Our Reigate & Banstead ‘Junior Citizen’ child safety event ran from Monday, 31st January to Friday, 11th February 2022 (10 working days inclusive) at Woodhatch Place, 11 Cockshot Hill, Reigate RH2 8EF
During that time over 1,200 Year 6 pupils (10–11-Year-Olds) from local primary schools across the borough took part in a series of interactive safety workshops.
The participating agencies were:
• Surrey Police
• RNLI
• Network Rail and GTR/Southern
• Children and Family Health Surrey (School Nurses)
• Hope UK
• Surrey Fire & Rescue Service
The activities covered topics such as:
- Personal Safety, Internet Safety and social media
- Water Safety
- Railway Safety
- Transition to Secondary School and Emotional Wellbeing
- Drug & Alcohol Awareness
- Fire Safety
Transportation to and from schools was provided by Hardings Coaches, and our on-site coordinators were Wendy Roberts and Gary Perks.
The event would not have happened without the generous support of Fidelity International and Raven Housing Trust (main sponsors), AIG Life, Cubic Transportation Systems, SGN and Toyota (GB). We would also like to thank CFO Steve Owen-Hughes and Surrey Fire and Rescue Service staff, who together with the team from Surrey County Council Headquarters, made us very welcome.
Primary Schools will receive physical hard copies of Child Safety Media’s new, A4, full-colour, 92-page ‘Junior Life Skills’ handbook, to distribute to their Year 6 children.
In September, Secondary schools will be provided with access to a new, fully digital, online ‘Junior Life Skills’ resource package, that includes lesson plans for the teachers. Our aim is to not only ensure that local Primary schools receive resources, but also Secondary schools too (care of the relevant Head of Year 7/Transition Lead), so that the children associated with this year’s Junior Citizen event have access to child safety educational resources for a full year.
We received some great feedback from teaching staff during the event, and here are some of the comments –
“Great workshops that were really practical and active. Great messages that were delivered in a way that really hit home with the children” Kingswood Primary School
“Really informative! All the children were really engaged throughout every presentation” Chinthurst School
“Full of fantastic, useful information for children to help them be successful, independent, safe children and adults” Shawley Community Primary School
“Fabulous. Really informative, great fun and brilliantly led. Thoroughly enjoyed by pupils and staff” Warren Mead School
“Very engaging and informative. The children loved it. Can’t wait to return” Furzefield Primary School
