A CRIMESTOPPERS RESOURCE FORPRIMARY EDUCATION

www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Registered Charity No. 1108687 (England & Wales) and SCO37960 (Scotland).

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: Drugs 5Quick briefing 5

Assembly plan 5

Basic outline 6

Add-on ideas 6

Classroom activities 6

Why have drug laws? 6

Drug law: true or false 7

You’re not alone 7

Not for me, thank you 8

CHAPTER 2: Theft 9Quick briefing 9

Assembly plan 9

Basic outline 9

Add-on ideas 10

Classroom activities 11

Feelings of victims 11

Witness choices 11

How did the three bears feel? 12

Finish the sentences 12

CHAPTER 3: Graffiti 13Quick briefing 13

Assembly plan 13

Basic outline 13

Add-on ideas 14

Classroom activities 14

Deadly designs 14

Cost of cleaning 15

My town 16

Broken sentences 16

CHAPTER 4: Arson 17Quick briefing 17

Assembly plan 17

Basic outline 17

Add-on ideas 18

Classroom activities 18

Reasons for lighting fires 18

Messing about, then what…? 19

All the victims 20

Words on fire 20

CHAPTER 5: Vandalism 21Quick briefing 21

Assembly plan 21

Basic outline 21

Add-on ideas 22

Classroom activities 23

Bingo vandalism 23

Feelings of a victim 23

Best of the bunch 24

Saying no 24

CHAPTER 6: Assault 25Quick briefing 25

Assembly plan 25

Basic outline 25

Add-on ideas 26

Classroom activities 26

True or false 26

Attitude to assaults 27

Assault in the media 28

Poster design 28

www.crimestoppers-uk.org CHAPTER 1: Drugs 5

CHAPTER 1: Drugs

Quick briefing

Thinking about drugs can be confusing – for anyone.Society tolerates some drugs widely, and permitssome to adults but not children. Others are availableonly through a doctor's prescription. Some areforbidden by law.

Assembly plan

Basic outline

Tell pupils that you are going to talk about drugs. Adrug is a substance that can make changes in yourbody or mind, or both.

Say that you are going to read out some descriptionsof drugs – that is substances that can affect yourbody or mind. Pupils can be invited to guess whichthey are. You can pause between each part of thedescription to adjust the difficulty level.

Using this section, pupilscan be helped:

• to think about whatdrugs are, and howsome commonlyavailable substancesare drugs

• to appreciate some ofthe risks attached todrug use, and the needto protect people fromharmful drugs

• to discover whichcommonly availablesubstances and drugsare legal and which areillegal

This drug is taken in liquid form. It is legal. There are no restrictions on who cansell or possess it. It is sold in many high street shops, in a range of styles such aslatte, cappuccino or espresso. it is also widely made and drunk in homes andworkplaces. It is said to give tired people more energy. Answer: coffee

This drug is also taken in liquid form. Its use is legal for adults, but children are notallowed to buy it or consume it in a public place. Small quantities are said to helppeople relax, but in larger doses it can cause great mental confusion, affectingspeech, movement and causing hangover. Answer: alcohol

This drug is found in some ordinary household products, used for DIY or personalcare. It is usually sniffed. It makes users feel dizzy or light-headed. It interferes withthe working of the brain, and can also affect a person's heart and liver. Answer:solvents

This drug is used either in its herb-like leaf form, or as a dark lump made from theresin. Users often smoke it, either mixed with tobacco or in a pipe. It can also bebaked in a cake or drunk. it can make people relaxed, giggly, talkative or sick.Regular users risk damaging their mental health. Answer: cannabis

This drug is usually smoked or dissolved in water and injected using a needle. It isknown to be very addictive. Users can spend up to £100 a day on their drug habit.This is often thought to be a major contributor to levels of crime such as theft orburglaries, even muggings. Answer: heroin

Invite reactions to the idea that these are all drugs – and encourage those whoidentified them correctly.

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Then ask pupils to rank them in terms of how harmful they think they are. Whichcauses most deaths in the UK? (If pupils are used to "represent" drugs, assuggested in the add-on ideas, they can be shuffled around to indicate risk order.)

Key points to get over are that coffee is largely harmless. Cannabis is categorisedas a class B drug, and heroin as the more harmful class A. Pupils may haverealised that alcohol is also extremely harmful if taken in large quantities. Theymay not be aware that solvents are very dangerous – more so in some ways thanheroin. Solvents can and do kill, even people experimenting for the first time.

