 40% of teenagers are in abusive relationships. A third of girls have experienced unwanted sexual touching in schools. One in seven children have lived with domestic abuse at home. 33% of girls and 16% of boys have experienced sexual violence from a partner. 61% of boys and 70% of girls reported not having any information about personal relationships at school. 73% felt that sex and relationship education should be taught before the age of 13. Education settings are a vital site to prevent and intervene early to stop violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. It is crucial that education practitioners have the knowledge and tools to fulfil their role in preventing these issues, create an equal and safe space for children and young people and to intervene early to support victims. There are three important reasons for schools to promote gender equality and challenge violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. Everyone in the education service has a shared objective to create a safe learning environment by identifying and responding to any child welfare concerns. There is a strong business case for this area of work and, finally, but most importantly, there is a moral imperative to promote gender equality and stop these forms of violence and abuse. Failure to provide good equality, age-appropriate sex and relationship education means children and young people may not have a good understanding of the warning signs of abuse, how to form healthy relationships, what consent means and where to go for help should they need it. It is important that educators feel confident to recognise the warning signs of abuse and safeguard and support children and families who may be affected. In order to achieve this, a whole school approach model to preventing violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence is required. The rest of the film sets out what this can involve. Staff training. Taking time to train staff teams in educational settings on violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence can impact positively on many areas of life within the organisation. Staff feel confident in raising the issues and who are trained to recognise signs as well as addressing disclosures effectively can deal with issues as they arise which can lead to the best outcomes for the community. It can also have a positive effect on bullying, relationships across the organisation and group dynamics. Having confident staff can also help to reduce and remove the stigma that can surround violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. Consider that appropriate training is made available to staff in line with local arrangements for providing safeguarding and child protection training and the national training framework on violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. Access to appropriate resources. Access to local and national agencies to support the work and the role of designated safeguarding leads in strengthening the response to violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. Work that is responsive to and tailored to meet the needs of your young people, school or further education institution culture and local school communities is crucial if the work is to be accurate, appropriate and effective. Working with parents and carers. Many parents and carers will want to talk to their children about their relationships and to keep them safe from abuse and violence. In partnership with specialist services in your area consider providing workshops, leaflets and information sessions to support parents and carers in their important role. Ensure that violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence are acknowledged as safeguarding issues. Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence needs to be seen and understood as a child protection issue and any concerns which are identified must be managed under the arrangements put in place by the child protection policy. Youth participation. Active participation of children and young people is crucial to creating a whole school approach to preventing violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. Participation is about people having a meaningful say in decisions that affect their lives. It is about facilitating opportunities for people to instigate and implement their own ideas to tackle these issues. Meaningful participation can have huge benefits for schools and young people. Developing a comprehensive programme of prevention. To develop a comprehensive programme to end violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence it is important to move beyond the classroom by raising the profile of the prevention work, by backing up the messages received during sessions with posters, campaigns and assemblies, by integrating it within policies and procedures. This is also more likely to ensure clear and consistent messages are given to children and young people in relation to challenging instances of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. Many schools and further education institutions are already doing interesting and innovative work on these key themes. Changing gender norms, roles and expectations. Building respectful relationships. Identifying and understanding violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. Help seeking and safety planning.