Female Genital Mutilation comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal or alteration of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It is illegal in the UK and a form of child abuse with long-lasting harmful consequences. (FGM can come to be seen as a natural and beneficial practice carried out by a loving family, which places barriers in the way of [potential] victims coming forward to raise concerns or talk openly. Equally, staff should note that girls at risk of FGM may not yet be aware of the practice or that it may be conducted on them). UNICEF indicates that 200 million women and girls in 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East have experienced FGM or Cutting.

FGM has also been documented in Iraq, Israel, Oman, UAE, Occupied Palestinian Territories, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan. It can also happen anywhere in the UK. The age range for FGM is infancy to 15 years of age. Predominantly FGM takes places between the ages of 3 and 12 years. 

Indictors include:

• Family origins are from a country where it is practiced; 

• mother or a sister who has undergone FGM; 

• mention of a 'party', 'celebration', 'becoming a woman'; 

• visiting older relatives visiting from the country of origin; • being taken on an extended holiday to the country of origin – particularly in the 3 weeks leading up to the school summer holidays. 

• talk about a ‘special’ procedure to become a woman 

All teachers who discover (either by disclosure by the victim or visual evidence) that FGM appears to have been carried out on a child under the age of 18 will immediately report this themselves to the police. (unless there is a (Serious Crime Act 2015, statutory duty to report from section 5B of the FGM Act 2003 (s74 as inserted) 

If you do not think FGM has been carried out on a child under the age of 18, do not fill out this form.