SAFETY - RoSPA · 2019-03-14 · slogan that gives a strong message about safety. “We find that pupils enjoy the creative process of de-signing a poster and this real-ly makes them

SAFETYEducation

Autumn 2008ISSN 0459-2034

Staying safe in cyber space

Keeping you and your passengers safer

www.rospa.com

Call:0121 248 2023Email: [email protected]: www.rospa.com/drivertrainingRoSPA promoting safety, saving lives.

Driver Development Training –MinibusThis course aims to develop a correct and systematic approach tominimising risk in the driving environment and to promoteunderstanding of the principles of defensive driving.The coursewill deal with issues specific to minibus driving and will ensuredelegates complete the course with enhanced skills.

The RoSPA National Minibus TestEvery minibus driver should consider taking the test. Not onlywill they have the satisfaction of knowing that they haveachieved the RoSPA high standard, but their organisation andpassengers will be confident and comfortable knowing thatthey are properly qualified.

RSDR170 Essential Minibus DrivingLegislation relating tominibuses and driving licences haschanged considerably over recent years.This popular publicationoffers a host of hints and adviceMembers: £5.00.Non-members: £5.75

RSGEN146Minibus Safety – a Code of Good PracticeUpdated for 2008, the revised publication includes advice onhow changes to the law about seatbelts and child restraints,tachographs, speed limiters and work-related road safety,apply tominibusesMembers: £6.00. Non-members: £7.20

Do you drive or operate aminibus for work purposes?If so thenmake sure you have all the necessary training and procedures in place to keep you and your passengers safe.RoSPA offer a suite of courses and products that will ensure organisations comply with legislation and have the skills toensure the well-being of all travelling in theminibus.

Fleet Solutions

Call 0121 248 2032 to find out more about thesetraining opportunities.

To place your order for these products call0121 248 2233.

ROSPA 115426 Minibus Safety Ed V3 sms:minibus 7/8/08 10:27 Page 1

Contents

SAFETY Education Autumn 2008 1

Inside this issue...

Managing Editor Janice Cave

Editorial ConsultantJim Barrow

Occupational Safety AdviserRoger Bibbings

Risk Education AdviserJenny McWhirter

© Published termly by RoSPA EnterprisesLimited - a wholly owned subsidiary of The Royal Society for the Prevention ofAccidents.

Opinions expressed and claims made by individual contributors are not necessarily subscribed to by RoSPA.No responsibility can be accepted

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Birmingham B5 7ST.

Telephone: 0121 248 2000

Web site: www.rospa.com

RoSPA is a registered charity No. 207823

VAT registration No. 655 1316 49

To advertise in Safety Education please contact: [email protected]

Printed by Folium Group LimitedMinworth, West Midlands

Design and production:The Cheese RoomGraphic Design Studioswww.thecheeseroom.com01827 50341

News 2Budding Halifax artists

Kerbcraft message 3Latest assessment

Seven scenarios 4LASER in Devon

Safe Home 5New resource

New curriculum 6-7Exciting challenges

Road awareness 8Developing activities

Cyber safety 9-10Harnessing IT

Poetic messages 11Welsh competition

News extra 12Building sites

The event, now in its sec-ond year, was initially con-ceived by the Alcohol HarmReduction Partnership in as-sociation with Lancaster andMorecambe College, NorthLancashire Teaching PrimaryCare Trust, LancashirePartnership for Road Safety,Lancashire Fire & RescueService, North West Ambu-lance Service and LancashireConstabulary, and underlinesthe number of people and or-ganisations which are affect-ed by road crashes thoughthe full consequences arerarely realised.

Both MPs for the area havecommended the event. BenWallace MP for Lancaster andWyre said: “I fully support allefforts to remind people ofthe hazards and implicationsof dangerous driving. Weshould not forget that it issomeone's son or daughterwho ends up dead whenthings go wrong.”

Geraldine Smith MP forMorecambe said: “Youngpeople dying on our roads isrecognised as a national epi-demic.”

2 SAFETY Education Autumn 2008

News

I Halifax’s budding artists celebrateThree budding artists fromScout Road Primary School inHalifax are celebrating afterscooping top honours in ISG’ssite safety competition.

Alexandra Ogden, JessicaMurphy and Natasha Cham-bers dreamed up the winningdesigns for the poster com-petition, which the contractororganised as part of its £1.1million project to extend andmodernise facilities at theschool.

ISG, which has an office inBradford, set the pupils thechallenge of designing a sitesafety poster highlighting thevery real dangers posed byconstruction sites, with thewinning entries displayedacross the school and on thesite itself.

ISG’s health and safety ad-viser, Mick Quealy led the

judging panel and found itimpossible to select just onewinner.

“The standard of entrieswas exceptionally high andas a result we took the deci-sion to select three overallwinners. Each of the winningdesigns features an excellentcombination of bright andbold colours, with a catchyslogan that gives a strongmessage about safety.

“We find that pupils enjoythe creative process of de-signing a poster and this real-ly makes them think aboutthe dangers which they canencounter on constructionsites.

