Lead Youth Engagement Officer

PC Liz Stanton MBE

Lead Youth Engagement Officer

Safer Schools & Young Person`s Partnership

Engagement Unit, Constabulary HQ

Clemonds Hey, Oakmere Road,

Winsford

CW7 2UA

Tel 01606364565 ( diverts to mobile)

Safer Schools & Young Persons Partnership News:

Long awaited news – New Psychoactive Substances (Legal Highs)

The Psychoactive Substances Act will come into force on 26th May 2016 after being pushed back from April 2016 over concerns that the term “psychoactivity”

was not enforceable (

begin-26-may

Key information and Messages to those who use or are vulnerable to using NPS

So-called “legal highs” are substances which seek to mimic the effects of drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, but are not currently controlled as class A,B,or C drugs.

It is now illegal to supply any so called “legal highs” for human consumption. This included selling them or giving them away for free ( even to friends).

Importing them from abroad will also be a crime. Police will take action where they find people committing these offences and punishments will range from a prohibition notice,

which is a formal warning to 7 years in prison. Police and other agencies also have new powers.

They will be able to stop and search people they thing are supplying and they will seize and destroy them.

Find out more at

Key messages to note:

Young people

•From 26th May, it will be illegal to sell or supply drugs known as so called “legal highs”

•With any drugs, you never know what you are getting and they can be incredibly harmful.

•Sharing drugs with your friends means you are putting them at risk and danger

•The changes in law mean you could face legal consequences for giving or selling any drugs to anyone.

Further help and advice for young people and users:

•The national drugs information and advice service FRANK includes advice on local treatment services.

•The Drugs Wheel content provides information on the categorization of some substance and their effects:

•NPS factsheets from Drugwise Uk, cover some different substances and their effects

•The Angelus Foundation

Provides information and advice on “legal highs” as its aims to educate, encourage and assist individuals to be more knowledgeable about the risks to their health and wellbeing of using

“legal highs” and other NPS.

It has a variety of videos which can be shorn to clients and has a section for parents / carers of the substance misuser

Programmes and tools those working with young people:

•PHE’s Rise Above campaign for 11 to 16-year olds helps to prepare them for this transition into adulthood.

Through content and activities, it helps young people to build resilience, prevent them from engaging in risky health behaviours and delay the uptake of more adult behaviours i.e. drugs and alcohol.

•Mentor UK ADEPIS provides the most current and up to date information and resources about alcohol and drugs for working with young people in schools

and non-formal settings.

The RisKit programme in particular has been found to significantly reduce alcohol use and reductions in illicit drug (mostly cannabis) use were also seen.

•The Early Intervention Foundation guidebook is an online resource for commissioning and delivering effective early intervention.

•Re-Solv provide support and advice for those affected by volatile substance abuse.

There are a range of resources on the website including leaflets, school material and activity packs for practitioners

Messages to sellers:

•From 26th May 2016, it will be illegal to supply, including by retail sale, psychoactive substances often referred to as “legal highs” for human

consumption and you could face up to 7 years in prison

•It will also be an offence to possess with intent to supply, offer to supply, produce, import or export psychoactive substances for human consumption

•Psychoactive substances are substances that are capable of producing a psychoactive effect when consumed by a person,

excluding substances such as alcohol, tobacco, nicotine, caffeine and medical products

•The new law will be enforced by police, trading standards officers , boarder force and the national crime agency

Gentle reminder that there are other ways to contact police without giving your details

Why contact Crimestoppers?

As an independent charity, we are not part of the police. When you contact us you won't be identified. The only person who knows you contacted us with information is you.

We know that it can be difficult to come forward with information. You might have seen or heard something about a crime but don't know what to do, or are scared to come forward.

It's easy to think there is nothing you can do, but we offer you a safe way to do this.

Our statistics for 2014-15 show that around 14 people are arrested and charged every day thanks to the information we receive from the public -

your information can make a difference.

Ready to contact us? Give information about crime anonymously

How we can help you give information safely

Our service is unique and designed to protect your identity, whether you call us on 0800 555 111 or submit our Anonymous Online Form.

•We will listen to you about any crime that you have information about.

•We don’t record any personal details about you.

•We pass information to the relevant authority without revealing your identity.

•All of our call agents are trained to support you through the process.

In the 26 years that we have been running, no one has ever been identified after giving information. It is vital that we guarantee your anonymity because if your identity became known,

our reputation would be seriously damaged.

