Mini Police programme refreshed to help engage with Nottinghamshire primary school pupils
A specialist programme designed to proactively engage with schoolchildren across Nottinghamshire has been refreshed.
Nottinghamshire Police’s Mini Police programme, which is tailored towards year five pupils, has been updated to include more interactive activities to help continue engaging with children and young people in the community.
Police Constables and Police Community Support Officers deliver the eight-week scheme in the classroom and provide Nottinghamshire’s schoolchildren with the opportunity to build rapport, trust, and confidence in their neighbourhood officers.
Mini Police has previously left a positive impression on schoolchildren across Nottinghamshire, with groups now proactively approaching officers in their community to raise concerns and talk with them in the street.
Each lesson is packed with information about the law, establishing right from wrong, as well as quizzes, games, activities, and group discussions.
The refreshed sessions will focus on bullying and a sensitive introduction to not sharing images, hate crime, antisocial behaviour, road safety and the fatal four, permission, and the criminal justice system.
The programme culminates with an interactive role-playing activity where schoolchildren will assume the different roles as part of the criminal justice system and act out a scenario taking an offender from arrest through to conviction and sentencing.
After completing the programme, each class of schoolchildren will attend a Mini Police graduation ceremony where each pupil is recognised and presented with a certificate, which is attended by parents and an officer from the force’s senior leadership team.
Citizens in Policing Coordinator Barbara Strang is Nottinghamshire Police’s Prevention Hub lead for Mini Police.
She said: “We are really pleased to be relaunching our Mini Police programme and look forward to working with our education partners and engaging with hundreds of enthusiastic young people.”
Mini Police relaunches later this month in participating schools across Nottinghamshire.
The scheme is organised as part of the force’s Prevention Hub, which is a collaboration between multiple force departments responsible for developing and delivering strategies to prevent crime and disorder throughout the city and county.
It covers a range of areas including the youth outreach team, cadets, and Mini Police, with programmes that are designed to improve the life chances of young people and increase understanding of policing.