“The competition workswell alongside more formalheath and safety talks whichwe give in assembly, and as aresult this important health

I Students watch crash drama unfold

Lancaster and Morecambearea. One in three males be-tween 17 and 20 years oldcrash within two years ofpassing their test.

“The odds are stackedagainst young drivers unlessthey can make the right deci-sions. We want students tolook around them and think‘who will crash this year’ and‘will I be in the car withthem?’

Contributory factors tothese deaths include alcoholor drugs, excessive speed, alack of experience to controlthe vehicle and peer pressureto ‘show off’ to friends. Don’tlet it happen to you.”

from Lancashire who lost hislife racing his car against afriend in January 2006.

His mother, Ann, gave anemotional appeal for every-one to make the right deci-sions when it comes to driv-ing. It was only “one momentof madness” which took herson away from her forever.

Kat Whitemoss speaking onbehalf of the LancashirePartnership for Road Safetysaid: “In 2006, 276 youngdrivers aged 17 to 25 werekilled or seriously injured onLancashire’s roads. With itshigh student population,nearly a third of all thosedeaths occurred in the

Don’t let it happen to you.That is the stark lesson whichLancashire Partnership forRoad Safety left 400 studentsfrom Lancaster and More-cambe College with havingwitnessed a true-to-life simu-lation of a car crash in April.

The crowd watched fouryoung friends with a little sis-ter, aged nine, involved in ahorrific car accident whengoing to a mate’s house “justdown the road”. The driverwho had taken drugs, es-caped the crash with minorcuts and bruises, yet is leftdeeply scarred for life, riddenwith guilt and shamed by thedevastation he has caused.

The scene of a smashed carand blood-spattered actorsfrom the college’s media de-partment was attended by thefull complement of emer-gency services including po-lice, ambulance, andLancashire Fire and RescueService and watched by newand aspiring young drivers.

The audience then saw theaward winning and powerful‘Missing Matthew’ film about22 year old Matthew Hannon

and safety message can real-ly hit home. All three posterswill now take pride of place

around the site and within theschool to reinforce our com-mitment to safety.”


News

I Looking at the Kerbcraft effectThe evaluation of theNational Child PedestrianTraining Pilot Project(Kerbcraft) investigated itsimpact on children’s ped-estrian behaviour and onschools and volunteers.

Effective ways of establish-ing and sustaining practical

child pedestrian schemeswere identified. The studywas conducted by KirstieWhelan and colleagues at theUniversity of the West ofEngland, Bristol.

One hundred and fifteenpilot schemes were funded in75 authorities across England

district bus manager, andcovers common worries suchas 'will I need the correctfare?', 'what happens if I losemy bus fare?' and 'how can Iget a Tyne and Wear Under 16Card?' The children then makethe journey to their second-ary school and the morningends with a more informalquestions and answer session.

Gateshead Council has de-veloped resources for teach-

and Scotland, in areas withhigh child pedestrian acci-dent rates and high levels ofdeprivation.

This field trial has operatedin a variety of settings, takingrurality, ethnicity and socialdeprivation into account.

The findings of the pilot inDrumchapel, Glasgow, havebeen confirmed in a largerand more disparate sample.This study has contributed totwo approaches related to re-ducing health inequalities:• Strengthening individuals –

by increasing children’spedestrian skills and en-hancing the range of volun-teers’ skills.

• Strengthening communi-ties – by recruiting and re-taining large numbers ofcommunity volunteers andstrengthening their linkswith schools and local au-thorities.

In relation to Kerbcraft’s im-pact on behaviour, the studyfound strong statistical evi-dence of positive impact oftraining in all three skills.There was no gender differ-ence for baseline perform-ance or impact of Kerbcrafttraining.

The programme had an im-pact on schools, communitiesand volunteers. Kerbcraft im-proved relationships betweenthe schools and parents.Positive opportunities wereprovided for volunteers to de-velop social contacts, feel val-ued and take advantage ofeducational and employmentopportunities.

Cost effectiveness analysisshowed that costs of trainingin a sample of local authori-ties ranged from £28 to £99per child. The cost ofKerbcraft in six of the localauthorities was below £40.

Nexus trialed a programmetwo years ago to give Year 6pupils a 'taster' journey totheir new secondary school.The journey allowed them totravel the route of the schoolbus, having the stops pointedout to them, as well as thebus bay at their destinationand the entrance to their newschool.

The children also had thechance to see where their buswill pick them up in the after-noon - the sort of minor worrythat can often discouragechildren from using the bus.

Feedback was so positivethat, last year, the program-me was expanded to moreschools in Gateshead and via Nexus to schools inSunderland and South Tyne-side. This year, for the firsttime, schools in Newcastleand North Tyneside have alsotaken part.

The journey is only part ofthe programme, however.The morning begins with atalk in the classroom with the

School kids preparing tomake the step up from pri-mary to secondary schoolhave been receiving somespecial tuition - on how tocatch the bus!

Year 6 pupils at RowlandsGill Primary School inGateshead are the latest totake part in a GatesheadCouncil scheme which pre-pares children for their new,longer journey to school - byletting them experience thejourney in the company oftheir friendly local bus man-ager first.

Parents and pupils oftenfeel anxious at the start ofsecondary school, and maywant to escort children thereby car. However, experiencehas shown that this can es-tablish a pattern of car usewhich makes children totallyreliant on their parents fortransport, and which con-tributes to increased trafficcongestion and pollution.

To help overcome theirfears, Gateshead Council and

ers to use in the classroom toprepare for the event and tofollow it up. The childrenlearn, among other things,how much more fuel efficienta bus is than the car, and alsoabout respect for other pas-sengers and the property ofthe bus company. The coun-cil's school travel adviser alsovisits teachers ahead of theevent to explain what's in-volved.

I Learning about buses

Fremington Army TrainingCamp in North Devon makesan excellent venue for aLASER event. It is secure andallows seven scenarios to bepresented in a relativelysmall space reducing travel-ling time between to theminimum.

Children were advised towork only with adults wear-ing sticky badges since therecould be army personnel inthe vicinity. These smiley facebadges reflected the positiveatmosphere created from themoment children arrived untilthe debriefing and departure.

Devon and Somerset Fireand Rescue Service providedthe first demonstration, withall the children watching at asafe distance behind a rope.

A firefighter enquires aboutthe children’s use of chip panswhich seems to be diminish-ing. There is a sense of ex-pectancy because the chil-dren are standing behind abarrier some 30 metres awayfrom the trailer containing achip pan of oil getting hotter,producing smoke and even-tually flame while the fire-fighter addresses them.

Talk about temperatures of190/200 degrees rising to 450degrees may have a variableimpact on youthful ears butthe final explosion of a ball offlame close to 900 degreesspeaks volumes. One cup of

water on the end of a longsteel rod and held by a fire-fighter in protective clothingis tipped on the flames to pro-duce this ball.

It is intended to be an intro-duction into a world of riskswith which the children arechallenged to engage.

The second scenario is an-other fire service trailershowing, this time, a loungefull of hazards. As the chil-dren are guided by a firefight-er to focus on each hazard,the objects are lit electroni-cally.

An iron left on, dry clothesby an open fire, a cigarette

close to paper rubbish in abin, tee lights on a woodenbase, electric cabling trailingover the carpet and an over-loaded socket are observed.With some assistance fromthe firefighter, the childrenmanage to spot most of thesehazards and appear to under-stand why they present risks.

Smoke alarm advice in-cludes weekly testing, clean-ing regularly and changingthe battery once a year.

Devon and Cornwall Policefocus on alcohol. Informationis delivered through a con-versation between an officerand the children. He has a

good blend of clarity and wit.Which children have alreadydrunk alcohol? The childrenseem reluctant to answer, un-sure of the response theymay receive.

The children are then invit-ed to walk down the gardenpath as shown by two lines ofmarkers across the carpetedfloor. They will be wearingspecial glasses which simu-late the effect of five or sixglasses of beer. Can theykeep a straight line?

As each child attempts thisapparently simple task withvarying degrees of wander-ing across one line or anoth-

er, the police officermaintains a commen-tary on their pro-gress.

One child said after-wards that they couldsee the floor wearingthe glasses but it kepton moving.

Two ladies fromNorth Devon PrimaryCare Trust introducethe heart as the mus-cle that pumps bloodround the body toprovide oxygen. Onehour of exercise aday, such as walkingto school, swimming,playing football pro-

vides both enjoyment andfurther strength to the heartto carry on its job.

The children are invited tohave their standing pulse ratemeasured with a finger meterbefore going outside to run,jump and dance to raise theirpulse rate. On return the newpulse is measured to showhow the heart was being ex-ercised. Comment is made bythe health visitors where chil-dren demonstrate a quick re-covery from high to standingpulse rate as one sign of ahealthy body.

Western Power Distributionhas a presenter who engages

the children in a poster show-ing a range of hazards associ-ated with electricity. The 230volts coming through ahousehold mains system cankill you: imagine what 11,000volts in a sub-station coulddo! This energy has the po-tential “to cook you from theinside like a microwave” be-cause we are made up ofwater which acts as a conduc-tor to any electricity sourcewe touch directly. So whathappens in a sub-stationwhere someone’s footballhas become lodged? Retriev-ing it is far too dangerous buta call to the WPD at the tele-phone number shown on theside of the station is a sensi-ble act, helping to keep peo-ple safe.

Making a circuit is a corepart of the science curriculumwhich has a direct input intothis scenario: here is one rea-son why we need to knowabout circuits. Our bodies cancomplete the circuit with hor-rifying results if we are notthinking safely.

The British Red Cross use alarge poster on the wall toshow the witnesses to a roadaccident. Which of these peo-ple could provide vital firstaid?

D for danger, R for re-sponse, A for airway and Bfor breathing: this vital se-quence is explained.

The children were guidedthrough the sequence beforepracticing the recovery posi-tion in pairs. Two Red Crossvolunteers are on hand to ad-vise them as they practice.

