Children as young as nine on Teesside being taught the dangers of MUSLIM grooming

Children as young as nine are being taught about the dangers of grooming to avoid becoming sex exploitation victims.

Charity Evaluate Tees Valley has delivered sex and relationship education in primary and secondary schools for 10 years.

But project manager, and mum-of-two Annalise Higgins, of Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, decided it was time to expand their sessions to include one on subject after the issue was highlighted in a recent review.

A study by Middlesbrough Council revealed children as young as 11 are being groomed for possible sexual exploitation in Middlesbrough.

An action plan has now been drawn up to tackle the issue, with one teacher in every Middlesbrough secondary school being trained to spot the signs of grooming.

Annalise said: “It’s great that Ray Mallon and the council are reviewing how they can stop it from the perpertrators’ end, but I’m thinking about how we can come at it from the other side and help stop victims becoming victims in the first place.

“I thought it would be a good idea if Evaluate could respond to this and look at equipping young people to spot signs of grooming and how to handle it if they recognise the signs in themselves or a friend.

“Quite often, the victims don’t realise they’re victims. More often, it’s people on the outside of it who notice.

“We’re launching a new hour-long session for Key Stage 3 students covering this issue, which we’ll be ready to roll out in January, and we’ve redveloped our Year 7 session to cover things like online safety and sexting.

“Sex education needs to keep up with the times and tackle current issues like this.

“We need to give young people permission to question what’s happening, realise they’re worth the world and ask for help.

“Our sessions give the young people someone to talk to openly, who they won’t then have to face every day, and teachers are then very good at building on what we’ve already put in place in their own sessions.

“I’m also debating whether to create a session aimed at parents, as I don’t think many know enough about the dangers or the signs either.”

For more information on the programmes, search Evaluate Teesvalley on Facebook, or visit www.evaluate.org.uk .


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