Safety programme launched at school (From Redditch Advertiser)

Safety programme launched at school

3:27pm Tuesday 5th August 2008

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REPRESENTATIVES from West Mercia Police, Hereford and Worcester Fire Service and Aston Villa Football Club, recently teamed up with Redditch MP Jacqui Smith at Woodfield Middle School to launch a safety programme for young people.

The missdorothy.com programme aims to help young people tackle risks such as guns, knives, fire and drugs, and Woodfield Middle School is the first in Worcestershire to employ it.

A holistic safety scheme which has won the approval of Ofsted inspectors and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) experts, the missdorothy.com programme is the only independent personal safety resource to be endorsed by the Department for Children, Families and Schools.

Founder Sharon Doughty said: "The programme is built around an imaginary nine-year-old girl called Miss Dorothy Com. The children start by learning about Dot and are shown by her example how to value their own feelings.

"Most importantly, they are taught to recognise the red flags that signal dangerous situations and how to blow the whistle."

The programme uses colourful workbooks and broadcast quality soap-style dramas which aim to provide a stimulus for classroom debates.

Jacqui Smith said: "Keeping children safe is a top priority for schools. The Kids Taskforce provides a consistent child-friendly approach to safety education through the missdorothy.com programme and Watch Over Me soap opera, and I am delighted to launch it in my constituency and in Woodfield School in particular."

Lisa Guest, assistant headteacher at Woodfield Middle School, added: "Pupils have changed, society has changed, but resources hadn't...until we met Dot."

For more information, visit www.missdorothy.com.

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