Mini Police
Mini Police schools across the county have been busy with a wide variety of topics, with schools electing to link in with their curriculums. With Internet Safety Day on 11th February, and British Science week in March, some of our schools have been running our Digital Resilience and Crime Scene Investigation topics. In both Boston and Spalding areas, schools have been learning about Digital Resilience. In this topic we encourage children to look at their online activity, what their responsibilities are when posting online (something that is equally as relevant to adults as children), what Cyberbullying is (and how/why it happens), and most importantly how to keep our private information private. We discuss online family agreements – and especially how both children and parents have responsibilities and rules to abide by. How many adults would admit they spend too much time on their phones? Who has devices or phones at the dinner table (one I am guilty of on far too many occasions!). Our program is not meant to discourage online use but to encourage children to think about what they are posting, what apps they are using and how to keep themselves safe online. We also get a little insight into what games/ apps are popular which helps not only us but teachers to be aware of current trends. It also gives us an opportunity to highlight the issues around many of the popular apps and to remind children how to use them safely. Our PCSOs have been busy delivering lessons to some big
groups, with several schools working with whole year groups and classes to learn about Scams and also our Diversity topic. We’ve heard some great debates around diversity and stereotypes – we have been showing children videos of people in Lincolnshire and asking them to guess their jobs, favourite colours and hobbies based purely on their introductions. We’ve searched out people who do non gender-stereotypical roles – from male hairdressers to female mechanics and racing drivers – and we encourage children to think ‘outside of the box’ when guessing. We want children to understand not to ‘take things at face value’. We have been discussing areas of our lives where gender stereotypes still exist – from sports to careers – it’s amazing how the gender barriers of past generations have all but disappeared, and it is enlightening to listen to the career aspirations of the next generation. We end with what we think is a great message – ‘The only person who can limit your achievements is you’. We’ve also welcomed a new school to our Mini Police program – Gosberton House Academy. They are a primary school catering for children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder or additional learning needs from across Lincolnshire. We have tailored our program to ensure we deliver the best package to them – we look forward to showing the wok we are doing with them in future articles.
PC Tim Newell
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