Education
Using a public health approach, we support and promote educational activities that provide better life opportunities for young people across Merseyside.
This includes projects in primary, secondary, further education and alternative education settings.
As well as the wide-ranging projects detailed below, we also work with Merseyside Police’s Safer School Officers to deliver presentations on child criminal exploitation and arson.
We also hope to encourage and inspire educators by providing information through our resources page:
Merseyside Schools Network
Bringing together educators, safeguarding leads, and community partners, the Merseyside Schools Network is a collaborative initiative designed to support schools in tackling violence, promoting safety, and sharing best practice.
Through regular forums, resources, and training opportunities, the network empowers schools to create safer environments for young people across Merseyside.
If you work in education or in an organisation supporting schools to prevent serious violence, we encourage you to sign up and get involved.
Pol Ed
Every school in Merseyside can now take advantage of free access to a major new PSHE education programme aimed at keeping children safe.
The Pol‑Ed programme – developed by teachers and quality‑assured by policing professionals – provides a full suite of classroom‑ready lessons designed to help children understand risk, consequences and the law, while strengthening their resilience and wellbeing.
The MVRP has fully funded access to the resources on behalf of all schools and educational settings, making the entire programme completely free from early years to post‑16. The roll out is part of its approach to equipping schools to be safeguarding hubs and is being delivered in partnership with Merseyside Police.
Pol‑Ed is designed to help keep children and young people safe by providing teachers with a comprehensive package of high-quality, ready-to-use educational materials that meet all statutory PSHE requirements, including:
- Fully planned lesson content
- Assemblies
- Pol‑Ed Passport sessions taught live from the Pol‑Ed.co.uk platform
- Year‑group‑specific schemes of work
These resources equip teachers with everything they need to build pupils’ knowledge, strengthen key protective factors, and support positive, informed choices.
All materials meet PSHE and RSE curriculum requirements and are mapped against the PSHE Association’s objectives. Pol Ed covers all statutory PSHE content and will meet at least 90% of the PSHE Association’s Programme of Study once fully complete.
Working with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS), this six-week alternative educational and skills course is delivered to primary school children who are identified by their schools as needing additional support with their personal, social and educational development.
Using a trauma-informed approach, this intervention aims to improve school attendance, while reducing the number of those excluded from mainstream education.
Working with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS), Merseyside Police and the North West Ambulance Service, this MVRP-funded project works with primary school children to keep them safe and away from risk in their communities.
This six-week course aims to strengthen their protection factors, building self-esteem, self-confidence and self-control, while also breaking down any barriers with bluelight services.
Read more about our Fire Champions programme
This secondary school project delivered by the Merseyside Youth Association is a peer-to-peer leadership and bystander programme which allows young people to discuss a range of social issues and gives them the tools to challenge the behaviour, language and mindsets that can act as a trigger for crime.
This programme also supports a whole school approach to early intervention and prevention to bullying, harassment and risky behaviours, empowering pupils to identify and communicate concerns with peers and school staff.
Read more about our Mentors in Violence Prevention programme
This Fund is focused on giving young people in the areas which have seen the highest levels of violence and the biggest cuts to youth services access to better opportunities to prevent them getting involved in trouble.
By investing in our young people, we are focused on giving them safe, positive, fun opportunities which help them to unlock their full potential.
Find out more about this fund
“Are you onside?” is a bystander intervention programme delivered across Merseyside by Healthy Stadia CIC which equips community sports coaches and other staff with the knowledge and skills to address misogyny and sexism in sport and wider society.
The training engages participants to recognise the root causes of violence and abuse, such as gender inequality and harmful masculinities which objectify and de-humanise women.
The evidence-led bystander intervention programme comprises 6-hours of training delivered across three separate sessions and informs and equips people working in football and sports to be ‘active bystanders’ and positive role models who can intervene safely and effectively when they witness unacceptable behaviour including sexist jokes or demeaning “locker-room” banter.
Being an active bystander means being aware of when someone’s behaviour is inappropriate or threatening and choosing to challenge it. If you do not feel comfortable doing this directly, then get someone to help you such as a friend or someone in authority.
Healthy Stadia CIC has delivered bystander training to community sports organisations across Merseyside including Liverpool County FA, Tranmere Rovers Community Trust, LFC Foundation and Everton in the Community.
Ariel Trust offers a range of online violence reduction resources to primary schools across Merseyside. The interactive programmes of learning use animation and drama to engage children and develop key skills.
Ariel support schools to deliver these programmes by offering a regular programme of teacher training, focusing on each of the programmes and building teachers’ capacity to deliver key elements of the skills-based approach.
The programmes currently available to schools are: –
Key Stage 2
Grassing or Grooming? – gang-based grooming
Skills for Healthy Relationships – consent and sharing of images
A Knock at the Door – the legal consequences of sharing indecent images
Skills to Resist Radicalisation – violent extremism and online harm
Key Stage 1
Telling Tales or Asking for Help? – an age-appropriate approach to developing the help seeking skills that run through the Key Stage 2 programmes
Useful resources for educators:
- ‘Empowering Youth Voices’ – Providing opportunities for parents, carers and professionals to develop supportive conversations with young people around serious violence Film Guidance to support Violence Prevention
- ‘Delivering violence reduction learning in schools’ – guidance for organisations and schools when presenting and arranging activities in this area MVRP Delivering Violence Reduction Learning
- ‘Guidance when considering permanent exclusion’ – This report highlights principles, consequences and identifies local level support for educators MVRP additional guidance when considering permanent exclusion
- ‘What you need to know about Child Criminal Exploitation’ – A short and clear guide for young people highlighting organisations you can signpost young people to What you need to know about Child Criminal Exploitation
- ‘Trauma informed approaches for vulnerable pupils’ – this shares the learning in supporting young people through school’s COVID-19 recovery plans, individual pastoral support and modifications to the curriculum and environment MVRP Trauma Informed Approaches for Vulnerable Pupils