Discuss the risks, then finish with an empowering message about drugs.

What we call drugs cover a wide range – of legal and illegal, harmless andharmful. The important thing for us is that we never do anything that wedon't want to. No one has the right to tell us what to take. We should neverbe pushed into taking anything by anyone else. Someone who says thateveryone takes drugs is wrong – most people never take illegal drugs.

Add-on ideas

> As an option for the assembly organise five pupils each to represent one ofthe drugs. They can appear one by one, with prepared cards with keywords which they reverse to reveal the name of their drug.

> Add other drugs to the list. They could include anything – tea, anabolicsteroids, ecstasy, or crack cocaine – that is relevant or potentiallyinteresting to your pupils. A good source of information on drugs is theFrank website www.talktofrank.com

> Ask pupils to rank the risks again, but this time look more at the effects onsociety, not the individual. Are there any differences?

Classroom activities

Why have drug laws?

Pupils can think about the reason for laws about drugs as they fill in the gaps inthe following sentences. The missing words are listed below.

Drug laws can stop people doing harm to ………………………………

Punishing those who ……………… illegal drugs helps keep other people safe

Drug users may steal to get ……………… for drugs.

Some children are ……………… by their parents' drug use.

harmed money sell themselves

Once the sentences are completed, pupils can be asked to come up withexamples of each.

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Drug law: true or false

Here are four quick statements. Ask pupils to say whether they are true or false. Tomake things easy, in this case they are all true.

1. Selling illegal drugs is a much more serious crime than possessing them foryour own use.

2. Selling Class A drugs, such as ecstasy or heroin, can be punished by lifeimprisonment.

3. It is an offence to allow premises, such as a house or flat, to be used by peopletaking drugs.

4. Police have powers to stop and search people who they suspect are inpossession of an illegal drug.

Follow up with discussion – looking at why society needs these laws. Who are theythere to protect?

You're not alone

We are all part of a much wider society. What we choose to do doesn't affect just us. Italso has an impact on other people.

Encourage pupils to explore this using a class spider diagram. Place a teenager whouses drugs at the centre. Giving them an assumed name might make it easy to follow.

Ask pupils to think about how that person's drug use might affect others. When theythink of someone – parent, younger brother or sister, friends, health workers – add themto the diagram linked by a line. If you wish, add further lines from the new addition,showing why and in what ways the person is affected.

If contributions dry up, prompt by adding more information about the teenager's drughabit. If they run out of money for drugs, what might they do? What if they becamesuddenly very ill through the drug use?

Scrutinise the complex web, and discuss responses to someone who says, "it's my life, itdoesn't affect anyone else".

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Not for me, thank you

Say to pupils that you are going to think about some ways of saying no to someonewho invites you to try drugs.

Use the "hot seat" technique. One pupil takes a seat in the middle of the group. Thegroup's task is to try to persuade the hot seater to experiment with some form of drug.The hot seated pupil has the task of saying no thanks calmly and decisively.

Encourage the group to be imaginative and varied in their persuasion. They might usethreats, promises, appeals to friendship, claims about the benefits. Swap around, to giveas many pupils as possible a turn in the hot seat.

Debrief by asking how it felt in the hot seat. Which invitations were hardest to refuse?Which responses were most effective? Did anyone feel angry at the requests?

Finish by listing some of the useful approaches to saying no – changing the subject,making a joke of it, pretending that you just got a text message and leaving....

www.crimestoppers-uk.org CHAPTER 2: Theft 9

CHAPTER 2: Theft

Quick briefing

Theft, or stealing, covers a wide range of crimes andanti-social behaviour. The principle – that takingsomeone else's property is wrong and that virtuallyeverything belongs to someone – is widely acceptedin broad terms. But some of the implications anddetails can provide lively and interesting learningopportunities.

Assembly plan

Basic outline

The aim of the assembly is to explore theft andstealing. Pupils will get a chance to check theirunderstanding of what theft is. They will also look atits effects.

Using this section, pupilscan be helped:

• to appreciate thattaking something thatisn't yours is wrongand can be punishedby the law

• to understand what itcan feel like to havesomething stolen

• to think through whatto do if they becomeaware of a theft

Today we are going to talk about stealing.

Another word for stealing is theft.

It means taking something that doesn't belong to you.

Everyone knows that stealing is wrong.

But do we all know what stealing is – and what isn't?

Let us have a look…

Introduce characters, played by pupils, who say the lines as described below. After eachone, all pupils can be asked – is this stealing? Invite response with a show of hands foryes or no:

Pupil 1: Someone I know said they took a pound coin from their mum's purse.

Pupil 2: I heard about someone who was look-out. He agreed to watch out to seeif someone was coming while his friend took someone's mobile phone.

Pupil 3: I know someone who was given too much change in a shop. They knew itwas a mistake. But kept the money

Pupil 4: A friend of mine found a purse on the ground near the bus stop. She said,finders keepers – and kept it.

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Extend the discussion, invite views, as appropriate to the time available and othercircumstances. End with an invitation for pupils to consider what it is like to haveproperty stolen.

It surprises some people to know that all those things are a form of stealing. Why?Because they all involve taking property that belongs to someone else.

You might say that the person who was lookout didn't actually take the mobilephone. It doesn't matter. Because they helped the person who stole it, they actedwrongly.

Sometimes people think stealing isn't wrong if it is from a member of your family.But people who say that have a different view if their brother or sister, or someoneelse in the family, took a favourite toy or money from them.

It is always a good idea, when thinking about actions, to ask – what if thishappened to me? How would I feel if someone took my property?

Add-on ideas

The following ideas can be added to the basic outline for a longer or more ambitiousassembly. Some are just a question of delivery. Others will require preparation andplanning.

> Say to pupils that most people agree that stealing is wrong. But why? Inviteeveryone come up with ideas as to why it is wrong to steal.

> Ask pupils to spend a minute or two thinking of a time when they lost somethingand didn't get it back. How did it feel? Allow some thinking time. Then invitepupils to call out. Ask how they might feel if they knew that someone else hadactually taken it, or found it and kept it. How would that feel?

> For each of the situations outline by pupils 1 to 4, ask "What could the personhave done instead?" Invite contributions and discussions. Talk about how easy ordifficult it is to do the right thing.

> Prepare a groups of pupils to improvise and perform a short drama based on oneof the situations. Encourage them to explore and communicate the emotions andthoughts of the characters.

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Classroom activities

Feelings of victims

How does it feel to have something stolen from you? In this exercise pupils are going toselect words that they think best describe what it is like.

Ask them to think of something personally valuable to them. It could be:

A present they really wanted

A gift they were going to give a friend

Their mobile phone

A photograph of someone in their family when they were a baby

Money they were saving up for something special

Then ask them to imagine that their property was stolen. Think for a minute about howthey would feel. Then ask them to choose a word or words that describes that feeling. Ifnecessary or useful, suggest some words for them to select from:

hurt, sad, angry, fed-up, miserable, confused, worried, insulted, upset...

Come up with a shared list of agreed words. Talk about them, perhaps in circle time. Dopupils think that the person who stole the items would realise the effect of theiractions? Would the items mean the same to them?

Witness choices

Tell pupils the following story:

A young woman called Jess is shopping in town one day. She is waiting to crossthe road, when she sees an terrible sight. An older teenager boy snatches the bagof an elderly woman and darts through the crowd and down a sidestreet. He'sgone almost before anyone can think what happened. People gather round thewoman who has been robbed.

Jess realises that she knows the thief. He is the older brother of someone atschool. She wonders what to do.

Ask pupils what they think. What should Jess do? What are the arguments for doingnothing? What are the arguments for doing something?

Discuss the options. Would Jess tell an adult? Who and how? Make sure pupils knowthey can give details of any crime anonymously – by phoning Crimestoppers on 0800555 111. They can do it online too at www.crimestoppers-uk.org/giving-information

Change the circumstances and explore how the situation changes. What if the thefthappened within school, among some younger pupils?

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How did the three bears feel?

Ask pupils to remind you of the story of Goldilocks. Then invite them to think about it interms of the law. Goldilocks entered someone else's house, stole food, caused criminaldamage to baby bear's chair, then, arguably, set up an illegal squat.

Discuss the crimes, then split the class into groups and assign tasks as appropriate. Forinstance:

> Write and design a poster to be displayed in the woods, warning householders tobe alert to the criminal types operating in the area.

> Role play an imaginary visit to the three bears some days later from a victimsupport worker. What would someone trying to help them say? How might thethree bears talk about what it was like to come back after their walk?

> Devise, and if possible record, a Crimewatch-style appeal for the young offenderGoldilocks.

> Prepare a press statement, as if from Goldilocks, apologising for her actions andthe distress and loss caused to the Bear family.

This is all a bit lighthearted – but still a good way to explore how actions affect others.

Finish the sentences

Give pupils a chance to say what they think about property and ownership by askingthem to finish the following sentences in their own words. They might do it orally, in agroup, or as a writing task.

Not taking back a library book is wrong because…

People who take flowers from the park are…

When I hear that someone got their lost property back because someone elsehanded it in I feel…

If you take something that doesn't belong to you, you will feel…

www.crimestoppers-uk.org CHAPTER 3: Graffiti 13

CHAPTER 3: Graffiti

Quick briefing

Painting murals, creating artworks is good andpositive. That's provided that it happens with theconsent of everyone concerned—especially, the ownerof the property where it appears. If it doesn't, thenlaw regards it as a form of criminal damage.

Assembly plan

Basic outline

Begin with an introduction:

Using this section, pupilscan be helped:

• to learn the keydifference betweenpermitted artwork andillegal graffiti and togain greaterappreciation of theirenvironment

• to gain awareness ofthe expense andtrouble that graffiticauses

• to appreciate thephysical dangers thatsome graffiti sprayersrisk

We've all seen painted buildings, words orsymbols scrawled on walls or trains.

One word that is used for it is graffiti. This isactually an Italian word we use in English. Itmeans drawings.

It can be confusing sometimes to know whetherthe graffiti or drawings are meant to be there.Are they some form of art, available for everyoneto enjoy? Or are they an eyesore, a mess thatought to be illegal?

Then introduce the prepared pupils, who will each describe a form of graffiti. Invite theassembly to say – art or illegal eyesore?

Pupil 1: This graffiti is a giant spray-painting of a cartoon character. It was done bya student for a laugh. He did it very early one morning when no-one was around.He didn't want to get caught. A lot of people say it looks really funny.

Pupil 2: This graffiti is known as a tag. It is just a signature, really – someone'sidentity mark. It was done on bus shelters, on a fence near the railway line and ona boarded-up shop. In fact, it can appear anywhere around the town.

Pupil 3: This graffiti was done by a youth group one summer, working with a localartist. They put a lot of thought into the design, and talked to local people aboutwhat they planned. The council gave them some money for paints.

Pupil 4: This graffiti is a racist slogan sprayed around the underpass in a city. It justconsists of words, designed to offend and to stir up tensions between groups ofpeople. No one knows who did it.

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After an appropriate level of discussion, help pupils to see the crucial distinction. Whenit comes to the law, it is not about how artistic something is. It is about ownership. Onlythe person with rights over the property can give permission for graffiti. If graffiti of anykind is sprayed or painted without that permission, the law may have been broken. Theoffence is criminal damage, and it is taken very seriously.

Look again the four pupils set out above. Only pupil 3's example is legal. The rest weredone without permission, and therefore are likely to be against the law.

Add-on ideas

> Make a visual extravaganza of the assembly by showing photographs of graffiti toillustrate each of the examples. An internet search is likely to produce lots ofexamples which can be projected onto a whiteboard or other display.

> Look again at each of the four examples of graffiti in the assembly. Ask how theillegal forms of graffiti might be turned into legal ones. What would need to bedifferent?

> Ask pupils to put themselves in the position of a property owner whose buildingis defaced. How would they feel? Give an example relevant to them, such as theirown bag, pencil case or book. If they decorate it, that's one thing. If someone elsedecorates it without asking, that's quite another.

> Discuss what to do if you know who was responsible for some illegal graffiti. Whocan pupils tell? How might they do it?

Classroom activities

Deadly designs

Can graffiti kill? Tragically, yes. Tell pupils the following true story:

Very late on a dark Friday night in January, a 21-year-old man called Bradley andhis friend Dan, who was 19, were seen spraying graffiti. They had climbed the highsecurity fence around a London Underground track. They were spray painting theside of a tube train.

The security guards who saw them shouted. The two men ran out across thetracks, and were struck by a moving tube train. Both men died at the scene frommassive injuries.

Talk about the dangers of this and other forms of graffiti. Invite pupils to think aboutthe impact on other people – the friends and families they left behind. Think too aboutthe driver, who felt the jolt of the impact and made an emergency stop. Think alsoabout the ambulance workers and police who cleared up the mess. What might they bethinking and feeling afterwards?

Ask pupils to design and create a poster warning of the dangers of spray paintinggraffiti, reflecting any aspect of the discussion that has struck them.

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Costs of cleaning

It costs some councils over £100,000 a year to clean up illegal graffiti. The figure forlarger cities can be a lot higher. And that is without including the costs paid bybusinesses and householders in cleaning their damaged property

Invite pupils to say what that money could be spent on instead. Together, or working insmall groups, draw up a list of ways the money could better spent. Prompt pupils byoffering this kind of list of the things councils spend money on:

> playgrounds and other places to play and explore

> swimming pools and leisure centres

> bus services

> rubbish collections

> libraries and museums

Ask each pupil to think of a message they would like to send to people who spraygraffiti.

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My town

Prepare pupils for some observation work. Say they have a week to look around theirlocal area. Their task is to notice two types of place:

> Somewhere that is spoilt by illegal graffiti – that needs cleaning up.

> Somewhere that could benefit from brightening up with colourful designs – thatwould look better with legal graffiti.

Compare what pupils think. Is there agreement about the places? Talk about differentattitudes to graffiti and to the environment. If you cannot please all the people all thetime, what is the next best option?

Broken sentences

These five sentences about graffiti have been split in the middle and mixed up. Invitepupils to put them back together in the right order. Remind pupils that taggers is acommon name for those spraying illegal graffiti.

1 Graffiti is an Italian word by calling Crimestoppers

2 Spraying graffiti without permission meaning drawings

3 You can report taggers to clear up

4 Graffiti costs many thousands of pounds while spraying graffiti

5 People can be killed or injured is likely to be illegal

www.crimestoppers-uk.org CHAPTER 4: Arson 17

CHAPTER 4: Arson

Quick briefing

Arson, also known as firesetting, is a major problem.Even quite young children can become fascinatedwith matches and fire. Some develop seriousfiresetting problems, with potentially devastatingconsequences.

Assembly plan

Basic outline

Use assembly time for an "agree-disagree" activity. Ifthere is space, designate one wall or part of the roomas "agree", the opposite as "disagree". Read out oneof the statements below and ask pupils to positionthemselves, depending on their response. If theyagree strongly, they can be firmly in the agree area.They can be towards it if they agree but only mildly. Ifthey are undecided they can be between the twoareas.

Using this section, pupilscan be helped:

• to appreciate some ofthe reasons peoplestart fires deliberately

• to recognise thedangers fire creates,and the damage andloss that can follow

• to think through whatcan happen whenchildren play with fire

If space doesn't permit, use a show of hands (two hands for strong opinions).

Either way, after each statement, invite pupils to say why they feel as they do.Encourage discussion and invite those who have changed their thinking to move places.

The statements are a mix of opinion, facts, and good practice. Use them to explorewhat pupils are thinking, and to identify areas to work on in other lessons. Be sure tocorrect misapprehensions.

Agree or disagree?

If the fire alarm goes off, stay where you are. It might be a false alarm.

You should always check where the escape routes are in any building you are in.

Watching fires is really exciting.

Children should be allowed to play with matches so they learn respect for fire.

It is natural to be curious about fires.

Fires can be easy to start, and very difficult to control.

Starting a fire deliberately is a very serious criminal offence.

Making a hoax call to the fire service doesn't do any real harm.

If I saw someone messing about lighting fires I would call the police.

…add other statements relevant to the pupils or the local area.

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Add-on ideas

> Bring the assembly alive by adding a visual element. Photographs of fires – forestfires raging, or the sad, desolate, burnt-out shells of buildings – can have apowerful impact and help key messages stick. With an audio system you can addsound too.

> Before the assembly, invite a key group of pupils to gather data and informationabout the statements. They can present what they found at the end or atappropriate points during the assembly. Focus on aspects such as the law aboutarson (life imprisonment is the maximum sentence, for instance) and the harmcaused by hoax calls.

> Contact your local Fire and Rescue Service to co-ordinate your plans with whatthey can offer. Many run educational visits for schools. Some will providematerials of interest and value. Some may be able to bring a fire-engine – thoughit will respond to a 999 call if there is one, so planning cannot be perfect.