Crimestoppers is not an emergency service and if you see a crime taking place you should ring 999 to report it immediately.

Don't want to speak to the police? We'll pass on your info so you don't have to

You’re invited to take part in our free Cheshire Police, Safer Schools & Young Persons Partnership, Be Aware Challenge.

A creative media competition in partnership with ucreate.

The Competition

Cheshire Police – Safer Schools & Young Persons Partnership would like your school to create an empowering 60-second radio commercial to raise awareness to other children to think carefully

about keeping themselves and their peers safe. You can choose from three categories – Healthy relationships , On-line safety (focusing on sexting / sending inappropriate pictures)

and Legal Highs ( New psychoactive substances).

This project is completely free and will provide an exciting creative outlet for your pupils and build on their literacy skills, persuasive writing techniques and communication skills.

Cheshire Crimebeat and Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner have very kindly sponsored this initiative.

What you need to know?

The challenge will officially be launching on September 5th 2016 and running until November 4th 2016 giving your pupils 8 weeks to create and record an encouraging audio commercial.

The project is divided into 2 age groups - key stage 2 year 6 and key stage three year 8. You can register your school to take part today or wait until you receive an invitation e-mail in September.

The Prize

The semi-finalists will be invited to Cheshire Police HQ (Winsford) on 29th November to aucreate Hub day for an opportunity to develop and record their adverts with

a radio industry professional and be in with a chance of winning the ultimate prize of having their commercial broadcast on local radio!

What Do I Need To Do?

Call or email Rachel on the ucreate team to register your school

E:

T:01925 251 876

Or head over to the ucreate site to register your school online

Once you’ve registered we will provide you with access to our ucreate e-learning platform which will provide all the resources you need to get your students creating their commercials.

We look forward to working with your school on this project with Cheshire Police Safer Schools & Young Persons Partnership

Can you help the Youth Commission to gather the views of young people in Cheshire about policing and crime?

The Cheshire Youth Commission has been set up by Police and Crime Commissioner, John Dwyer. The Commissioner is keen to hear what 14-25 year olds think about policing and crime in Cheshire.

We are hoping that you can help us to gather young people's views, experience and solutions for the following topics:

•Hate Crime

•The Relationship between Young People & the Police

•Mental Health & Vulnerable Young People

•Abusive Relationships

•Drugs & Alcohol Abuse

•Cyber-bullying & Safety Online

We’re keen to hear from diverse young voices from across Cheshire and would like to offer you the opportunity for Cheshire Youth Commission to come in and run an interactive workshop on one

(or more) of the above topics. We are flexible and all sessions can be adapted to suit the needs of your organisation.

This is a chance for young people in Cheshire to be heard and for their views to make a difference to their community, help us to change policing for the better.

Another way to get involved is by going directly to our web site. It takes a few minutes to have your say, Click here and get your voice heard:

All responses will be presented by Cheshire Youth Commission members to Police and Crime Commissioner r at their Final Conference on October 26th 2016.

Voting lines are now open – ACE Awards

ACE Awards are the Constabulary’s highest accolades that can be awarded to an individual or team who has gone that extra mile or demonstrated exceptional commitment to the @We’re Here’

commitments to policing in Cheshire, one of which relates to victims of crime. If you know someone who fits the bill, you can nominate them for an ACE Award.

Take time for someone who deserves recognition - unsung heroes, officers, staff or members of the extended policing family, including volunteers who have gone above and beyond.

You can even vote for members of the public who you think are ACE! Achieving Cheshire Excellence award nominations are for the period April 2015 to March 16. Nominations have now opened.

To nominate someone, fill in the application form, get it supported by your manager and send it to the Award Nominations mailbox by 30 June.

The nominations will be assessed by a panel headed by the Chief Constable and including department heads and a member of the Independent Advisory Group,

which will consider all the nominations received during the week of 4 July. Three finalists from each category will be receive an invitation to the gala awards evening where the winner in each

category will be announced.

The ACE Gala Awards evening will take place on Thursday 15 September at Carden Park hotel. Nominees will be invited to bring a guest to share their special evening.

WE'RE HERE FOR VICTIMS

Services to Victims: Awarded by the Police & Crime Commissioner to recognise an individual or team who have enabled a victim to cope and recover from the ordeal of having been a victim of crime.

This award is extended to service providers commissioned to provide services to victims of crime.

