BLOG: Supporting schools after the Southport attack

Joanna Fitzsimmons, the Prevent Education Officer for Liverpool City Council, writes about the support given to schools over the last month.

This blog was originally published on Educate Against Hate, which provides practical advice, support and resources to protect children from extremism and radicalisation.

Six weeks of summer holidays is usually something I look forward to. It’s when I can step back from the demands of the school year, take a breath and focus on my planning and preparation for the academic year ahead. However, this year it looked very different.

On Monday 29^th July, we found ourselves responding to an unprecedented, horrific attack on children in a neighbouring borough. Two days later, we were faced with the volatile and dynamic issue of misinformation spreading like wildfire, fueling violent disorder, and receiving a constant influx of information on new targets and planned demonstrations.

I will never forget attending a meeting with representatives of local communities where several people found it too difficult to speak and they held back tears because they were in fear for their own safety and that of other members of very vulnerable parts of our community. It was clear that we were dealing with a situation that had spread far from the geographic boundaries of one local authority and had severely impacted feelings of safety and community cohesion, not only locally, but across the whole country.

The focus of the response in our Local Authority has now shifted from supporting neighbouring communities in Sefton, to monitoring community tensions and monitoring impact on our local community cohesion.

When dealing with a critical incident like this, it is important to work in a strong partnership with all the stakeholders and to ensure a fast and reliable flow of information. Community groups and schools were absolutely at the heart of this response. It was reassuring that as a team, we could draw on those long-established relationships with communities, schools and other partners.

One of the main worries was the misinformation that was spreading online. This included false conspiracy narratives about the three murders in Southport, but also information about violent disorder and possible planned demonstrations and counter demonstrations. We had to be diligent and work closely with police colleagues to assess the risk of any possible situations to keep everybody safe.

At the same time, it was – and still is – heart-warming to see how communities, partners and individuals are pulling together to support one another. Compassion, kindness and goodwill countering hate, division and violence. People came together to clean up after the Spellow Hub was set on fire, brick layers turned up early in the morning to rebuild a damaged wall outside the Southport Mosque, which was attacked the previous day, charities and community organisations were offering space to other services and police officers and council staff were listening and acting on the concerns of the most vulnerable.

As initial violence subsided, arrests were made and sentences were given out to those involved. As a Local Authority, we cautiously started planning for the recovery phase. This is the more strategic, long-term phase in which partners piece back together what was disrupted by a critical event.

Responding to such a complex and critical incident with a wide impact, like Southport, is not easy. I have worked in Prevent for eight years and I vividly remember responding to the terrorist attack on the Liverpool Women’s Hospital in 2021. As well as lessons that could be drawn from past experiences, what is crucial, is that each incident and its impact is assessed thoroughly and individually.

This is exactly where schools and school communities are playing a crucial role. During the response phase, I have equipped local schools with information to help them support pupils and families affected. From now on, my priority will be to work with schools on a variety of aspects that have affected their staff, pupils and the wider community. This focuses on ensuring that we are doing everything possible to prevent a similar situation arising in the future.

Some aspects of the recovery plan in Liverpool schools include:

• Wellbeing and mental health: resources available locally and nationally on how to speak to children and have difficult conversations about these horrific events 
• Practical support: reporting hate crime and building confidence in reporting. Ensuring that we are supporting all families in our communities. 
• Building young people’s resilience to violent extremist and terrorist narratives: this is a crucial part of Prevent Duty in education, Including teaching of Fundamental British Values, including respect and tolerance of other faiths and religions. 
• Community cohesion: how are we building this in schools, knowing that individuals can be exposed to hateful extremist narratives online and offline? A lot of our schools have changed demographics in the last few years so it’s important to assess what resources we have available to reflect this. Are we ensuring that every family feels safe and welcome? 
• Looking at how we teach young people digital literacy skills: online misinformation has played a major role in what has materialised in very violent disorders across the country. Do we have a strategic approach to online safety and are we taking all opportunities in schools to talk to our young people about digital footprint and harmful online content? 
• Prevent Duty: is our training and knowledge of local risk and threat up to date and are we confident in spotting signs of possible radicalisation and using internal safeguarding processes to access support for individuals susceptible to those narratives before they cross the line of criminality? 
• Safety: have we accessed ACT for education training? Have we recently reviewed safety procedures? Are they up to date? Are staff clear on what they should do in case of emergency.  

Events like this can be scary and worrying for adults, as well as young people. But above all, the response of individuals, communities and partners is something that bonds us all and makes us stronger and more resilient.

Raising concerns 

If you have concerns that a child or young person in your education setting is being radicalised, learn more about how to raise your concerns.  

If you have concerns about extremism within an education setting in England, including allegations against institutions and staff, or adverse external influences on an education setting, you can report your concerns to the Department for Education.