'It's absolutely paramount that kids in school know who to turn to' - teachers call for every pupil to have NSPCC training

Awareness raising assemblies have reached almost all schools in Greater Manchester but organisers say they need to speak to every child

NSPCC Assembly in action
Author: Abi Smitton Published 7th Aug 2018

It's early on a Thursday morning and dozens of children at All Saints Primary School in Stockport have filed into the hall for assembly.

This one's a little bit different, Helen Redman from the NSPCC has been drafted in to run a 'Speak Out and Stay Safe' session.

In it, the children are asked what sort of behaviour can hurt a child, whether it's in person, emotionally, online or sexually.

Through an interactive presentation, Helen gets the children to think about what is right and wrong, and who they could turn to if they are worried about something.

By the end of the session, they've absorbed a lot of information, and retained it, plus she's taught them the Childline phone number.

"The message is quite simple, it's speak out and stay safe so it's about educating children about the different forms of abuse at an age appropriate-level, and how they can get help if anything has happened to them, plus who they can reach out to in terms of trusted adults.

"We need to prevent abuse before it starts, so what we're doing here is educating children from a very young age about the message and hopefully as a preventative thing, so if they know about the abuse they can keep themselves safe.

"Knowing the difference between what things may be right and what may be wrong is really important, because a lot of the time, for children, something may have happened to them and they may be unsure about who they can speak to and who to report things to."

Rachel Spann, a Year 5 teacher at the school, said:

"I was really impressed with the children, what they knew already and what the assembly built. As a school, it would be difficult to do that so having someone on the outside is ideal.

"It's absolutely paramount and it's a fundamental thing that children know how to keep themselves safe, and each other safe, as well as knowing that it's good to talk and it's good to get things off your chest."

The NSPCC wants to make sure every child in Greater Manchester has one of the assemblies.

Currently, they reach around 90,000 school age pupils, but they say there are still thousands who don't have access to the service.

It comes as the NSPCC has put a call forward for the Government to invest extra money to keep the service running.