> Based on the statement and the discussions, create a list of five things thateveryone should know about fire. Make it your school's personalised list – so itincludes actual exit routes as well as principles of handling matches and not usingfire as a toy.

Classroom activities

Reasons for lighting fires

Experts say there are different reasons why some people deliberately start fires. Hereare some:

Excitement – for the thrill of seeing a fire.

Revenge – to get back at someone else.

Money – because they hope to gain from it.

Hate – to hurt a particular group in society

Talk about each of these. Then show pupils the following examples. Can they matchthem to the reasons above?

A teenager who has a grudge against the place he was educated sets fire to aschool.

The partners in a failing business set fire to their own property hoping to claimfrom the insurance company.

A group of political extremists set fire to a place of worship.

Some children, bored in the school holidays, dare each other to set fire to a skip.

Discuss each one. Invite pupils to say what a better reaction to the problem might havebeen.

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Messing about, then what...?

Focus pupils' imagination by asking them to write a story based on this scene. First tellthem the situation:

One hot summer, during the school holidays, a group of children are hangingaround in a bit of waste ground at the back of some garages near their homes.One of them has a cigarette lighter. He keeps flicking it alight and trying to set fireto things.

A couple of the group tell him to stop. But he ignores them. He starts to gatherdried grasses, twigs and bits of litter, and makes a mini-bonfire. Before long it isburning, and he starts to put bigger bits of wood from some broken furniture thatis lying around.

Some of the children are beginning to enjoy watching the blaze. Others are gettingworried…

What happens next? Let children finish the story in their own words. Prompt if you wantwith suggestions – that the garages catch fire, and cars and petrol burn, or that aconcerned passer-by calls the police. What lessons can be learned from their stories?

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All the victims

Every year, many schools suffer fires that have been deliberately started. Some are smalland quickly dealt with. Others cause extensive damage.

Use a class spider diagram with pupils to explore who is affected when arsonists attacka school. Ask them to imagine a school that has been so damaged by fire that it isunusable for over a year. Place the damaged school at the centre of the diagram.

Then radiate out, adding people who are affected by it – and saying how their lives areaffected. Include pupils and staff, who lose their work and property, and perhaps haveto start going to a makeshift school in other premises. Include parents, brothers andsisters, others in the community, school visitors and supporters, taxpayers (who foot thebill), and so on. Don't, sadly, forget any school pets.

Help pupils see that a fire can have a massive impact on many people for a long period.

Words on fire

Try this exercise in word-use and negotiation.

Ask pupils to think of four words that describe their thoughts about arson – and writethem down.

They get into pairs, share their lists, and, with their partner, choose four of the eightthat they can both agree on.

That pair teams up with another pair for the same process – agreeing just four wordsfrom their combined lists that they can agree on.

Working in this way, the whole class should be able to settle on four words that sum upwhat arson means for them. And they will have done a lot of thinking, arguing andcompromising on the way.

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CHAPTER 5: Vandalism

Quick briefing

Vandalism is a commonly-used word – in everydayconversation as well as by journalists, politicians andcommentators. The crime it refers to is more formallyknown as "criminal damage". This section helps pupilsunderstand more clearly what that means.

Assembly plan

Basic outline

Begin by explaining what vandalism is. List thevarious forms it can take. Use the list below andencourage other contributions:

Using this section, pupilscan be helped:

• to understand therange of actionscovered by the termvandalism, and what itexcludes

• to gain an insight intothe common causes ofvandalism, and to thinkabout what mightreduce it

• to appreciate the effectof vandalism on victimsVandalism is damage to property – permanent

damage, that needs fixing in some way. Suchdamage, done to someone else's property,without their permission, is a criminal offence. Itcan include:

Smashing windows

Damaging cars

Breaking walls or fences

Damaging flowers or lawns

Breaking or defacing playground equipment

Also talk about what vandalism isn't

If damage isn't permanent, then it isn't really vandalism. So if someone throws anegg at a front door, it is not likely to be vandalism – though you still shouldn't do it.And, of course, it is not vandalism if you damage your own property (just a bitodd).

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Invite pupils to identify which of the common motivations – anger, alcohol and boredom– is most relevant in each case. Talk about what alternatives might have helped. Whatcould the people involved have done instead?

