The learning programmes are mainstream resources that help children to manage risk and stay safe. They are delivered by the teacher and supported by outside agencies such as police officers, firefighters and football coaches. The missdorothy.com Key Stage 2 primary school programme uses the cartoon character Miss Dorothy Com and her friends, while secondary school children learn important safety messages through the soap opera Watch Over Me.  Both resources include a wide range of learning activities to support children and young people’s emotional and social development.

Children and young people learn the skills to assess risk and plan safe activity. The learning programmes are based on a foundation of protective behaviours which help children to learn that:

 

·          We all have the right to feel safe all the time
·          There is nothing so awful or so small that they cannot tell someone
·          Other people have the right to feel safe with us

 

The resources have been designed to support Every Child Matters - the government’s new agenda for children. The agenda has five national outcomes that are universal ambitions for every child and young person, whatever their background or circumstances. The missdorothy.com and Watch Over Me programmes are planned and delivered in partnership with others and contribute to all five outcomes by helping children to keep safe, be healthy, enjoy and achieve, participate more fully and achieve economic well being.

 

All children, including those with special needs and physical disabilities, have shown to thoroughly enjoy and benefit from the programme. Materials are very flexible and have strong visual and emotional elements so very easily adapt to individual need.

The programmes have been evaluated by the Home Office, Cabinet Office, Office of Fair Trading and RoSPA.  These evaluations can be found in the adult section of the missdorothy.com website.  The programmes have also featured in many Ofsted reports, including one that concluded the missdorothy.com programme was ”an excellent resource which engages and motivates pupils and an effective method of tracking pupil progress through a workbook”.

The cost of the missdorothy.com learning programme for KS2 pupils is based on a sliding scale from £4.76 to £4 per child (plus VAT).  The price depends on the size of order – the more children taking part, the cheaper the cost.  The price per child includes workbooks, teacher’s lesson plans, teacher training (minimum order required), unlimited access to the missdorothy.com website, delivery to the school and office support.

 

The entire Watch Over Me programme complete with drama episodes, teacher’s notes and support films is available in a box set of DVDs for £49.99 (plus VAT).  Training is available at an additional cost to help teachers deliver the programme. 

 

A licence for the Watch Over Me programme is also available that enables schools across a region or area to download the resources to their servers for an agreed period.  Please contact the missdorothy.com office for further details.

The missdorothy.com and Watch Over Me programmes have been used extensively across Yorkshire and other parts of the country.  They will be rolled out across London from September 2008.  The Metropolitan Police has funded the missdorothy.com programme for every London borough, totalling 100,000 children across the capital, and has also bought a three-year licence for the Watch Over Me programme so it can be used by every secondary school in London.
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Harrow is the first council in the country to adopt the missdorothy.com learning programme for its schools under the leadership of Children’s Services Director Paul Clark.

Police and firefighters are committed to ensuring that children and young people stay safe.  They are keen to work in partnership with schools and others to support all aspects of PSHE. The police and fire service often provide significant funding to roll out the programme and work alongside teachers to provide realistic and relevant experience which brings the topics alive for the children and young people.  As previously mentioned, this is a mainstream resource taught in schools but supported by outside agencies. Police and firefighters are the experts in delivering safety messages to help children learn how to manage risk. Traditional methods of delivery to children do not reach every child as there are simply not enough resources.

Some schools commit an hour a week, others more. The programmes have been designed over a term but many teachers report that they are used over the whole academic year.

The DCSF, Home Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office have all financially and collectively funded the creation and evaluation of these resources. Ministers including the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair have recorded television messages of support. David Blunkett MP and Charles Clarke MP have both given overt support to the use of these resources.  Children’s Secretary Ed Balls has also given the programmes his backing by attending a launch at a school in his constituency in Normanton and recording a televised message of support. A volunteer at the Cabinet Office has also been an important advisor to the programmes.

MDC Publishing Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation that provides all of the resources and supports the Kids Taskforce.