Once again, the emergencycall to 999 or 112 which canoverride the key lock on a mo-bile phone, is established as amajor weapon in the fight tosave lives.

Maritime and CoastguardAgency staff discussed If wesee someone or something introuble at the seaside, byrivers or estuaries how canwe help? Making the phonecall (999 or 112) includes fourimportant pieces of informa-


LASER

LASER sends seven crucial safety messagesColin Morris visits the Torridge andNorth Devon Junior Lifeskills event

The dramatic ball of flame demonstration


LASER

cial safety messagestion: Who, what, where andwhen? The children are givena chance to practice this ingroups. Red flags on thebeach show dangerous areasthat should not be used.Hazards which can be spottedon the beach include: glass,syringes, rusty fishing hooks.Live bombs have been found;if you don’t know what youhave found it is best to call anadult or the coastguard.

Environmental HealthOfficers explain there are

I Learning to staysafe at homeA new online accident prevention resource www.safehome4me.com has beenlaunched for children.

Developed by the SouthernHealth and Social Care Trustin Northern Ireland, the web-site has been designed forpre-school and primaryschool settings but can alsobe used at home to raiseawareness of accident pre-vention.

Through a series of interac-tive games and watch andlearn sequences, the websiteintroduces children to behav-ioural, product and environ-mental risk factors which canlead to common home acci-dents.

The teachers’ pack whichaccompanies the online re-source covers a range of safe-ty topics, encourages discus-sion and provides further ac-tivities for children. Copies ofthe pack are being sent toEarly Years Teams, Sure Startorganizations and all nurseryand primary schools in theTrust area.

Accident prevention topicscovered in www.safehome4me.com include; • Bouncing (trampoline) acci-

dents• Burns and scalds

• Falling and crashing• Poisoning• Ear, nose and mouth acci-

dents• Contacting the emergency

services.The resource has been

funded by the SouthernHealth and Social ServicesBoard through the NorthernIreland Home AccidentPrevention Strategy and wasdeveloped in consultationwith the Southern AreaAccident Prevention LiaisonGroup.

Last year there were 3,336attendances at Accident and Emergency Departmentsacross Northern Ireland dueto home accidents, 445 ofthese in the Southern Healthand Social Care Trust area.

Launching www.safehome4me.com Melanie McClements,Assistant Director of Pro-moting Wellbeing for theSouthern Health and SocialCare Trust said: “This re-source will help children todevelop attitudes aroundkeeping themselves and oth-ers safe and show them whatto do if an accident happens.

“The scenarios and gameson the online resource workbest if explained and dis-cussed with an adult initially,

but once children are familiarwith the site, they can contin-ue to use it alone. We hopewhich children will be encour-aged to bring this learning

good bacteria which canbuild up immunity to infec-tion in the body but there arealso bad bacteria which canmake you ill. Raw chicken andraw eggs have the potentialto cause illness if not handledcorrectly. Bacteria multiply soin 20 minutes one becomestwo and so on; the childrenmultiply out loud to showhow large the problem couldgrow unchecked.

A drop of glow cream ap-plied to the hands allows the

ultra violet light machine toidentify significant areas ofbacteria lurking on our skin.

After all this activity, the re-sponses were much loudernow that the children had lostsome inhibitions. Each sce-nario was revisited throughquestions and answers mix-ed with a little humour.

The fire service remindedthe children about the dangerof hoax calls (200 to the fireservice last year). The poem“The Hoax Call” was read in

which a young man changedfrom a hoax caller to a mur-derer in a very short time. Hediscovered that it was hisfamily which suffered whenthe fire service was divertedfrom saving lives to a wastedjourney.

Many thanks to Pam Charles,Amanda Wycherley and EricDavidson who coordinate theevent for their welcome andcooperation. Also to their col-leagues in the supportingagencies for their hospitality.

home to share with parentsand carers to change their be-haviours or modify the hometo reduce the risk of acci-dents.”


Education

Exciting new beginnings on the secondary curriculumFrom the beginning of thenew school year, teacherswill begin implementing anew curriculum for key stage3 (11-14 year olds or years 7-9) which, for the first time, in-cludes risk as a key concept.

The entire secondary cur-riculum has been re-formedto give teachers more flexibil-ity about what is taught and

how. Each subject has a newprogramme of study, linkedto the aims of the overall cur-riculum to young people as‘successful learners’, ‘confi-dent individuals’ and ‘respon-sible citizens’.

The new curriculum is alsolinked to the ‘Every ChildMatters’ through which schoolsand other agencies are ex-

For those interested in safety educationand injury prevention in England,September 2008 is an important date inour diaries! Jenny McWhirter reports.

A big picture of the curriculum3 key questions:


Education

on the secondary curriculumpected to help all children toachieve five key outcomes:• Be healthy • Stay safe • Enjoy and achieve • Achieve economic well

being • Make a positive contribu-

tion.The diagram or big picture

of the curriculum shows how

the subjects contribute tothis.

