Wakefield Junior Cadets proudly represent their schools during visit to West Yorkshire Police Carr Gate

School children from Wakefield who have been involved in an innovative project to help keep them safe were welcomed to West Yorkshire Police’s training facility by the Chief Constable.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The 40 children, who were chosen to represent their schools, met the Chief Constable John Robins as part of their visit to Carr Gate last week.

During the visit they were able to visit the police dogs and see one of the NPAS helicopters. The Roads Policing Unit also put on a display for the school pupils on the skid pan.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Twenty-three schools in the Wakefield North East area have been involved in the Junior Cadets programme, which utilised some of the Pol-Ed inputs, but was delivered by police volunteers rather than teachers.

The children, who were chosen to represent their schools, met the Chief Constable John Robins as part of their visit to Carr Gate last week.The children, who were chosen to represent their schools, met the Chief Constable John Robins as part of their visit to Carr Gate last week.
The children, who were chosen to represent their schools, met the Chief Constable John Robins as part of their visit to Carr Gate last week.

The Wakefield project has seen police volunteers engage with over 7,000 children and work intensively with around 250 children.

During the programme, the children were given inputs on behaviour at home and school, bullying, hate crime, water and railway safety, internet safety, sexual grooming and county lines grooming, knife crime and crime prevention.

They also found out about crime, the history of policing and a typical Sergeant’s day – linked to a young person going missing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The pupils were able to find out more about the criminal justice process by taking part in a youth court play with the children playing the roles of defendant, victim, witness, prosecution solicitor, defence solicitor, clerk and magistrates.

Thirty schools are already signed up for next year’s Junior Cadets programme in Wakefield.

Chief Constable John Robins QPM DL said: “It was a pleasure to be able to welcome these school pupils to Carr Gate and witness first-hand the interest and enthusiasm that they have for this programme.

“The Junior Cadets is an innovative way of helping to break down barriers that may exist between the police and the communities that we serve and keeping our children and young people safe.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Senior Section Officer Alan Studd and police volunteer Annette Jones jointly received the Special Constable of the Year award at the West Yorkshire Policing Awards last week for their work on this programme.

“While the Pol-Ed inputs do cover some very serious subjects, they are done in an age-appropriate way and help the children understand what they can do to safeguard and protect themselves.

"It was both interesting and alarming to hear how many of the children involved in this programme still had the misconception that it was ok to carry a knife ‘for protection’ for example.

“We currently have 262 schools across West Yorkshire signed up to the free Pol-Ed programme and I would encourage any schools who have not done so already to get involved.”

You can find out more information about the Pol-Ed programme, and schools can register and access the resources, at: Pol-Ed | School Wellbeing”

Related topics: