Wake-up to the idea that your child’s shortage of shut-eye could result in them failing at school and even becoming aggressive. That is the message on the eve of World Sleep Day (March 18) from the Head of the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership, Detective Superintendent Siobhan Gainer, who believes that irritability caused by fatigue can lead to a short fuse and a long history of violence.
Liverpool schools receive new sexual violence education programme
Sexual violence prevention training delivered to Liverpool schools
Pupils across Liverpool to receive new sexual violence prevention training
New sexual violence prevention training is being rolled out to schools across Liverpool exploring misogyny, sexual harassment, peer on peer abuse, and the sharing of online images.
Split into two parts, schools will be offered training sessions for primary teachers to deliver through their PSHE sessions, and pupils will be offered a new KS2 resource called ‘Send me a selfie’ which looks at the issues arising from the sharing of online images.
The training facilitates an exploration of sexual violence issues, considering how we best enable genuine dialogue and grapple with concepts of gender, power and relationships in a way that is meaningful for both boys and girls in the classroom. It considers age-appropriate activities for primary school pupils to help them to keep themselves and others safe.
The approach is funded by the Safer Streets Liverpool initiative, with the hope that it will shape and influence the behaviours of our youngest generation, encouraging healthy relationships and empowering open discussions.
“Serious violence can often be rooted in learned perceptions from family and peers so it is vital that we educate young people and arm them with the tools to change negative attitudes and behaviours and understand the impact these can have on themselves and others.
“One of the areas of focus is on healthy relationships and misogyny, reaching young minds early on so we can prevent negative attitudes potentially growing into angry and hateful actions. I firmly believe young people can unlearn harmful ideas and make positive choices.”
Detective Superintendent Siobhan Gainer, Head of the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership
“Our Safer Streets campaign is providing a long-term, multiagency approach to tackling violence against women and girls; working with schools is a crucial part of this plan.
“We know the misogyny that underlies a lot of the predatory behaviour that women and girls experience on a day-to-day basis is still rife in our society. It’s absolutely vital that we open up a conversation about this as early as possible. We need to talk to young people and help them to understand what a healthy relationship looks like, the significant risks posed by the online world and – more broadly – how they can spot the signs of misogyny and challenge it when they see it.
Educating the next generation on these issues will help us embed our vision for a Safer Merseyside.”
Merseyside’s Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell