Project Prevent is an entirely student-led initiative designed to reduce young people’s vulnerability to assault, grooming, and harassment. Created by a group of proactive students at Rugby High School who wanted to tackle personal safety concerns head-on, this programme took second place at the National Crimebeat Awards 2026, highlighting the power of young people taking the lead to address the issues that matter most to them.
The project began during a school workshop when a group of 50 students openly shared that they frequently felt unsafe outside of their homes or schools. The biggest concern raised pointed to assault, grooming and harassment.
Having raised their concerns, they posed themselves the challenge, “Now that we have articulated the problem, what else should we do?” They set a clear objective: to protect their peers by dismantling vulnerability through education, physical self-defence, and direct access to trusted support lines.
Student-led Innovation
What makes Project Prevent unique is that it is completely managed and executed by young people. A student leadership team took full control, acting as project managers across design, budgeting, and delivery.
Demonstrating incredible initiative, the leaders independently approached and managed collaboration partnerships with local organisations to ensure their materials were accurate and safe, including:
- Warwickshire Police
- Safeline, a specialist charit
- Rugby Borough Council’s Safety Team
- G-Force, a specialist self-defence provider
Activities and Impact
The student team launched a highly successful Project Prevent Week, directly educating 372 students in across years 7–9. Activities in the week included:
- Peer-to-Peer Assemblies with presentations designed and delivered by the student leadership team.
- Self-defence and mindset training co-created with G-Force.
- A dedicated project video, a custom-built website and business cards printed with helplines.
- Sourcing and funding for personal attack alarms for any student who requested one.
To prove their impact, the student leaders designed their own feedback forms to monitor performance data. An overwhelming 90% of students felt more prepared and confident if face with assault.
A true testament to the project’s success came when the Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety at Warwickshire County Council. Reviewing the package, the Council stated, “This is way better than anything we could have developed.”
It took the council less than 15 minutes to agree a £7,500 investment to scale the initiative. Moving forward, Project Prevent is expanding to every single secondary school in Rugby, scaling from its initial 372 students to reach 4,000 young people.
