A whole school approach to preventing peer
to peer sexual harm.

Together for Childhood aims to provide help and support for children, young people and their families at the earliest possible stage.  Working collaboratively, agencies will develop and test effective approaches for preventing child abuse, drawing on examples of best practice from around the world.
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In Plymouth, Together for Childhood is focusing on the prevention of child sexual abuse. Together for Childhood is a partnership between the NSPCC, Plymouth City Council, Plymouth Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, safeguarding partner agencies such as police and health, community groups, fellow charities and the voluntary sector, schools and the wider public – with the aim of building a better future for young people by identifying and addressing problems at a local level in a truly integrated way.

While this portal intends to focus on peer to peer sexual abuse (i.e. that which takes place between children of a similar age or stage of development), and is primarily aimed at teaching and school-based staff, many aspects of this portal will have relevance to other forms of Harmful Sexual Behaviour and Child Sexual Abuse in different places and contexts.

Together for Childhood uses a public health prevention model to preventing child abuse (primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary prevention).  We have developed this whole school approach model for the prevention of peer to peer harms that utilises the same public health prevention model. We are keen for schools to use as much of the model as they are able, and engage with us to develop the evidence base for what works.

Primary Prevention refers to universal services or activities.

Secondary prevention relates to those activities which are more targeted at a specific group deemed to be more at risk or vulnerable or are targeted in relation to their content.

Tertiary prevention refers to services and activities which are put in place after harm has happened (with the aim of recovery and avoiding recurrence or re-offending).

Quaternary prevention refers to those interventions or activities which serve to enhance or maintain the prevention of peer to peer harm.