Northamptonshire Police wins national award for its schools campaign about violence against women and girls

The police force won the ‘Effective Working with Children and Young People Regarding Violence Against Women and Girls’ category at The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) awards.

The NPCC VAWG awards attracted 175 nominations, and the force’s schools campaign stuck out among them.

The Northamptonshire County Schools Challenge (NCSC) is a police-led partnership project run across secondary schools in Northamptonshire. This year’s social issue centred around VAWG. Pupils used a business approach to raise awareness and develop creative ways to tackle the problem by developing products or services.

Moulton School and Science College were this year’s overall NCSC winner. Their winning entry was a contemporary and immersive dance performance that represented a victim, attacker and an upstander. They intend to use the prize money to create a short film to present in primary schools to help younger children explore these issues.

Detective Chief Inspector Nickie Deeks, the force lead for VAWG, worked closely with the NCSC team to develop training sessions and information that could be shared with schools and Key Stage Three children.

DCI Deeks said: “We are delighted to have won this NPCC award. It’s only when we work together as a community that we can hope to change things.

“Children and young people are the parents, community members and employees of the future so it’s important we discuss, educate, and empower them to understand, recognise, and challenge the misogynistic treatment of women and girls, which often goes unnoticed, or isn’t taken as seriously as other forms of discrimination or abuse. Or is dismissed as a joke or banter.

“The topic of VAWG and misogyny isn’t a subject that can be tackled in one conversation, one assembly or one lesson. Gender inequalities, stereotyping and gender-based abuse is ingrained in lots of people’s ways of thinking – so as a society the earlier we can begin conversations with children and young people the better. We want young people to reflect on and challenge those ways of thinking, and hopefully change behaviours and stop it from becoming entrenched in future generations.”

Kelly Crockett, who is the Chair of the Northamptonshire County Schools Challenge steering group, said: “It’s so important that we are having conversations with children and young people about VAWG, which is why we were keen for this to be the theme for the 2024 challenge.

“VAWG is a broad issue and a sensitive one that needed to be carefully thought through before approaching schools with the theme.

“We received positive feedback from everyone. As a result, we were able to facilitate 4,000 students sitting with their peers discussing VAWG, respect, consent, and healthy relationships.”

Police volunteer Henny Cameron who is part of the coordination of the County Schools Challenge added: “Teachers tell us that the CSC is an important way to encourage young people to discuss a serious subject in a safe environment, whilst empowering students to talk about the topic outside of lessons and think about the impact and consequences that such behaviours can have upon others."