Add-on ideas

> Focus pupils' minds on why vandalism is wrong. Talk about the effects on others.Damaging useful equipment could be annoying and irritating, or could have evenworse consequences. It can be expensive to replace. How does the appearance ofvandalism affect other people – their mood and even their behaviour?

> If you have preparation time, involve a group of pupils in devising a role play forperformance in the assembly. Select one or more of the incidents, extend anddevelop it using pupils' ideas. Make it more real by including references to thelocal area.

> Ask pupils what they would do if they saw any of the three incidents happen.Remind them of the options – from telling an adult, reporting it to the police, orcalling Crimestoppers. Discuss with them the benefits of each, and theimportance of their own safety.

> Gather a selection of photographs of vandalism. Discuss each one and invitepupils to say how it might have happened. What does motivate people to committhis "mindless" crime?

Vandalism is often described as mindless. That is because people find it hard tounderstand what motivates people to destroy property. Invite pupils to think aboutthree things often associated with acts of vandalism. These are boredom, alcohol andanger. Mention these, or flash them on a board, then say:

You are now going to hear three short examples of vandalism. When we'vefinished, you can think about how you might describe the reason for each.

1. Kaz has been in arguments all day. Her dad shouted at her. She had a row aboutbeing late when she got to school. Then she had an argument with her best friend.On her way home, she picked up a large stone and, on the spur of the moment,threw it through the window of an empty building.

2. A group of teenagers have been hanging around in the local park with nothingmuch to do. It gets late and they begin to challenge each other to stunts – likejumping over flowerbeds and climbing on young children's play equipment. Whatthey do gets more extreme – until eventually they start to deliberately damagesome of the play equipment.

3. Three friends have been to the pub, and have had quite a lot to drink. They arelaughing and falling around as they take a short cut home down a street where lotsof cars are parked. They decide it would be a good joke to run across the tops ofcars, which they do, and damage several of them.

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Classroom activities

Bingo vandalism

Here is an activity designed to help pupils appreciate how many people are affected byvandalism. Prepare some "bingo cards" – a sheet of paper with a simple grid or table ofthree columns and three rows, making nine "cells" or boxes.

In each box write one of the following:

> Someone who has had their property vandalised

> Broken windows

> A vandalised car

> A news story in a local paper or on television about vandalism

> Someone who saw an act of vandalism

> A damaged bus shelter

> A local area which often shows signs of vandalism

> Somewhere that is closed because of damage

> Someone who believes that vandals should go to jail

The idea is that each pupil tries to fill as many boxes as they can. Asking around withinthe class, thinking through from their own knowledge and experience, or taking thebingo card home and asking friends or relatives.

The aim is not just to get the boxes ticked. It is to hear other people's stories and thinkabout how widespread vandalism can be.

Feelings of a victim

Invite pupils to get into the mind of victims of vandalism. Ask them to complete thesesentences with appropriate words or phrases. The exercise can be a class discussion, oran individual writing exercise.

When the 82-year-old widow heard noises late at night as her garden fence waskicked down, she felt…

When the football fan missed the game because the train was delayed due tovandalism of the rail track, he felt…

When the mother took her children to the toilet in the park and found it closedthrough vandalism, she felt…

When the headteacher found that her car wing mirrors had been smashedovernight, she felt…

When the pupil found that the football he had for his birthday had been slashedwith a knife, he felt…

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As well as filling in the words, pupils could be asked to draw a picture or design aposter that represents one of the scenes – to communicate what it feels like to haveproperty damaged.

Best of the bunch

Explain to pupils that the police, local residents and the council have come together todecide how to tackle vandalism in the area.

They have come up with a number of suggestions of what to do

The money available can fund only two of the ideas. Tell pupils that they are going tothink about the suggestions, and vote on which two they think are most likely to cutdown vandalism.

Clamping down on the misuse of alcohol, especially by young people.

More activities at the local youth project, to help stop young people being bored.

More police officers patrolling where vandalism is common.

A telephone action line for use by anyone who sees vandalism occurring.

A clean-up scheme, where those responsible for vandalism have to put right themess or damage.

Enterprising pupils could contact their local community police officer and find out moreabout actual schemes to reduce vandalism.

Saying no

Describe this situation to pupils:

You are hanging round with friends at the back of a row of houses. You are nearthe house of a woman that many of you do not like. She has complained to parentsand the police about you playing in the street.

