Wine-tasting club is the toast of top independent girls’ school

I realise that a wine-tasting club is very much the exception in schools rather than the rule and requires the ‘right environment’ to be effective. However no effort which is made to educate young people about alcohol should be dismissed; after all any scheme which has a positive impact on consumption of alcohol by young people must be a positive step.

The question is how do you take this example and make it available to a wider audience in a format which makes sense to them?

This is a question for government and schools, but there can be no doubt that education at an early age is one element in the fight to prevent binge drinking in young people; delivering a positive non condescending message is critical.

If we ignore the detail of the approach which this girls’ school can take and look at the principle behind it, this is what will ultimately help develop ‘similar’ educational programmes.

The message of this programme is not a negative one that everything associated with alcohol is bad, but rather a sensible drinking message. Alcohol is an interregnal part of the adult social scene and young people cannot be protected from exposure to it until their 18th birthday.

It is rightly illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase alcohol but parents and teachers must educate young people with a positive message so that the attraction of turning 18 is the prospect of ‘enjoying a drink’ and not of ‘getting drunk’.

We run a number of courses for young people including the Award in Alcohol Awareness (AAA) designed to educate young people about alcohol.

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Source – Independent

Date – 8th December 2009