02 Jul 2025
A St Albans school was the first to trial a new workshop to help tackle the Male Violence Against Women and Girls (MWAWG) agenda, a huge policing priority, locally and nationally,
Twenty-five students at Nicholas Breakspear Catholic School took part in a session led by PC Jo Busch which addressed the matter of how people can be active bystanders – to help de-escalate male violence against women and girls if they witness it.
Assistant headteacher and head of sixth form Glenn Merrigan said that the school’s mission is to ‘Build a Better World’ and that they believed this was a great opportunity to empower their young people to safely intervene and help people if a situation arises.
He said that Male Violence Against Women and Girls has risen by 37 per cent since 2018: “This is a nationwide issue that needs to be challenged.
“Young people need to be educated on this issue in order to counteract the rise of online influencers who have gained some notoriety with their extreme views against women. Ending MVAWG requires the collective efforts of everyone.”
Glenn said that the students enjoyed the session: “They were really engaged in the activities provided by the police. There were lots of scenarios given and students were asked to discuss what they could do in that situation.”
They were given examples of how best to deal with situations where girls may feel scared or uncomfortable. They talked about how boys could help safely, calling out any inappropriate behaviour, which could include misogynistic language, and letting the person know that that behaviour is not OK.
Year 12 student Tristan O’Sullivan said he found the presentation “really good” and said it helped him to “reflect on how he could be a better citizen and help if a situation ever arose”.
Ellyce Breaks, who is also in the sixth form, added: “I found the Hollie Guard app and will definitely download and use. I think that as a young female I should feel safe whenever I’m walking alone.”
The app is a personal safety app which was developed by the Hollie Gazzard Trust charity, which was set up by the family of a young girl who was murdered by a former partner when walking home.
Mr Merrigan added: “I would really recommend all St Albans schools have this training. We need to eradicate gender-based violence and education is the vehicle of this change.”
PC Jo Busch from the Safer Neighbourhood Team said: “We delivered the training to the students to help encourage healthy conversations about MVAWG.
“MVAWG remains one of our force priorities and this is one of the tactics we have used to help reduce offences in the St Albans district. One of the students asked us how we de-escalate an incident to help a woman feel safer without making it worse or drawing attention to her. We will be going through the rest of the feedback so that we can make adjustments to the presentation before we deliver it to other
schools across the St Albans district.”
