As part of Hate Crime Awareness Week, the Child Centred Policing Team visited Margate’s Northdown Primary School to talk to the older children.
PCSO Brian Lamberton and Acting Police Sergeant Leigh Cleaver, based at Margate police station, led an assembly looking at discrimination and the protected characteristics. They explained that it is an offence to physically or verbally abuse anyone because of their skin colour, gender or age.
After hearing about what happens when you commit a hate crime, the children asked a range of interesting questions, wanting to know how long the officers had been in the police, how many people they had arrested for hate crime and if swearing in public was an offence ( they learnt, it’s a public order offence).
The youngsters were then shown a taser and given an explanation of how and when it is used.
Christina Goldsmith, Inclusion Manager at Northdown, said: “As part of our PSHE curriculum and our commitment to teaching British values, we look at mutual respect and tolerance throughout the year so it was really beneficial for the children to hear that message from other sources as well.
“Having PCSO Lamberton and APS Cleaver in to school had a real impact on the pupils and allowed them to see themselves as individual citizens outside of the school grounds and that their actions sometimes have wider implications.”
