Tackling the sensitive issue of child abuse without shat-tering innocence is a challenge.

But a pioneering project designed to help children keep themselves safe from harm is taking it on at St Thomas' CE School, in Kendal.

St Thomas's is the first school in the county, and only the second in the country, to take part in the Kidsafe project.

The five, six and seven year olds at the school on Kendal Green are reaching the end of a programme of nine special half-hour lessons aimed at giving them the skills and knowledge needed to make sure they do not become victims of child abuse.

"Kidsafe is about equipping children with the skills to recognise and deal with unsafe situations abuse being one of them," said project leader Val Webb. "A lot of abuse goes on and the kids don't necessarily know it's wrong. This is a way of giving them a simple message without shattering innocence."

Val explained that children tended to have good instincts about what was appropriate and what was not, but when grown-ups tell them something is OK when they feel it's not, or tell them to keep something bad a secret, they get confused.

That problem is compounded by the bleak fact that most abused children are victims of adults they know and trust.

So, Kidsafe lessons try to help children speak up for themselves when they get a "yucky" feeling about something and discriminate between those "good secrets" which should be kept, like surprise birthdays, and "bad secrets" which should not, like inappropriate touching.

Watching the five and six year olds taking part in the Kidsafe sessions at St Thomas's, it is clear they enjoy themselves. Val and volunteer Jude Walker use songs and visual aids to teach the children their bodies are their own, that they need looking after and that they are not playthings for other people.

To get the message across, they use a glove puppet called KS to help illustrate scenarios. The children then choose what KS should do, if for instance, a grown up has touched "private places" or decide which is the good, or happy secret and which the bad, or nasty one.

Another key part of the programme is to build the youngsters' confidence and self-esteem so they can be assertive in saying no to an adult if they get the "yucky" feeling.

Kidsafe's basic message is say no, walk away and tell one of the people identified in lessons as a confidant such as a relative, a teacher or even a police officer but care is also taken to ensure children understand there are certain situations, with doctors, nurses and parents, where touching and looking can be necessary.

Val said: "We are not here to scare them, the word abuse is never used, but we are here to give them information that could make a big difference in their lives."

The Kidsafe project, paid for by the Cumbria Children's Fund, also offers information sessions and workshops for parents and teachers to raise awareness of child abuse issues, how to recognise it and what to do about it.

"It is a really sensitive issue," said Val, "but a lot of parents have welcomed it as an opportunity to look at the issue this way because it's not a nice subject at all."

St Thomas's head teacher Bill Holliday said he had been impressed by Kidsafe after Val invited him go and to see a pilot scheme at a school in Lancaster and had welcomed Kidsafe into his school as a way of helping his pupils stay safe.

Kidsafe is now working to get more funding to allow it to continue its work throughout the county. For more information about Kidsafe, call Val Webb on 07932-598515.

April 10, 2003 09:00