Annual Report 2014/15 8
Performing Arts students rehearsing for the Who are you really talking to? flash mob 2
Foreword The Student LSCB was formed in January 2013 to advise the Board from a young person s perspective. The LSCB wanted to find a way of getting the views of children and young people and agreed that its work would benefit greatly from the input of children and young people. The purpose of the Student LSCB is to: ensure that the work of the LSCB was informed by a children and young people perspective assist in the understanding of how to attract and maintain the interests of young people, and act as a voice and influence for other young people, making sure their thoughts and feelings are considered in decisions that affect them. 3
4 Who are you really talking to? Campaign posters
Achievements 2014-15 The current cohort have been members of the Student LSCB since January 2014 and during that time have achieved the following: Took part in the interview panel for Team Manager role within Safeguarding, Targeted & Specialist Services Conducted stage 1 of the Lay Member interview process Attended and presented at LSCB Board meetings Selected a logo for the group Attended the LSCB Annual Conference Think Family, Work Family 2014 - where they jointly delivered workshops Developed a campaign on the dangers of online grooming called Who are you really talking to? which was shortlisted for a Public Sector Award 2015 Developed posters to encourage children to comment on the services that they receive Created an online Annual Report for young people on Youtube Formed a young person s interview panel for the recruitment of the LSCB Chair Developed an awareness raising campaign on sexting. Think before you send targeted teenagers on the consequences of sending inappropriate images. 5
www.whorutalking2.com Who are you really talking to? campaign banner 6
Who are you really talking to? In partnership with the LSCB, West Yorkshire Police and the 4 Safeguarding Children Boards of West Yorkshire, the group launched the Who are you really talking to campaign at the beginning of August 2014. The campaign objectives were; To raise awareness of the dangers of social media for children and young people To provide information on the signs to look out for To give advice on how to protect themselves from online grooming Provide signposting for help and advice An animated image was developed, of a young person talking to someone online, who they believe to be another young person of their own age. The online image then changed into an internet troll which represented an individual pretending to be someone else, with the intention of online grooming. With the strap line: Who are you really talking to? People may not always be who they say they are.. The advert was also uploaded on to websites where children and young people would look for things to do over the summer holidays. Eg; Shopping centres Sports centres Sports stadiums Millennium Square Schools were also asked to support the campaign with marketing materials available for them to download from the LSCB website. This included: The animated banner Posters Static campaign banners All the materials sign-posted young people to the campaign web pages: www.whorutalking2.com The campaign has since been shortlisted for a Public Sector 2015 award. The campaign used online and social media platforms to communicate the key messages to children and young people, both male and female, aged 13+ in Leeds. 7
Who are you really talking to? Campaign banner on Trinity Walk in Wakefield 8
The campaign advert linked to a landing page on each LSCB s website, with further information under the under the following headings: How to stay safe online How to spot the signs Links to case studies Information on sexting what is it, what to do if it happens to you Where to go for help/ support Useful links The group helped to design the LSCB s web page and gave input on the information that should be displayed. www.whorutalking2.com 9
Flash mob To further promote the Who are you really talking to? campaign, the group organised a flash mob in Leeds city centre. Performing Arts students volunteered to help deliver the message of the campaign and raise awareness of the dangers of online grooming through the design of a flash mob. The production of the flash mob took a lot of organising with regular meetings, rehearsals and idea sharing. Discussions included music, timings and how the performance could portray the campaign message. It was important that the campaign linked clearly with the flash mob performance, so that the audience would know what the production was about. Therefore, sweatshirts were made for the performers to wear with the troll logo and web address on the back. The flashmob took place on the 29 th November, on a Saturday afternoon in Leeds city centre. A lot of people stopped to watch the performance and West Yorkshire police posted the video on their Face book page where it has since received over 27,000 views. Flash mob - Leeds city centre - December 2014 10
National Safeguarding Youth Forum The Student LSCB group were invited to the National Safeguarding Youth Forum in London, to give a presentation on the role of the Student LSCB and how the group works. The Forum is organised by The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) in London and is attended by national organisations who provide a service to children and young people. The forum members wanted to learn from our group s success, with the intention of setting up their own youth groups. The Forum was attended by representatives from a variety of national organisations including Scouts, Girl Guides and the Care Quality Commission. Interview panels The Student LSCB were asked to be part of the interview process for the LSCB Chair and the recruitment of Lay Members. They were involved in the planning of the interview process and formed a young people s panel where they delivered their own questions. In each case their feedback contributed to the final decisions and appointments. The group participated in the discussions and debate session on cultural sensitivity and safeguarding, giving a young person s perspective on the discussion and then gave their presentation. During the question and answer session the group discovered that some of the organisations had different variations of a young person s group and gave their ideas on how to develop their groups further. Overall they really enjoyed the day and are grateful for the opportunity and the experience they gained. Chief Executive Officer assurance audits Members from the Student LSCB accompanied the LSCB Chair, Jane Held, on her annual review and assurance meetings with the CEO s of each statutory organisation. As part of the audit, the Student LSCB asked their own questions, on subjects that were of interest to children and young people. 11