As part of the reform, thefamiliar personal, social andhealth education (PSHE) hasbecome personal social,health and economiceducation (or PSHEeducation).

PSHE education willbe divided into twostrands: “personalwell being” and “eco-nomic well being andfinancial capability”.

Injury prevention(including road safety,home safety, waterand leisure safety) ispart of the personalwell being curricu-lum.

Like all the othersubjects PSHE has a pro-gramme of study with fivekey elements:• An importance statement –

why the subject mattersand how it can contributeto the overall aim

• Key concepts – identifiesthe big ideas that underpinthe subject

• Key processes – identifiesthe essential skills of thesubject

• Range and content – out-lines the breadth of subjectmatter which teachers candraw on to develop knowl-edge, skills and concepts

• Curriculum opportunities –identifies opportunities toenhance and enrich learning.The only difference be-

tween PSHE education andall the other subjects is thatthe range and content is cov-ered by a non-statutory cur-riculum framework, while theother subjects are statutory.However, schools do have astatutory requirement to sup-port the personal, social andemotional development of allchildren and young people intheir care, and PSHE educa-tion is seen as an importantelement in the delivery of thatexpectation.

Why is this such good news

for RoSPA and all those con-cerned with injury prevention?

For many years RoSPA hasargued that safety educationshould not be divided intoseparate elements of road,

home, water, building sitesafety – even though thereare specific hazards, andsome very specific skills re-quired to manage the risksassociated with each of theseenvironments.

We have argued that theconcept of risk underpins alleducation aimed at helpingchildren and young people tostay safe. By being more ex-plicit about risk and the lan-guage we use to describe riskwe will help young people tounderstand how to identifyrisks to themselves and oth-ers as they encounter moreand more complex and unfa-

miliar environments. And risk is not only a key

concept for preventing injury– it is an important concept inpromoting well being,whether through drug educa-

tion, sex and rela-tionships education,healthy eating – andmany more topicstraditionally taughtas separate topicswithin PSHE. And ofcourse, risk is a keyconcept in educationfor economic wellbeing and financialcapability. Revisingthe programmes ofstudy has providedall these subjectswith a clearer ration-ale and will

strengthen the role of PSHEeducation teachers inEngland.

And the changes to the cur-riculum also mean that wecan give appropriate empha-sis to the idea that risk bringspositive as well as negativeoutcomes, providing youngpeople with challengesthough which they can learnabout themselves, theirstrengths and capabilities aswell as about others andabout their environment.

At RoSPA we hope the newcurriculum will help teachersto focus on keeping youngpeople as safe as necessary,not as safe as possible.

Changes to the curriculum also mean that we can give appropriate emphasis to the

idea that risk brings positive aswell as negative outcomes,

providing young people withchallenges though which theycan learn about themselves,

their strengths and capabilitiesas well as about others

For more information about the changes to the curriculum,visit the QCA website at http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/index.aspx

And for suggestions about how to introduce the conceptof risk into your teaching about injury prevention, see theRoSPA safety education webpages, especially http://www.rospa.com/safetyeducation/why.htm

And http://www.rospa.com/safetyeducation/risksociety.htm

And to make sure your teaching about injury preventionis based on evidence for what works, see 10 principles ofsafety education:http://www.rospa.com/safetyeducation/principles.htm


School guide to road safety

Road safety

Kathy Shortt of the road safe-ty team at RoSPA and JennyMcWhirter, risk education ad-viser, have developed a newguide for healthy schoolsabout road safety.

It demonstrates how aschool working towards be-coming a healthy school caninclude road safety in a wide

variety of ways – in the cur-riculum, in activities involv-ing parents and pupils and inpolicy. It also demonstratesthe links between road safetyand other aspects of healthyschools such as the travelplan, the environment andsustainability issues.

To help with curriculum

planning the guide offers aspiral of children and youngpeople’s developing under-standing of risk set against aset of learning outcomes forbecoming a safe road user,from being a safe passengerand pedestrian to becoming asafe driver.

The stages of development

for risk are based on researchcarried out using the drawand write technique (http://www.rospa.com/safetyedu-cation/risksociety.htm) – andrepresent minimum expecta-tions for each age group.

So while most young peo-ple aged 7-11 (Key Stage 2)will be able to recognise haz-ards in familiar situations andtake action to mange the riskto themselves, some will alsobe able to recognise hazardsin unfamiliar situations. How-ever, we would not expectmost to be able to do thisuntil they are about 14 yearsold (Key Stage 3).

While we have applied thisspiral to road safety, there isno reason why it could not beused to help plan teachingand learning in a variety ofother safety related areas,where there is a progressionof learning outcomes, such askeeping safe near or in openwater or staying safe at home.

Why not give it a try foryourselves? You may find thatsome safety skills expectmore of young people thanthey appear capable of – butthis need not be a barrier. Itmerely indicates that theyneed appropriate teaching toenable them to acceleratetheir understanding of risk inthis context.

A word of caution, however:accelerating their learning inone area will not mean thatthey transfer the learning toanother situation! A moregeneral understanding of riskstill seems to develop slowly.

