The Neighbourhood Police Team at Newton Aycliffe are in the process of rolling out Carousel Training Sessions to year 5 and 6 pupils in all Primary Schools across Newton Aycliffe. This is to supplement the enforcement action that is taking place around Anti-Social Behaviour, to educate young children around the consequences of taking part in such activity, and to protect young children from harm.
On Tuesday this week, some of the team spent the day at St. Francis School delivering sessions on ASB, Bullying, Online Safety and Crime and Consequences. We will add input around County lines at the next school. The pupils engaged amazingly well and as a reward, were visited by ‘Jet and Ben’ and received certificates.
Miss Cooper (Year 6 teacher) provided the following statement: “After initially seeming anxious and intimidated by the presence of the police, pupils engaged within a range of tasks from online safety to anti-social behaviours, and through this the children have grown and developed into members of society who understand and respect the role of the police within our local community. A wealth of information was shared in an age-appropriate and child-friendly way through quizzes, games, videos and whole-group discussions. The officers shared their in-depth knowledge with pupils and answered questions brought up by the children in an appropriate manner ensuring that the information shared was answering the questions, without causing pupils any worry or concern. Both children and staff thoroughly enjoyed the whole day and would like to thank the team for their time and sharing their expertise”.
Sgt. Boyd from the Neighbourhood Team stated “It is so important that we have the right mix of enforcement, engagement and education. On top of action that we are taking with partners to tackle ASB issues in Newton Aycliffe, we need to make sure that we are educating kids in schools around the consequences of being involved in such activity. We also recognise that these are crucial years for kids where they can be exposed to harmful influences, we really hope that the input we are providing will reduce potential risk. The kids at St. Joseph’s were absolutely amazing and engaged so well, roll on Sugar Hill”.
We look forward to engaging with pupils at Sugar Hill Primary School which is our next location for this initiative.