E-Safety Officers Programme Update

O2 NSPCC Community Events

If you would like to register your interest for the O2 NSPCC team to attend a community event in your area, please e-mail

Your contact info (name, e-mail and mobile number)

The team can deliver workshops to parents about online safety (approx. 1hr) or attend in a different capacity, such as be on hand to show parents

how to apply parental controls to their devices.

Any events the O2 NSPCC team attend must be aimed at parents.

Please note: registering your interest does not guarantee they will be able to attend – the team will respond within 5 working days to confirm the next steps.

For more information about the O2 NSPCC partnership, you can visit the O2 website here or NSPCC website here.

Professionals Online Safety Helpline

0844 381 4772 |

Do you have a cyberbullying or digital safety concern?

The UK Safer Internet Centre has been funded by the European Commission to provide a Helpline for professionals who work with children and young people in the UK,

specifically tackling the area of e-safety. The Helpline provide support with all aspects of digital and online issues such as social networking sites, cyber-bullying, sexting,

online gaming and child protection online.

The Helpline aims to resolve issues professionals face about themselves, such as protecting professional identity and reputation, as well as young people in relation to online safety.

Open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. The Helpline can be emailed at any time, and these will be responded to during their normal working hours.

Find out more by visiting the Helpline section of the UK Safer Internet Centres website

Partners News

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week

A week to focus on the importance of building and maintaining relationships. Whether it is with friends, family, your teacher or a colleague,

or anyone else in our lives, having strong and healthy connections with others is vital to our emotional wellbeing. But all relationships begin with and are dependent on our relationship with ourselves.

All too often we reserve our harshest criticisms and our most negative thoughts for ourselves. We know from speaking to callers on

HOPELineUK that increasing pressures on young people can lead to feelings of being a failure or ‘not good enough’ – and these feelings can become overwhelming and lead to thoughts of suicide.

Often young people don’t feel able to share these thoughts or feelings with anyone else – rather than seek support, they put other people first, as they fear that sharing their emotional pain will burden others.

This week, PAPYRUS is raising awareness of the importance of remembering to look after ourselves when it comes to maintaining positive relationships and building emotional resilience.

Read our media statement and article about how you can ensure you are looking after your self-relationship.

How can you help this Mental Health Week?

•Share your tips with us for looking after your self-relationship by tweeting us @PAPYRUS_tweets using the hashtags #LookAfterYou and #MHAW16, or email them to us.

This could be anything – from 'I get lost in my favourite music' to 'I go for a run after work to help get some me time' - just let us know what helps you to look after the relationship you have with yourself.

•Sign-up to be a member of PAPYRUS. Help us to increase the number of people we represent and help make a difference - scroll down to 'Be part of PAPYRUS' and fill in the form.

•Spread the word! Please help by sharing our social media posts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

NSPCC

Rising numbers of young people are calling ChildLine worried about exam stress. Figures we released this week show 3,077 counselling sessions were conducted about the issue in the last year,

an increase of nine per cent on 2014/15. An additional 1,127 counselling sessions took place about exam results, an increase of 20 per cent.

Along with the figures they published a new film on ChildLine’s YouTube channel, Six Tips to Managing Exam Stress,

featuring advice and tips aimed at helping children and young people cope with exams.

In our society, unfortunately, a person's pronoun tends to be assumed. Usually this is based on an assumption about their gender identity

which in turn is usually being assumed based on the way the person express their gender in the world, or on assumptions about a person's biological sex.

All these assumptions can be very dangerous!

"What is your pronoun?" - a very easy question to ask.

What could be the impact of using somebody's preferred pronoun on their mental health and well being?

What could be the impact of using an incorrectly assumed pronoun on somebody's mental health and well being? Using an incorrect pronoun on purpose...?

We invite you to have these conversations with your students using this FREE PowerPoint resource as a prompt:

Find our past free resources here.

For further details and opportunities with The Proud Trust visit :

Catch 22

Has made a new film exploring why some young people go missing and how effective support can make all the difference. Based on the real experiences of a young person, issues highlighted include: ‘push’ factors in the young person’s life that led to a succession of missing incidents; ‘pull’ factors that encouraged increasingly risky behaviour; the negative effect this had on the whole family; the positive impact of receiving support.

Source: Catch 22 04 May 2016Further information:

Catch22 missing and child sexual exploitation services

Conferences

CWAC - Young Person’s Conference - Safe kids listen well

The Young Person’s Conference allows children to express their views and be heard. Professionals associated with safeguarding children are invited to attend this Free event where they will be educated on areas which are affecting young people and our community. It is important for young people of the world to get a say…