Staying Safe was our subject when I spent the day at Norwood School in London, working with the school’s Journalism Club – ten students from Year 7, ten from Year 8 and ten from Year 9. I invited PC Sue Randall in from the Met Police for the children to interview on all aspects of safety for teenagers.
Before she came we spent some time doing a short Journalism Masterclass before preparing questions for her. Some of the students were able to bring up their own experiences with safety issues. These were shared and discussed in class.
PC Sue talked to the students about the safest way to travel and to play out. She talked about online safety, stranger danger, danger in the home, bullying, grooming, drugs and alcohol and gangs. The students asked her lots of questions and wrote lots of notes.
This resulted in some fantastic articles and the children learning not only some basic journalistic skills but some extra knowledge about staying safe that they didn’t know before. The students even put a lot of thought into their headlines – most of them using a strong quote from PC Sue. The stay safe workshop enthused and inspired the students.
A brilliant all-round day of learning for the Journalism Club.