The guide, is available freein hard copy from Kathy([email protected]) or onlinefrom http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/ info/healthy_schools.pdf

Why not let us know howyou get on by emailing JennyMcWhirter ([email protected])

The diversity of ICT resourcesavailable in the educationmarket is vast. Without ques-tion technology has, and willcontinue to change our mod-ern education environment.

Today’s students have ac-cess to everything from inter-active whiteboards and lap-tops to mobilelearning devices.Such develop-ments, unimagin-able just decadesago, have generat-ed a wealth of op-portunities andhave opened countless doorsfor the digital generation.

While the advantages areenormous and should not bediscounted, equally the po-tential dangers cannot be ig-nored.

The most widespread e-safety breach in schools iswhen young people accessand upload inappropriate


Cyber safety

Focus on e-safety in classroomscontent by circumventing ex-isting filtering to accessblocked websites.

This may be material whichincludes personal details, ishateful or violent in nature,encourages activities whichare dangerous or illegal, ispornographic or simply un-

suitable for a particular agegroup.

Another concern is cyber-bullying which more andmore schools now have todeal with. Digital technolo-gies such as e-mail, instantmessaging, chat rooms andso on are the catalyst for cy-berbullying as they providean anonymous method by

which bullies torment theirvictims, be they other stu-dents or even teachers.

For young people, technol-ogy is about more than justlearning, it provides a forumin which they can developtheir social life and be enter-tained. Sadly this can be dan-

gerous as young peo-ple may not be com-municating with whothey think they are;predator grooming is agreat concern.

For instance, it hasbeen known for young

people to unwittingly estab-lish friendships with middle-aged men who have un-scrupulous intentions, whenthey are under the impres-sion that they are talking witha fellow student of similarage.

The threat of abuse orphysical danger is perhapsthe most worrying risk asso-

Everyone whoworks with childrenand young peoplehas a duty to safeguard themfrom harm whilethey are using digital resources.However, it is notuncommon fortoday’s generationto have a muchgreater knowledgeabout technologythan those thatlook after them,such as theirteachers. Sally-Ann Griffiths,director of e-safetyat Securus, a leading provider ofe-safety solutions,explains.

Digital technologies such as e-mail, instant messaging,

chat rooms and so on are the catalyst for cyberbullying


Cyber safety

ciated with the use of the in-ternet, and what is more itcan and does happen. Sohow can schools protect stu-dents while also allowing ac-cess to explore the internet?

The internet is burstingwith information, which ifused appropriately can helpyoung people thrive. As a dy-namic learning tool safe andresponsible usage should bepromoted; young peopleshould be encouraged to em-brace the internet , not fear it.

It is essential that e-safetymessages are embedded intothe national curriculum andreinforced every time a stu-dent uses technology. This isachievable through develop-ing their critical thinking skills

to allow them to assess theissues and risks.

Additionally schools cannotafford to operate withoutsome form of e-safety protec-tion. For instance, monitoringsoftware is now recognisedby the Government as an im-portant element of a success-ful e-safety strategy and farmore effective than banningaccess.

Monitoring solutions help

ease concerns by observingactivity, recording evidenceof misuse and alerting staff toissues of concern. The moresophisticated e-safety solu-tions provide screenshots ofevery violation both on andoffline, even if content is notsaved or is deleted,along with detailsof the user, work-station, time anddate.

Although on oc-casions certain ma-terial which isflagged up can be innocent,such a system consistentlyhighlights potentially harmfulactivity, which enables issuesto be addressed in the earlystages.

It is vital that students havethe freedom to use ICT prop-erly while also learning tostay safe. When students arefully educated about the is-sues, schools often experiencea reduction in the breaches ofe-safety.

The reason for this trans-formation in classroom be-haviour is because these so-lutions are a powerful deter-rent against unacceptable ac-

tivities. Students are awarethat they are being monitoredwhich creates a strong incen-tive to use ICT in a safe way,stay on-task during lessons,act responsibly and adoptgood habits.

In terms of cyberbullying,

the victims are often reluctantto seek help which makes itdifficult to detect. E-safety so-lutions play an invaluablerole here by enforcing schoolanti-bullying policies andbringing bullying and racismto light through identifyingthreatening language. This al-lows schools to identify thestudents involved and cap-ture evidence, even if the inci-dent goes unreported by thevictim.

Meanwhile teachers areprovided with the confidenceand knowledge to handle e-safety issues effectively. Theyare empowered to discussstudent behaviour with par-ents, and are protected again-st false accusations or be-coming targets of bullyingthemselves. Essentially, teach-ers are allowed to do whatthey do best – teach safely in

the knowledge that their stu-dents are safe.

It is not uncommon for stu-dents to have a far greaterunderstanding of technologythan their teachers. They areraised in a digital worldwhere technology is an es-

sential part of theirdaily routine. And yetbeing a computerwhizz does not equipthem to deal with is-sues which mayoccur while usingtechnology

When it comes to technolo-gy, many students are under-standably adventurous. Theyare clever and innovative andsome will do their best tocrack any barriers which hin-der their journey into cyber-space. Young people love topush the boundaries, butthey are still hugely vulnera-ble which sometimes meansthey unintentionally put them-selves in danger.

