What is the All Wales School Liaison Core Programme – also known as SchoolBeat?

The AWSLCP is an example of Partnership Working between the Welsh Government and the four Welsh Police Forces and consists of a series of Crime Prevention inputs and lesson deliveries and Supportive School Policing initiatives that aim to:

• educate children and young people about the harm substance misuse can cause to their health, their families and the wider community
• promote the principles of positive citizenship through the medium of education
• achieve a reduction in the levels of crime and disorder within our young communities.

The AWSLCP provides a wrap-around service to schools in Wales offering crime prevention education and supportive policing services captured in the Programme’s strap line,

“Police safeguarding the children of Wales through crime prevention education”

The SCPOs are trained to deliver lessons on the themes of substance misuse, personal safety, safeguarding and behaviour and community to a best practice educational standard that is welcomed by schools.  In addition to their professional training as Police Officers they support schools in many ways through supportive policing; dealing with incidents using the School Crime Beat policy and offering restorative resolutions including restorative conferencing when required.

The Programme has a corporate approach to ensure that all children, 5 to 16 years old across Wales receive the same accurate and up to date information.  SCPOs work closely with pastoral leads in schools to support their Personal and Social Education (PSE) curriculum.

Since September 2016 the crime prevention deliveries are grouped into the Critical Core Targeted delivery and Support menu.  SCPOs are also able to offer a variety Assembly presentations. The assemblies offer flexibility and ensure the AWSLCP keeps pace with emerging trends and issues.

Why was the All Wales School Liaison Core Programme developed?

The AWSLCP was developed to educate young people about some of the challenges that affect our society today. The intention of the Programme is to safeguard all children and young people living in Wales by providing them with current up to date information about the dangers associated with such issues as substance use and misuse, domestic abuse, bullying, anti-social behaviour, internet safety, weapons, mobile phone usage, car crime and community cohesion.

Children and young people are often innocent of these issues or the potential for breaking the law. So it is important that children are provided with accurate up to date information by specialists to ensure they are able to make correctly informed decisions and hopefully avoid entry into the Criminal Justice System.

The Programme encourages positive citizenship and seeks to protect the vulnerable who may become victims of criminal activity.