12 If you re not happy posters
Evaluation of Partner Complaint Policies and Procedures The Student LSCB were asked to evaluate the complaints policies and procedures of statutory organisations, to see if they were accessible for children and young people of all ages, and if they were presented in a way that children and young people would understand. They presented their findings at a Board meeting and recommended that: Posters aimed at children and young people should be designed. The posters should direct children to tell a trusted adult if they are unhappy with a service and that adult should then make a report on behalf of the child. Written complaints procedures in the form of leaflets should be made available to parents/cares and should include information on their supporting role in reporting complaints made by children and young people that they are responsible for. The group assisted the Board with these recommendation by developing posters for organisations to display. The posters were designed to be colourful, easy to read and be understood by children from the age of 6 years old. available near the poster and that it uses the same design so that it is obvious that they are related. Parents/carers are sign posted to the leaflet via the poster, but a young person may also complete the form themselves, therefore the design has to be applicable to all. The group recommend that each organisation design their own leaflet with the following guidelines: Smiley face imagery to be used Simple language throughout A simple form Doesn t use photos or images of children/ young people Includes definitions of what a complaint or compliment is Includes examples of what you can be happy or unhappy about Offers different methods of receiving feedback eg; text, email The If you re not happy poster has been distributed to all organisations in Leeds and is available for download from the LSCB website. The poster states that if a child is not happy with the service that they have received, they can tell their parent/carer about their experience. The parent/ carer can then pick up a leaflet to complete on their behalf. The Student LSCB recommended that a leaflet should be made 13
14 Think before you send? campaign posters
Think before you send The Student LSCB helped to design a region wide campaign to combat the growing problem of sexting amongst young people. The aim of the think before you send campaign is to inform under 18's of the negative impact that either requesting or sharing sexual images can have on their lives and their futures. Mia Thompson a member of the Student Leeds Safeguarding Children Board, said: We wanted to make sure the posters and postcards have a big impact on young people so they think twice before making a big mistake they might regret in the future. A lot of young people don t realise the consequences of sending inappropriate images of themselves so we really wanted to make sure the images and message was clear and gets straight to the point. Working with the LSCB, West Yorkshire Police and the 4 LSCB s of West Yorkshire, the Student LSCB came up with the concept and approved the campaign artwork. The group also gave guidance on the wording for the web pages. The campaign has since been distributed across the region, with an active social media presence. Printed posters and flyers were made available to order and organisations can download materials from the LSCB website. Since its launch in August the campaign has reached over 52,000 Facebook profile pages and 1000 website hits. 15
Young person s annual report The LSCB s Annual Report sets out the progress made by the LSCB over the last year. The Student LSCB were asked to consider the development of a young person s version of the report, to inform children and young people of the work of the Board, it s progress on improving safeguarding arrangements and its impact on providing a safe environment for children and young people to grow up in. The group agreed that the target audience should be young people aged 13+ as it was felt that the topics covered within the report would require a certain level of understanding. It was also agreed that students who had child care, social care or health care careers in mind, would have a particular interest in the report, but that they would need to be made aware of the report and its relevance to their studies. In order to reach the target group stated above, schools and colleges would be required to promote the report. The opinion of the group was that the report needed to be in an electronic format, preferably as a video. Based on their analysis, the Student LSCB made the following recommendations: Each agency should create a young person s advisory group (which could be service users) who would answer the following questions on the agency s behalf: What has the organisation/agency done to safeguard the children and young people within their own service? and to give examples What has the organisation/agency done to make children and young people safer over the last year? How have they informed young people, within their organisation, on anti-bullying, self harm or online safety with regards to grooming? Each youth group should produce a 4 minute video in response to these questions on behalf of the organisation/ agency and submit the video to the Student LSCB for approval. Each group can decide on the content and presentation of their own video and do not have to appear in it themselves. The only stipulation is that it answers the above questions. We are happy to help with ideas and suggestions. The Student LSCB are now collating the responses to develop an overall Young Person s Review which will be published on the LSCB s Youtube channel. 16
What the Student LSCB have achieved The Student LSCB cohort of 2014-15 made a valuable contribution to the work of the LSCB and this was recognised by Ofsted inspectors who said: There is a strong focus on the voice and influence of children and young people through an innovative Student LSCB, which has been operational for over a year. An innovative Student LSCB, with membership drawn from the student body of Leeds, has been operational for over a year. It exercises both a strong influence upon and effective scrutiny of the main Board. The LSCB would like to thank the 2014/15 cohort for their hard work and important contribution in helping to safeguard the children and young people of Leeds. 17
From the Student LSCB 2014-15 members: 18