You could be part of a national army of 4,000
volunteers to present assemblies and workshops in primary
schools.
ChildLine has recently announced the national roll out of an
ambitious new programme to visit every primary school in the UK by
2016, to help younger children's understanding of abuse and how
they can stay safe. Using assemblies and workshops, the new
service is designed to encourage children to recognise situations
where they may need help and to explain ways of accessing support.
ChildLine has an ambition to speak to every primary school child,
in every classroom of every community, to start a societal change
that could bring about a long term reduction in child cruelty and
PTA-UK believes its members can help.
NSPCC research shows that an average of two children in every
primary school classroom has suffered from abuse or neglect
and the majority of cases go undetected. These young children often
feel alone and desperate and many have nobody to turn to.
Most children who contact ChildLine are over 11 years of age,
however many of these children suffered in silence for months or
even years before eventually finding the courage to contact
ChildLine, leaving themselves and other children at risk from
perpetrators. If we are really serious about stopping child abuse,
we need to reach these children when they are younger.
The aim of this new ChildLine Schools Service is to give
children the knowledge they need, in clear reassuring language
which is age-appropriate. Delivered by volunteers, the programme
will enable children to understand how to keep themselves safe and
where to get help if they need it. The sessions are
sensitively tailored to ensure topics are covered in a way that
children can understand and have been approved as suitable for nine
to 11-year-olds by child protection specialists.
The service now needs to recruit a national army of 4,000
volunteers to reach 23,420 schools and over 1.8million children
over the next 3 years. If you think you can help visit NSPCC's website for more information.
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