alcohol services and a proactive approach can enable schools to refer young people to appropriate support – not only after an incident but when there is any other cause for concern, or even through self-referral by young people.
Mentor believes consultation is key in creating a good school drug and alcohol policy. It can improve the policy content, raise awareness of the issues, and secure greater commitment to the final policy where people feel their views have been taken into account.
Visit www.mentor.org.uk for more information.
Further alcohol-related reports and guidance related to children and young people can be found here on the Alcohol Learning Centre, including the CMO guidance or see the Drinkaware web-page for parents. Adfam exist to improve the quality of life for families affected by drug and alcohol use - and have a find help here page.
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