An initiative run by Lancashire Police has seen 20 primary school pupils in Lancaster inducted into their ‘Mini Cadet’ programme.
The Year 5 and 6 students spent eight weeks working alongside emergency responders in the North West, learning life skills and getting to experience what our police, ambulance and fire services do on a daily basis.
Sessions included visiting a mock crime scene, taking the police fitness ‘bleep test’, exploring a fire engine, and a basic course in CPR with the North West Ambulance Service.
The pupils – from Skerton St Luke’s Primary School – also had the opportunity to take a tour of a working ambulance, after they’d been given the a tutorial using CPR dummies.
Sessions included visiting a mock crime scene, taking the police fitness ‘bleep test’, exploring a fire engine, and a basic course in CPR with the North West Ambulance Service
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The school’s head teacher, Cathy Armistead, was thrilled to see her pupils being given this opportunity and suggested that the Mini Cadets programme was enhancing their curriculum.
She said: "They’re still doing all the Maths and the English that they have to do, but with the activities they’re doing… they’re bringing in thinking skills, problem-solving skills, team-working skills, and most importantly, it’s giving these children who are involved bigger self-esteem."
However, this initiative is dual-purpose, as not only does it give the pupils additional skills, it also helps Lancashire Police build stronger and healthier relationships with the local community.
First piloted in 2017, the Mini Cadets scheme now continues to develop police-community relationships across Lancashire.
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Run by PCSO’s Pete Atkinson and Emma McGaughrin, they say that since launching the scheme, “it’s changed the perception of them” at the school, and they’re now greeted by “high fives” and “fist bumps”.
PCSO Atkinson said: "The idea is that we try and break down some of the barriers that are in the community… and we try and show them that we are actually here to help and protect them."
First piloted in 2017, the Mini Cadets scheme now continues to develop police-community relationships across Lancashire.