A SCHEME to stop children becoming victims of sexual abuse and violence is being piloted at 12 Oxford schools.
The Values Versus Violence programme is designed to help children understand when they are at risk of harm and what to do about it.
Teachers and police officers said they hope it can stop another generation of children suffering at the hands of abusers.
If successful it could be rolled out in all primary schools across the county.
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It is also being piloted in Birmingham, London and Croydon.
John Henry Newman Academy in Littlemore is one of the Oxford schools signed up to the programme which is provided by national charity Dot Com Children’s Foundation.
Headteacher Jackie Ranger said the scheme is about preventing children becoming victims in the future as well as helping those who are already victims.
She said: “The programme is really about promoting values and telling children that they are valuable and special and giving them the skills to think about tricky situations and how they can overcome them.
“We are giving them a voice and helping them to talk over issues with a teacher.”
Pupils take part in classes teaching them about ‘uh-oh signs’ such as butterflies in their stomachs or stammering which may indicate they are at risk of harm.
They spend an hour each week writing about their thoughts and feelings in a journal provided by the charity. This is read by their teacher but each child can choose whether they want to share it with other children in the class.
John Henry Newman year three pupil Ellie Timms said the scheme had helped her identify what to do if she felt frightened.
The seven-year-old said: “I like finding out about my feelings. I have learned all the feelings like when you get butterflies in your tummy. I would just tell my parents. It has helped me find out more about what to do.”
Ellie Timms, left, and Summer Pent.
The scheme has been launched in Oxford a year and a half after Operation Bullfinch saw seven men jailed for grooming and abusing vulnerable girls in the city.
Suptt Christian Bunt, of Oxford Police, said: “This is about equipping children with the necessary life skills to prevent them being exploited. We do not talk about child sexual exploitation with the kids, it is about driving their values in terms of what are good and bad values and giving them the knowledge so they know if something is not right.
“We have to talk to primary school children about this because by the time they are 12 or 13 we cannot go into the schools and start at point zero.”
Dot Com Children’s Foundation chief executive Sharon Evans said: “We have to address how we prevent the next generation of children from suffering abuse.”
The schools involved:
- Botley School
- John Henry Newman Academy
- Orchard Meadow Primary School
- Pegasus Primary School
- SS Philip and James
- St Barnabas Primary School
- St Francis CE School
- St John Fisher Catholic Primary School
- St Michael’s CE Primary School
- St Nicholas’ Primary School
- Windmill Primary School
- Wood Farm Primary School
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