Having completed an enjoyable and rewarding project at St. Julie’s Catholic High School with some enthusiastic students, received encouraging feedback from their adults, and experienced a supportive and fun working environment with my new Ariel Trust colleagues, I am now looking forward to the start of our next project.

As a mum of two grown up sons, I can see how important the work that we do at The Ariel Trust is in enabling parents/carers to start difficult conversations with their child. I remember when my boys were younger, they would sometimes shy away from talking about 'feelings' and in the teenage years a grunt whilst munching cereal was the norm.

Ariel is currently developing a new programme, which builds on the current ‘Send me a Selfie’ resource.  This programme takes the narrative of the film to the next stage; imagining Megan has shared an image with Chris and that the Police

Ariel is small a registered charity and this post is unpaid but it is an important opportunity for anyone who would like to help guide the delivery of violence reduction education in 150 schools across Merseyside.

We are now halfway through the second trial of our new Key Stage One Programme, 'Telling tales or asking for help?', in Dovecot Primary school, and we are making some very exciting progress!

Over the last few months, the team have been working with a drama group at St Julie’s Catholic High School to develop a new script following on from the ‘Send Me A Selfie’ film.

Many years ago, as a teacher, I read an excellent book by Hywel Roberts entitled 'Oops, helping children learn accidentally'. That title rings true when working with the Ariel Trust.

We have been having a wonderful time trialling our new programme, 'Telling tales or asking for help?' with Y2 pupils at Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary School.  This is an adaptation of our ‘Grassing or Grooming?’ programme.

We have recently finished our parental engagement programme with two classes at Broadsquare Primary school, both classes culminated in very successful parental engagement workshops! The workshops were successful in terms of the fun and learning had by children, parents and teachers.  One of the most important successes was the fantastic turn out from parents and carers. 

Ariel has recently secured funding from both The National Lottery and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.  Alongside other work with the Violence Reduction Partnership this means we are now delivering more face-to-face projects than ever.