ACTIVITY 10

Alien Landing

Aim

To make participants aware of what’s important to keep them safe

Age

Primary

Time

40 minutes to 1 hour

Process

Facilitator with a group of 30 young people maximum (use additional support if required).

Materials

You will need:

  • Flipchart
  • Whiteboard
  • Pages
  • Markers
  • Shield page (included)
  • Background information on the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) (Included)

Method

1. Alien landing

  • Explain that an alien has landed in your city / town / village.
  • Ask the group what things would the alien see that wouldn’t make children happy?
  • What does it see in:
  • The street
  • At home
  • The Park
  • In school

2. Ideal World

  • Ask the class to draw on the page what they think an ideal world would be for children?
  • After they have finished drawing ask the class who could help them make a better world for children

3. Superhero

  • Tell the class the NICCY is like a superhero, NICCY’s job is to make sure that children have everything they need to be safe and happy.
  • What makes a good hero, what are they like?
  • Imagine this superhero had a shield and on the shield are pictures to show what the hero’s like.
  • Get the group to draw in the shield to show what a champion for children would be like.

4. Motto

  • Every superhero has a motto like:
  • Buzz Light-year - to infinity and beyond
  • Ghost busters - Who your gonna call
  • Spiderman-Great Power, great responsibility
  • Ben Ten- Time to go heros
  • What should NICCY’s motto be?

5. What could stop the Superhero doing their job?

WHO IS NICCY?

The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People is Koulla Yiasouma.Your Commissioner’s job is to protect and promote your rights and best interests. NICCY is independent of the Government. The Commissioner works to make sure that you and otherpeople know about your rights and that people making decisions – for example, Government or councils – have your best interests in mind. The Commissioner will also speak out if she believes children or young people aren’t getting a fair deal. NICCY works with all children and young people up to the age of 18, or 21 for those who have a disability or experience of being in care.

WHAT ARE RIGHTS?

Rights are promises made to you by Government. Rights are about making sure you are treated well and get a fair deal. They set out the sorts of things that must be put in place for this to happen. Everybody has rights, and everybody should respect the rights of other people.

Some people find the idea of “children’s rights” quite difficult – they may think it is about children and young people getting everything they want and not having to listen to adults. This is not the case, children’s rights are human rights and are as important. Even the right to play is a serious right because you need to play to grow up happy and healthy.

WHAT IS THE UNCRC?

The UNCRC or UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an agreement signed by many countries, including the UK Government, which lists promises made to all children and young people. If you are under 18, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is about you. It describes the commitment that your Government has made to recognise your rights. The Convention is an international law that recognises that children and young people in Northern Ireland have rights. The UNCRC has 54 articles in it, 42 rights are for children and young people up to 18 years of age. The others are all about

how governments and adults should work together to make sure children and young people can access their rights.

If you would like to find out more about your rights, how to get help and what the Commissioner does, please visit

To get in touch with the Commissioner and team; phone 028 9031 1616, or email

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