Your Child and School

It is likely that alcohol education forms an integral part of your child’s Personal and Social Education (PSE) lessons.

The Welsh Government guidance notes that:

Effective substance misuse education should start early and be age-appropriate.
Use should be made of broad life skill approaches as part of a planned PSE programme.
Substance misuse education should aim to empower young people to make responsible, well-informed decisions about substances.

All schools will have rules about alcohol and pupils. Most will have their rules and procedures outlined in their school drugs policy. You can ask to see the policy and most schools have their policies available on their school’s website.

It’s important that wherever you live in Wales, incidents involving young people and alcohol in schools are responded to by the Police in a consistent fashion. The School Beat Protocol is an approach used by the Police when dealing with incidents on school premises. It’s up to the head teacher whether or not to involve the Police. When School Community Police Officers (SCPOs) are asked to deal with incidents of alcohol misuse on school premises, they work hand in hand with the school’s wishes, wherever possible. The intention is to avoid young person’s entering the Criminal Justice System.

One approach may be to use Restorative Approaches to help the young person. The school nurse and counsellor may also be able to offer advice.

The Protocol can be accessed in full by visiting the Teacher Section of this website.

For more information, refer to the following documents: