Speak out Stay safe

How it works

Speak out Stay safe consists of two assemblies for the different age groups, followed by a one hour workshop for older pupils which is delivered by our specially trained volunteers. Teachers are present throughout so everyone's familiar with the topics covered after the visit.

Due to social distancing and restrictions, we stopped delivering our workshops between 2020 and 2021. However, as of September 2021, our workshops are being piloted in selected locations and we are looking to broaden our reach to more schools in 2022.

Get in touch with us at schools@nspcc.org.uk to enquire about where we are currently delivering our workshops.

> Register your interest in the programme

The assembly

The assembly helps children understand about different types of abuse so they can get help if or when they need it.

This includes talking about neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and bullying. We help children to identify a trusted adult they can speak to if they are worried about themselves or a friend. They also learn about Childline, and how the service can support them.

Welsh and British Sign Language (BSL) versions of the online assemblies can also be provided.

There is an online assembly presentation for:

• key stage 1 (England), primary 1-4 (Northern Ireland), primary 1-3 (Scotland), foundation phase years 1-2 (Wales)
• key stage 2 (England), primary 5-7 (Northern Ireland), primary 4-7 (Scotland), key stage 2 (Wales).

The assembly helps children understand about different types of abuse so they can get help if or when they need it. This includes talking about neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and bullying. We help children to identify a trusted adult they can speak to if they are worried about themselves or a friend. They also learn about Childline, and how the service can support them.

Supporting resources 

We provide supporting resources that complement the virtual assemblies and help reinforce our essential safeguarding messages with children. These consist of:

• a pre-online assembly presentation pack to use before the assembly (key stage 2 only – ages 7-11)
• a teaching guidance and a lesson plan to use after the assembly (both key stage 1 and 2 – ages 5-11).
  
  

Contact us about the Speak out Stay safe programme

Evidence 

Facing stressful life experiences at a young age can have a long term impact on a child’s wellbeing, with effects lasting into adulthood (Public Health Wales, 2016)¹. It’s vital that adults know how to spot the signs that a child is being abused and provide appropriate support, but we also need to help children speak out about anything that’s making them uncomfortable. This will help make sure the abuse ends sooner and children can access the right support to help them get back on track.

However research tells us it can take children years to tell someone about experiencing abuse and neglect, if they disclose at all (Allnock and Miller, 2013)².

One of the reasons for this is that children lack knowledge and understanding about abuse and neglect. Many children do not recognise their experiences as abusive (McElearney et al, 2011)³, or do not have the language to disclose the abuse (Alaggia et al, 2017)⁴.

School-based education programmes about specific forms of abuse have been found to improve children’s knowledge and understanding up to six months later (Fellmeth et al, 2013⁵; Walsh et al, 2015⁶). Research has also identified increased rates of disclosures about sexual abuse and bullying following school-based education programmes (Finkelhor et al, 2014⁷; Walsh et al, 2015⁸).

What we cover: key stage 1

Our online assembly is 20 minutes long and covers a range of topics for children in key stage 1 (England), primary 1-4 (Northern Ireland), primary 1-3 (Scotland) and foundation phase years 1-2 (Wales).

If you’re looking for information on what we cover for key stage 2 (England), primary 5-7 (Northern Ireland), primary 4-7 (Scotland) and key stage 2 (Wales), see the next tab.

> Request the Speak out Stay safe online programme

What happens in the assembly

Meet Buddy

The children meet Buddy, a friendly, green speech bubble who believes that children should be able to speak out to someone if they're worried or unhappy.

Sometimes things make us happy and sometimes they can make us sad, worried or unhappy. It’s important to understand our feelings and not keep worries to ourselves and that’s what we would like children to know.

Children's rights

The assembly explains that all children have the right to speak out and be heard, to be safe and to get help when they need it.

Explaining the ways that children can be hurt

 We explain the different ways that children can be hurt in a simple, age appropriate way, so that children understand when something's not right.

Speaking out

Children think about grown-ups who may be good to talk to, both in school and out of school.

Getting help

Children learn about Childline, and how they can get in contact if they're worried or need to talk.

Interested in a Speak out Stay safe assembly for your school?

Contact us

What we cover: key stage 2

Our online assembly is 30 minutes long and is usually followed by a one-hour class workshop for years 5-6 and primary 6-7. To ensure social distancing during the pandemic, we won’t be offering a workshop at this current time.

Workshops will be made available again as from September 2021 in certain locations and there will be wider availability from 2022. Contact us at schools@nspcc.org.uk to find out more.

You can use our supporting resources to reinforce our essential safeguarding messages for key stage 2 (England), primary 5-7 (Northern Ireland), primary 4-7 (Scotland) and key stage 2 (Wales).

> Request the Speak out Stay safe online programme

What to expect during the assembly

Meet Buddy

The children meet Buddy, a friendly, green speech bubble who believes that children should be able to speak out to someone if they're worried or unhappy.

Sometimes things make us happy and sometimes they can make us sad, worried or anxious. It’s important to understand our feelings and not keep worries to ourselves and that’s what we would like children to know.

What's worrying you?

Children get involved and discuss some of the reasons why a child may feel sad, worried or anxious and need someone to talk to.

Explaining different types of abuse

We explain the different types of abuse in a simple, age appropriate way, so that children understand when something's not right.

Someone to talk to

Children think about trusted adults who they could talk to if they're worried, both in school and out of school.

Childline

Children learn about Childline, and how they can get in contact if they're worried or need to talk.

Interested in a Speak out Stay safe assembly for your school?

Contact us

Testimonials

From schools

"The resources were accessible and enabled effective planning and preparation to take place before the assemblies... Children were actively involved, giving opportunities for thinking time and discussion. The presenters captured the children’s attention and engaged them throughout, delivering essential messages about keeping safe in a child-friendly manner. Follow-up activities were fun and meaningful, provoking reflection on the content of the assemblies. We are most grateful to the NSPCC for the continued use of Speak out Stay safe."

Diane Hughes, Grange Primary School, Kilkeel

From children

"I liked Buddy and still remember the number you taught us. It's nice knowing that Childline is always here for me if I ever need them."

Girl, age 11

"It was really good to hear about Childline and to know that I can talk to you about anything. I have been getting bullied at school so I have been feeling quite sad. Knowing that Childline is always here for children really helps."

Boy, age 11

From parents

"My daughter thought the volunteers were fantastic, really real people, very warm and friendly."

Sally, Prestatyn

Request an assembly at your school

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Evaluation

We’re evaluating Speak out Stay safe in two phases. The first phase was completed in September 2018 and gave us an initial understanding of:

• the perceived impact of Speak out Stay safe on children and schools
• the experiences of pupils, teachers, NSPCC staff and volunteers who take part in the programme
• how the Speak out Stay safe model is delivered and adapted
• what helps and hinders programme delivery.

We’ve commissioned the University of Central Lancashire, in collaboration with four other UK universities, to carry out a full independent UK evaluation of Speak out Stay safe for the second phase. This will be a robust impact, process and economic evaluation and the findings will be available in 2021.

What we’ve learnt

Our initial evaluation was small-scale, carried out in ten schools in England only. The findings can’t be generalised to all schools receiving the Speak out Stay safe programme across the UK, but they will help us improve the way the programme is delivered and contribute to the design and implementation of the phase 2 evaluation.

Findings from the initial evaluation include:

• Children told us they knew more about bullying, abuse and neglect following Speak out Stay safe.
• Speak out Stay safe helped identify safeguarding concerns amongst the children who participated in this evaluation.
• There is value in the NSPCC visiting schools to deliver the Speak out Stay safe messages to children .
• School staff can also learn from Speak out Stay safe.
• The content, pitch and delivery of the Speak out Stay safe assemblies and workshop were felt to be age-appropriate and engaging for children.
• The format of Speak out Stay safe helps standardise delivery, but some variations were observed.
• There are some things we can do to improve the programme.
  (Hollis and Churchill, 2018)¹.
  
  

Read the full evaluation report

How we’re evaluating this service

Our initial evaluation gained the views of children and school staff within ten schools in England. We carried out:

• focus groups with pupils on the same day as the Speak out Stay safe session
• interviews with school staff shortly after the Speak out Stay safe session
• interviews with NSPCC staff who co-ordinate and deliver Speak out Stay safe
• interviews with volunteers who deliver Speak out Stay safe.

We used framework analysis to analyse the transcriptions of focus groups and interviews (Ritchie and Lewis, 2003).

We also observed Speak out Stay safe sessions using a checklist. This helped us analyse:

• the duration and structure of sessions
• variations in service delivery
• engagement of children and teachers
• the responses given by children.

The recruitment and consent process and all data collection methods and materials for the phase one evaluation were given full ethical approval by the NSPCC’s independent Research Ethics Committee.

The second phase of the evaluation is an independent evaluation named ‘TESSE’ (The Evaluation of Speak out Stay safe). This evaluation will be led by the University of Central Lancashire in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, Bangor University, Queens University Belfast and the University of Greenwich. The evaluation will have three elements as outlined below:

An impact evaluation

This will explore how children’s knowledge, understanding and recognition of abuse, neglect and bullying changes after they have taken part in the Speak out Stay safe assemblies and workshops.

It will also investigate whether Speak out Stay safe improves children’s knowledge of who they can speak out to and whether the programme increases children's readiness to seek help if they or their friends experience abuse and neglect.

Approximately 4,000 children will be involved in the impact evaluation from across 90 UK primary schools. Data collection will start in January 2019.

A process evaluation

This will run alongside the impact evaluation to explore how Speak out Stay safe works and to understand what helps and hinders successful delivery.

Interviews and focus groups will be carried out with pupils and school staff to find out what they think of the programme.

An economic evaluation

This will assess the full range of wider costs and outcomes associated with Speak out Stay safe from a societal perspective. It will also explore how cost-efficient the programme is.

The evaluation is supported by The Health Foundation, an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK.

Support us

We believe it's important that our Speak out Stay safe programme is available to every primary school at no cost to the school.

> Request the Speak out Stay safe online programme

As a charity we can only do this thanks to our many generous supporters and amazing volunteers.

Volunteer with us

Our volunteers had to stop delivering the programme in schools due to social distancing and restrictions since the pandemic started, however, we are now excited to start visiting schools again in the autumn term of 2021.

Please note that we are currently not accepting any new applications for volunteer roles. We will be reopening adverts for new volunteers later in the year.

In the meantime, you can sign up for our email alerts if you would like to keep updated on any vacancies reopening in your area.

> Find out more about volunteering opportunities on the NSPCC website

Fundraise for us

Speak out Stay safe is available at no cost to schools, thanks to the financial support and generosity of our supporters.

If you'd like to take part in a fundraising event to help us continue this work, take a look at our fundraising ideas for schools on the NSPCC website or email us for more information. 

Register your interest in a Speak out Stay safe online assembly today.

Contact us

Speak out Stay safe SEND/ASN/ALN programme

If you work with d/Deaf children, we have a version of the online programme that is available in British Sign Language (BSL) which you can request via our online form.

We also have a Speak out Stay safe programme for schools who work with children with:

• special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
• additional support needs (ASN)
• additional learning needs (ALN).

The SEND/ASN/ALN programme provides support and resources to help you deliver messages to your pupils about what abuse is and which trusted adults they can turn to for help. We provide access to resources including session plans, films and printable props all of which use our friendly speech bubble mascot called Buddy.

Your local NSPCC Schools Service Area Coordinators can support your school to deliver the programme by briefing school staff at the start and gathering feedback and learning at the end.

If you feel the Speak out Stay safe SEND/ASN/ALN programme would benefit the children in your school, please contact schools@nspcc.org.uk and we will arrange for your local Area Coordinator to get in touch.

More resources

We work with primary and secondary schools across the UK and Channel Islands. In addition to Speak out Stay safe, we have specialist resources, lesson plans and training to help schools safeguard children. This includes:

• Child protection training courses
• Designated and lead officer training
• Monthly Safeguarding in Education Updates email
• Teaching resources
• Briefings and factsheets on key topics
• Self-assessment tool to audit your safeguarding procedures
• Safeguarding information and guidance for schools during coronavirus
• Guidance on transitioning back to school for the new term

You can also find out more about what to do if a child talks about abuse in our recognising and responding to abuse page.

Request our Speak out Stay safe programme for your primary school for 2021/22

Please complete and submit the form below to access Speak out Stay safe online.

For secondary school advice and support, including training courses, safeguarding assessments and teaching resources, please visit our safeguarding and child protection in schools pages.