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Join the Fight Against Child Sexual Exploitation

National Charity NWG Network asks all to unite against child sexual exploitation for their National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Raising Day – 18th March 2018.

Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a form of sexual abuse that involves the manipulation and/or coercion of young people under the age of 18 into sexual activity.

The National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Raising Day aims to highlight the issues surrounding child sexual exploitation; encouraging everyone to think, spot and speak out against abuse and adopt a zero tolerance to adults developing inappropriate relationships with children.

Previous National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Raising Days have seen hundreds of events take place across the UK, ranging from poster and leaflet displays to whole authorities embarking on targeted campaigns across public services and shopping centres.

Working with over 14,000 professionals across the world to help prevent and raise awareness of child sexual exploitation, NWG Network continue to leverage the strength of that network in order to tackle the problem head on.

“The National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Raising Day offers an opportunity for focus, for education and for discussion across society. In light of recent news reports it is timely that the 2018 National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Raising Day falls on a Sunday, not only will this enable the public campaigning in shopping centres and public areas to reach a greater audience but it will also enable police forces, organisations and projects to focus on the issue of child sexual exploitation in sports, an opportunity to target the large audiences at football matches and other sporting events taking place over the weekend period.

Together we can create more positive outcomes for so many vulnerable young people.” Commented Sheila Taylor MBE, CEO.

On the 18th March 2018 NWG Network call for all to unite against child sexual exploitation.

Show your support by writing a personal pledge and posting to your social media with the hashtag #HelpingHands to help them raise awareness of CSE.

NWG are committed to the fight against child sexual exploitation and supporting victims and their families who are subjected to this abuse. But they cannot succeed without the support of people like you.

Visit www.stop-cse.org to find out more about the National Awareness Raising Day and putting a stop to CSE.

Online safety charity Childnet call on young people to ‘Connect with respect’ and enter their Film Competition

Delivered by Childnet, the competition aims to encourage young people to have respectful interactions online and gives young people the opportunity to harness their creativity and share their understanding of online safety issues.

Judged by a panel of experts from the BBC, BAFTA, BBFC and BFI, the winning films will be shown at the finalists’ event in London and will be used as educational resources in schools across the UK.

This year’s theme focusses on how young people can ‘connect with respect’ and work together to make the internet a better place for children and young people.

As Becky Nancarrow, Senior Education Projects Officer at Childnet, said:

Over the past nine years, hundreds of young people have shown us how they can use their creativity, passion and skills to educate and inspire their peers to stay safe online. We are hugely excited to see the films that young people will be entering for this year’s Childnet Film Competition and how they can help shape a respectful and better internet for all.

Connect with respect – how to take part
The Film Competition is split into two age categories and schools or youth organisations must oversee and submit entries on behalf of all participants. For both categories, young people must create a film in response to the theme: ‘Connect with respect - a better internet starts with us!’

For both age groups, Childnet are looking for creative, imaginative films which show how young people can make a positive difference online. Young people might express their ideas through comedy, animation, or music. They will be encouraged to consider different filmmaking styles such as creating an advert, campaign or documentary.

Childnet have developed resource packs including storyboard templates, guides to filmmaking and other useful documents to help schools and youth organisations engage and support young people in making their films.

Closing date and how to enter
Entries need to be sent to Childnet by 11th June, including entry and media consent forms which can be found at www.childnet.com/film-comp. There is also important information about copyright that entrants will need to consider.

The shortlisted films will be shown on the big screen in front of industry guests and young people at the Childnet Film Competition 2018 Event at the BFI London Southbank and will also receive a BBFC rating.

The Film Competition winners will each receive a filmmaking kit for their school which includes a Canon DSLR camera, tripod and clapperboard.

The winners will be decided by an expert panel which includes:
• Catherine McAllister, Head of Safeguarding and Child Protection at BBC Children’s
• David Austin OBE, Chief Executive of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)
• Joanna van der Meer, Film Tutor and Family Learning Programmer at BFI Southbank
• Lisa Prime, Children’s Events Programmer at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)

Today marks the start of National Safeguarding Month with UK Youth launching their #KeepMeSafe campaign

UK Youth polled 1,000 18-25-year-olds and found that young people spend more than six hours a day feeling stressed or worried. Money, appearance and career worries as well as fears about the future mean a large chunk of their time is spent feeling anxious or under pressure.

One in 10 young people feel they have no-one to turn to discuss their concerns, leaving them battling through alone.

A further 67 per cent admitted they had come across problems in their life where they felt they had nobody to lean on for help.

As a result, 56 per cent have ended up in more trouble after keeping a problem to themselves rather than confiding in someone else.

A spokesperson for UK Youth said: “It’s concerning to see just how long young people spend feeling worried or stressed and how many of them have to go through these issues alone, without anyone to turn to for advice and guidance.

“But to stop young people feeling worried or stressed in a society where issues of grooming, online peer pressure, extremism and hate crimes are rising, many youth services need to be supported with additional safeguarding resources and training to #KeepMeSafe.”

That’s why UK Youth have launched their new #KeepMeSafe campaign, which calls on all organisations working with young people to Stop what they’re doing, Look at their safeguarding policies, Listen to young people and take action during National Safeguarding Month.

Their study also found that despite spending such a huge amount of time feeling concerned, the average young person has just four people they feel they could turn to for help.

And although 18-25-year-olds having an average of 165 ‘friends’ on social media, 85 per cent still have moments where they feel lonely.

In fact, more than 40 per cent think social media only adds to their worries and stress with more than half of those saying it leaves them feeling under more pressure to keep up with everyone.

Others say they struggle with the lack of privacy, (29%), the pressure to impress others (40%) and feeling like they need to make their live sound better than it really is (33%).

But researchers found that even those who do have someone they can approach with a problem don’t always get the help they need with more than half admitting they have felt ‘fobbed off’ or ignored by someone.

And 68 per cent find it difficult to share problems in the first place.

This leads to more than six in 10 respondents being more likely to battle on alone than go to anyone else if they have a problem or need advice.

UK Youth’s spokesperson added: “Safeguarding has hit the headlines recently but it’s something we’ve been working to strengthen for a long time now. Research from our network and these new stats suggest the needs of young people have transformed in the last few years due to online/offline pressures and societal changes, which means an increased the level of support is needed to #KeepMeSafe.

“After the success of last year’s launch of National Safeguarding Month and in light of recent events, we hope our #KeepMeSafe campaign encourages all organisations working with young people take time to Stop what they’re doing, Look at their safeguarding policies, Listen to their young people and take action.”

#KeepMeSafe will run throughout National Safeguarding Month (from 1st-31st March) - Find out more about #KeepMeSafe here .

Safeguarding Essentials

Safeguarding Essentials will provide a comprehensive range of safeguarding resources including teacher training, classroom resources, policies, checklists and parent guides, to better equip schools in preventing and detecting current risks faced by children.

Our new service will be accessible anytime and anywhere, empowering teachers to have the latest knowledge at their fingertips to deliver outstanding safeguarding practices with ease.

Further information about the new resources will be coming soon. Existing E-safety Support members will be notified via your weekly email bulletin. If you are not already an E-safety Support member, you can register your interest in the new Safeguarding Essentials service.