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The DfES booklet "Drugs - Guidance for
Schools (2004)" contains clear direction on most issues relating
to drugs in school. The statutory and non-statutory guidance for
developing your school's response to drugs issues is clearly laid
out. It covers all drugs, including alcohol, tobacco and medicines.
It has sections to help you to plan your drug education, write a
policy, plan what to do if there is an incident and advice on best
practice.
It is important that staff have access to this guidance as well
as the local protocols and policies that interpret this and wider
guidance. Schools need to be aware of the guidance's relationship
to your drugs policy and practice.
It is a requirement that every school has a drug policy, which includes
the agreed response to drug related incidents. You can download
it on this page in the' useful downloads' section. |
| Drugs - What's the Score? |
We live in a drug using world. From our morning coffee, to the medication
we use or the glass of wine or beer we have in an evening. Drugs
may be our saviour or our downfall, recreational or vital for our
well-being - but all have the potential to harm if not used with
care.The most commonly used drug is alcohol. Whilst many people
use alcohol safely and responsibly we are seeing the age at which
young people experiment with alcohol falling. We are also seeing
an increase in the amount and frequency of alcohol consumed, with
female drinking on the rise. Alcohol and other drugs put young people
at risk in a number of ways. If alcohol is misused, young people's
health may be damaged, they may get involved in criminal activities,
they may be assaulted or become involved in unplanned sexual activity.
It is worth noting that the majority of young people still
do not use illegal drugs and despite what the media may
lead us to believe, illegal drug use has actually started falling
amongst young people over the past 3 years.
If young people are to grow up safe in this drug using
world it is important that they develop the knowledge, skills and
understanding that will enable them to make positive and confident
choices in relation to drugs of all kinds.
There will, however, be a minority of young people who will use
drugs in a way that puts them at social, physical and emotional
risk: they may use dependently or for a complex variety of reasons.
These young people may go on to develop problematic drug use and
it is here that support and early intervention can make the difference. |
Some young people live in homes where drug use is the norm, conservative
local estimates suggest that as many as 22% of the young people
in our schools may be affected by parental drug
and alcohol use or that of other family members. Young people may
be carers for other family members because of drug use. They may
live in environments where attitudes to drugs are permissive or
where familiarity and misinformation create a false sense of security
about the risks of drug misuse. However, even though some young
people live in challenging circumstances it is important to remember
that it does not automatically follow that they are using drugs,
or will go on to do so.
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| Being effective - a whole-school
approach |
In this fast-changing world, where young people
seem to face more adult choices at a younger age, it can seem a
daunting task to enable them to be protected from the risks of drug
misuse. In the face of increasing media and peer influence and social
'normalisation' of drug and alcohol misuse, significant numbers
of young people will experiment with legal and illegal drugs as
part of their maturing process, however, the lucky majority of these
come through such experimentation without suffering lasting harm.
When planning drug education and policy it is vital that we cater
for all the young people and adults within the school community,
acknowledging that they will have different needs and understandings
of drugs issues. All the evidence shows that a community that works
together to tackle drug use, with a common purpose, is an effective
community. Parent's concerns for their children, young people's
views and experiences, the stability of a positive school environment,
skilled teaching, appropriate support, and effective partnerships
are all resources that can be harnessed to make a positive difference
to drug use in communities.\
A 'whole-school approach', such as that achieved through meeting
the Healthy School Standard for PSHE to include Drug Education,
has been proven to reduce drug-use and smoking in schools.
More about the standard
for PSHE including drugs/SRE >> |
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Hurry Only Ten Performances Left for Lauren!
Supporting Pupils to Explore the Risks and consequence of alcohol misuse
Recent surveys conducted with staff and pupils as part of our needs assessment process have highlighted that schools in the City have identified alcohol misuse and parental alcohol use as a key area of concern. The local TellUs survey suggests that by Y10 12% of pupils are already misusing alcohol or binge drinking weekly. We know that alcohol misuse among girls is rising and that over half of young people do not feel safe in their neighbourhoods, partly due to anti-social behaviour and alcohol use. Conservative estimates suggest that as many as 10,000 young people are negatively affected by their parent's alcohol use.
We are making 10 performances of Lauren available to City Secondary Schools following the success of the last run.
Last term over half of Nottingham City Secondary Schools ran the programme with their year 9 pupils along with 3 specially designed lessons to prepare the pupils and to follow up the programme.
The cost of the workshop will be covered by the Healthy Schools Programme. In return we ask for a commitment from the school to deliver the workshop as part of a small planned programme of 3 or 4 lessons. We will provide the lesson plans to prepare for and to follow up the performance/workshop. This will ensure that the workshops are most effective and will help you to meet the learning outcomes set out in relation to alcohol education in the national curriculum for PSHE and Wellbeing and Every Child Matters.
Tangere arts will provide you with a package of max 3 performance/workshop sessions. Each workshop can cater for about 30 pupils but if you need more than 3 sessions to cover your Y9 on role we can look at extending this a little. We would like all of the Y9 pupils to have the opportunity to receive the workshop and receive important safeguarding information about alcohol and alcohol services.
Contact Tangere Arts to book 0845 3298013 or email all@avah.freeserve.co.uk
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D-vibe is here
The new online drugs survey has launched in Nottingham. The simple to use, anonymous survey will be used to find out more about young people's experiences and needs around drugs and alcohol. It is designed to be done by anyone and resources are supplied to support it's use as a curriculum activity in a range of subjects. Take a look at www.d-vibe.com.
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Check out Drugs Current Affairs....
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