In reflection of the growingemphasis placed on e-safety,it has never been more im-portant to better equip teach-ers to both understand the is-sues and educate students.Without question, e-safety isa high priority for everyschool across the UK.

For further information one-safety solutions visit www.securus-software.com or tele-phone 01932 255480.

Potential dangers online• Cyberbullying• Predator grooming• Accessing inappropriate sites:

- Pornographic- Hateful or violent in nature- Encourages dangerous or illegal activities- Gambling - Suicide - Weapons- Hacking - Recipes for making drugs/bombs- Age-inappropriate

• Identity theft• Buying and selling of stolen goods

Focus on e-safety in classrooms

Students are aware that they are being monitored which

creates a strong incentive to use ICT in a safe way


News extra

Primary school children frommore than 100 schools acrossLondon were thanked for thehard work and dedicationthey have put in over the lastyear as Junior Road SafetyOfficers. Their efforts havehelped to reduce the numberof children killed or seriouslyinjured on London's roads by16 per cent since 2006.

The JRSOs were treated toa day of fun and interactiveactivities at Transport forLondon's Street Safe Live

event at theS o u t h b a n kCentre inWaterloo. Theevent includeda performanceof “High StreetMusical” witha road safetytheme and anawards cere-mony wheresome of themost excep-tional juniorofficers won prizes for theirown imaginative “StreetSafe” ideas in song, wordsand art.

This is the third year thatTfL has held the Street SafeLive day, and the responsethis year was overwhelmingwith almost 500 childrenthere to celebrate the successof the scheme which involvesschools recruiting Year Fiveand Six pupils to take thelead in promoting road safetyissues among their peers.

Figures released by TfLshow that the number of chil-dren killed or seriously in-jured in collisions on ourroads is continuing to go

down, and the success is inpart thanks to innovativeways of giving young peoplethe skills and confidence theyneed to negotiate London'sbusy roads. Younger children

are also now being taught thebasic road rules from nurseryschool age through TfL'sChildren's Traffic Club and A-ZTales.

The “High Street Musical”theme of the day saw the chil-dren participating in cheer-leading practice (with roadsafety messages), trying theirluck with a football kickingmachine to help them under-stand exactly how fast 30mph is and a distraction chal-lenge with the message“watch what you're doingwhile near the road”.

The highlight of the day formany was the “High StreetMusical” stage performance,which featured a cameo by

TfL's man-aging di-rector ofs u r f a c etransport,D a v i dB r o w n ,who alsohanded outthe StreetSafe Liveawards tothe deserv-ing JRSOs.

I Thanks for 500 London JRSOs

point out these obvious fac-tors that impact on drivingand in car safety. It is unfortu-nate that advertisements and

publicity tend to focus on ac-cidents and car crashes thanthe factors that actually causethe incidents.”

A total of 527 poems on‘Staying Safe in the Car’ wereentered from junior and sen-ior pupils across the Gwentregion into this year’s roadsafety illustrated poem com-petition, which was run joint-ly by the road safety team atCapita Symonds and HeddluGwent Police.

The prizes and certificateswere presented by MikeTonge, chief constable ofHeddlu Gwent Police.

The highest number of sen-ior entries came from DuffrynComprehensive School, New-port and Vicky Carey, theEnglish teacher collectedtheir award from Mr Tonge.Vicky said “We found theproject to be of great interestacross all the year groupsthat entered. The year 9 and

10 groups were very aware ofthe dangers and very sensi-ble in their approach to thetask. It was surprising howmany features the pupilswere able to recognise in re-lation to in car safety.”

Vicky continued, “How-ever, many of our youngerpupils did tend to focus onthe main features they see onTV – driving too fast, drinkdriving, etc. It would be niceif there was greater aware-ness made of the distractionsthat can occur in the car –talking to the driver, askingthem to look at somethingother than the road, musicblasting, eating and drinkingat the wheel, using mobilephones.

“The teachers involved inthis competition often had to

I Poetic road to safety in the car


News extra

I First forum for Welsh JRSOsSouth East Wales’ first everJunior Road Safety Officerforum was held recently atthe YMCA Conference Centre,Newport. It was a fun, actionpacked educational day, with17 schools and 61 pupils at-tending.

The Forum had non-stopactivities in the morning, in-cluding visits from the fireand rescue services andHeddlu Gwent Police. Thechildren had great fun, climb-ing all over Duffryn Station’sfire appliance, two motorwaypolice cars and a very flashyroads policing motorbike.

The JRSOs also had a funlesson in speed. They had topush, two modified shoppingtrolleys donated by theSafety Camera Partnership,which had been made to looklike cars! They had to pushthese at just 5mph, which isvery difficult to do, as surpris-ingly they travel at roughly 8miles per hour.

During the lunch breakeveryone was kept thorough-ly entertained by AbersychanComprehensive’s Band; whosang their very own roadsafety song and got the chil-dren up and dancing withsome popular rock tunes!

