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Join the Fight Against Child Sexual Exploitation

National Charity NWG Network asks all to unite against child sexual exploitation for their National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Raising Day – 18th March 2019.

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is a form of sexual abuse that involves the manipulation and/or coercion of young people under the age of 18 into sexual activity.

The National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Raising Day aims to highlight the issues surrounding child sexual exploitation; encouraging everyone to think, spot and speak out against abuse and adopt a zero tolerance to adults developing inappropriate relationships with children.

Previous National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Raising Days have seen hundreds of events take place across the UK, ranging from poster and leaflet displays to whole authorities embarking on targeted campaigns across public services and shopping centres.

Working with over 13,000 professionals across the UK to help prevent and raise awareness of child sexual exploitation, NWG Network continue to leverage the strength of that network in order to tackle the problem head on.

‘Each year we use our campaign to raise awareness of Child Sexual Exploitation and encourage everyone in our society to tackle the issues of exploitation of our children.

This year we are introducing a wear red element to the existing Helping Hand messages. If you ensure you share our social media messages along with the web address to point everyone to signs and symptoms and where to go for help it would be another step to spreading the word and helping to reduce the abuse of our children.

NWG is committed to raising awareness and training professionals to help create zero tolerance to child sexual exploitation. Your donation will help us continue this invaluable work and ensure that as many people as possible think, spot and speak out about against exploitation of the young and vulnerable and help heal the wounds of victims and their families. Donations can be made through our text ‘VOICE’ to 70007 and through our donation page'. Commented Sheila Taylor MBE, CEO

CSE Awareness Training For Staff

Our sister site, E-safety Support and Safeguarding Essentials offers members a CSE awareness training course for school staff. This online course helps staff understand why is CSE an important part of our safeguarding duty, some of the signs of CSE and how technology is being used for the purpose.

Find out more

10 years of the Childnet Film Competition highlights how peer education can help keep children safe online.

Childnet, a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, has launched its 10th Childnet Film Competition to encourage young people aged 7-18 to create a short film to educate their peers about staying safe online.

For 10 years the Childnet Film Competition has inspired young people to harness their creativity and educate their peers on online safety issues. The competition is delivered by leading children’s online safety charity Childnet, as part of its work in the UK Safer Internet Centre.

Judged by a panel of experts from the BBC, BAFTA, BBFC and BFI, the winning films will be shown at the finalists’ event in London and will be used as educational resources in schools across the UK.

This year’s theme focusses on what we can all do to make our future internet a great and safe place.

As Will Gardner OBE, Childnet CEO and Director, UK Safer Internet Centre said:
“What 10 years of the Childnet Film Competition has shown us is that young people are passionate about educating and inspiring their peers to stay safe online. We know that young people can play an important role in helping to address some of the risks and challenges of the online world. The Childnet Film Competition provides a platform for young people to do exactly this. Our theme this year, ‘Our future online’ gives young people the opportunity to play an active part in creating a better internet. We look forward to seeing the creativity that children and young people across the UK will undoubtedly demonstrate.”

Our future online – how to take part

The Film Competition is split into two age categories and schools or youth organisations must oversee and submit entries on behalf of all participants. For both categories, young people must create a film in response to the theme: ‘Our future online – what can we all do to make our future internet a great and safe place.’

Primary category: 7-11 year olds are invited to create a 60 second film

Secondary category: 11-18 year olds are invited to create a 2 minute film

For both age groups, Childnet are looking for creative, imaginative films which show how young people can make a positive difference online. Young people might express their ideas through a variety of ways, including comedy, animation, or music. They will be encouraged to consider different filmmaking styles such as creating an advert, campaign or documentary.

Childnet have developed resource packs including storyboard templates, guides to filmmaking and other useful documents to help schools and youth organisations engage and support young people in making their films.

Closing date and how to enter
Entries need to be sent to Childnet by 10th June, including entry and media consent forms which can be found at www.childnet.com/film-comp. There is also important information about copyright that entrants will need to consider.

The shortlisted films will be shown on the big screen in front of industry guests and young people at the Childnet Film Competition 2019 Event at the BFI London Southbank and will also receive a BBFC rating.

The Film Competition winners will each receive a filmmaking kit for their school which includes a DSLR camera, tripod and clapperboard.

The winners will be decided by an expert panel which includes:

Catherine McAllister, Head of Safeguarding and Child Protection at BBC Children’s

David Austin OBE, Chief Executive of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

Joanna van der Meer, Film Tutor and Family Learning Programmer at BFI Southbank

Lisa Prime, Children’s Events Programmer at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)

Food related events and awareness days in January

After the possible excesses of recent weeks, come January we are all encouraged (or some may say pressured) to make positive changes to our lifestyles. For those who partake of alcohol, we have dry January, while on the food front we have, most prominently, Veganuary.

Founded in 2013, Veganuary aims to inspire hundreds of thousands of people around the world try a vegan diet for a month. By the end of the month, it is hoped that participants will know much more about eating a vegan diet, how easy and tasty it can be, and about the many positive impacts it has on animals, the environment, and our health.

However, Veganuary isn't the only food related campaign taking place during January. Here are just a few of the perhaps less formal awareness days that you could use to start the discussion about healthy eating with pupils:

4th January - Spaghetti Day
6th January - Shortbread Day
19th January - Popcorn Day
23rd January - Pie Day

The 14th January is obesity awareness day. According to the NHS, obesity affects approximately one in four adults, and one in five children aged 10 to 11. It can lead to many serious health conditions that are potentially life-threatening. It was also reported this week that children are consuming the equivalent of 2,800 excess sugar cubes a year!

So, there is no better time to discuss healthy eating with pupils.

Premium Plus members and PSHE Premium members can download a selection of healthy eating resources to support the theme. Find out more here