Afternoon activities in-

cluded some very impressivecircus skills, performed byLuke from Jugglestruck! Lukealways teaches the childrenabout light controlled cross-ings with the help of his roadsafety dragon, Smokey!

The children also had someon-road pedestrian training,where they were taught thecorrect and safest way tocross between parked cars.The pedestrian training co-or-dinators were very impressedwith the children’s behaviourand knowledge, which is agreat recognition of the factthat they are their school’sroad safety ambassadors!

The afternoon was rounded

off with a lesson about mov-ing up to comprehensiveschool, how using all of yoursenses will help to keep yousafe on your new journey;and a road safety behaviourquiz. From the results of thequiz it was discovered that, inthe opinion of the children,the most dangerous thingsabout the road outside theirschool were:• Adults speeding • That they have nowhere

safe to cross the road dueto parked cars.

The worst parking offenceswere:• Adults parking on the foot-

path

• Parking on double yellowlines.The event received gener-

ous funding contributionfrom Capita Symonds,Cwmbran; and was support-ed by the Welsh AssemblyGovernment; and the partici-pating local authorities ofBlaenau Gwent CountyBorough Council; CaerphillyCounty Borough Council;Monmouthshire County Cou-ncil; Newport City Counciland Torfaen County BoroughCouncil.

Each school participating inthe scheme has two JuniorRoad Safety Officers fromyear six, and two apprenticesfrom year five. Their main fo-cuses are any dangerousroad safety issues which af-fect their school and its localcommunity. The JRSOs helpto promote positive changeof attitudes by: • Organising various activi-

ties, including competitionsabout unsafe driving and‘in car safety’

• Leaflet drops regardingdangerous parking at theschools gates

• School assemblies en-couraging pupils to besafer cyclists and pedestri-ans.

I Builders highlight site perilsThe main contractor atEdinburgh Academy’s new £2million nursery and after-school facility has warnedpupils about the dangers ofplaying on scaffolding andconstruction sites.

Dunne Building and CivilEngineering is undertakingthe complete design andbuild of the new develop-ment which will form an in-tegral part of the independ-ent school’s campus that sitson the capital’s HendersonRow.

Work is progressing onschedule and the group’shealth and safety team re-

cently delivered an educa-tional presentation to pupilswith the help of the ‘StaySafe, Building Site Safety’magazine which has been de-veloped by the Health andSafety Executive.

The colourful educationalpublication, which is aimed atseven to 11 year olds and in-cludes a character calledDigger, is being used acrossthe country to make school-kids aware of the hazardswhich exist on building sites.

Pupils were asked to solvea range of games and puzzlesand the six who scored thehighest were each presented

with a certificate by head-teacher Caroline Bashford be-fore being given a tour of the

site by Dunne Group’s healthand safety manager RobertMorrison.

Regulating for Home Safety

Sponsored by

Achieving the right balance between complacency and paranoia

Can regulation provide a solution to a reduction in homeinjury, or are people becoming reliant on the safetyequipment now available for home use?

This year’s Congress will explore the range of solutionsaimed at achieving the right balance between complacencyand paranoia. Should the home environment be as safe asis necessary rather than as safe as is possible?

A range of topics will be discussed, looking at the issuessurrounding regulation:� Regulations and their contribution to consumer safety� The relationship between regulation and accident rates� What is the appropriate level of regulation for safety in

the home? Should it be more or less?� TMVs, should they be mandatory in England, as they are

in Scotland?� Can children’s play be both safe and exciting?

Not to be missed by:

� Home safety officers � Safety product manufacturers

� Accident prevention officers � Community practitioners

� Trading standards officers � Age Concern teams

� Fire prevention officers � Falls prevention co-ordinators

� Housing associations � Regulatory bodies

Book by

29th September 2008

for a 20% early bird discount

– call 0121 248 2120 or visit

www.rospa.com/events

To book now call the RoSPA events hotline on:0121 248 2120or visit: www.rospa.com/events

from

115135 HS CongressAd_SAlive_v6 dj:Layout 1 22/7/08 16:58 Page 1

Call:0121 248 2233Email: [email protected]

The brand new RoSPA Products and Services Catalogue is the ultimate resource to help yourorganisation achieve and promote health and safety assurance and compliance.

So, if you have an interest in safety on the roads, at home, at leisure or in schools, then thiscatalogue will offer a uniquemix of resources and services including:

� Training courses � Consultancy services � RoSPAmembership� Publications � Posters � Free resources

RoSPA speaks up for safety and offers themost comprehensivehealth and safety support available.

Request your FREE copy today

www.rospa.com

NOWavailable!

Ahealth and safety solution that fits…RoSPA’s Products and Services Catalogue 2008:2009

ROSPA 115418 Catalogue Advert v4 sms:CatalogueAd 7/8/08 10:07 Page 1

Documents

SAFETY - RoSPA · 2019-03-14 · slogan that gives a strong message about safety. “We find that pupils enjoy the creative process of de-signing a poster and this real-ly makes them