One of the group suggests throwing stones at the greenhouse in the woman'sgarden. He says you could have a kind of competition – to see who can break apane of glass. He says he knows the woman is away on holiday for a few days.

Ask the group to get into pairs. One person has to play the role of the boy who thinksyou should throw stones. The other person has to say no. What would each say? Thestone-thrower should be persistent, keep urging the other to join in and not taking nofor an answer. The other should stick to their role, always refusing to join in.

See how many persuasive arguments and responses pupils invent. And then swap roles,either with the same or different pairings.

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CHAPTER 6: Assault

Quick briefing

Most people realise that assault is an act of violenceagainst another person. Threats of violence can alsobe an assault. So can acts such as pushing or spitting.This surprises some people.

Assembly plan

Basic outline

This assembly requires some preparation with pupils.It is a freeze-frame short drama. Any one, or more, ofthe scenarios described below can be used as abriefing for a group of pupils to work out animprovised role play to perform at the assembly.

Using this section, pupilscan be helped:

• to appreciate thedifferent kinds ofactions that can beincluded in the crime ofassault

• to think through theeffects that assaults arelikely to have on people

• to explore what actionthey could take in thecase of an assault

A group of teenagers are talking together on a street. An older man walks past,pushing a shopping trolley. Suddenly one of the teenagers darts towards the manand slaps him on the face. Two others from the group film the incident on theirmobile phones.

A girl at school is looking through her bag and realising she hasn't got her mobilephone with her. "Oh no", she's thinking, "where can I have left it?" She walks awayangrily and notices two younger pupils looking at her. She goes up to them andpushes one away and aims a kick at the other one. Then she walks on, still upset.

Three children are teasing another by not letting him have his bus pass. One wavesit in front of him, but as he goes to get it, it is thrown or passed to one of the otherchildren. As he approaches that child to get his pass, it is thrown to another and soon. Eventually almost in tears, the boy goes up to one of the children and kicksthem on the shins.

When it comes to the performance, the scene should be acted at once in full.

Then it should be begun again, but this time a teacher will shout "freeze". The actors allstop what they are doing, and stay like statues. Then a facilitator, who could be ateacher or a pupil, using a mock microphone chooses one of the actors, "unfreezes"them, and asks them the question "how are you feeling at the moment?" And perhaps,"What do you think is going on?"

Explore the feelings that each had, and try to ensure that pupils can understand whywhat happened happened, and what its effect on the victim might be. Explain that whathas been seen could well be regarded as a criminal act of assault. It is a serious offence,as all offences against people are. Point out that even something that seems not veryimportant, or a joke, doesn't always seem like that to the victim.

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Add-on ideas

> After the freeze-framing, ask pupils what the characters might have done instead.How might the drama have finished differently, perhaps avoiding an assault?Confident pupils may be able to improvise the new version as part of theassembly.

> Devise a new scenario, based on something that pupils have experienced ormight have heard about. The more relevant the scene is to the pupils' actual lives,the greater the impact will be.

> Discuss what those carrying the assault in the drama could do to make amends?How might the injury felt by the victims be lessened in some way?

Classroom activities

True or false

Ask pupils to look at the following statements. Or read them out. The task is for pupilsto say whether each one is true or false.

1. You can assault someone without touching them. The threat of violence is alsoan offence.

2. It makes no difference who is the victim of an assault. If it is a friend or a policeofficer, the law and the courts look at it in the same way.

3. Happy slapping is just a bit of fun – and a joke cannot be a crime.

4. Someone guilty of an assault based on hate – such as a racist attack – will face amore severe punishment.

5. The police are only interested in an assault if something is stolen.

Answers:

1. True. And also note that if you are violent to someone, and actually hurt them,that could be an even more serious offence of "bodily harm".

2. False. Of course, the law gives protection to everyone equally. But an assault ona police officer is regarded as very serious.

3. False. There is nothing happy about happy slapping – it is a serious offence ofassault and treated severely by the courts.

4. True. A crime which has a racist element – or shows hatred of someone'ssexuality or religious belief – will be treated more severely.

5. False. Assault is a serious offence, and the police want to hear about it. Theinformation can help stop someone else being a victim.

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Discuss each statement. Invite pupils to show that they understand not just the correctanswer but why is it correct. For example, in question 2, discuss why police officersneed additional protection. In what way do we all suffer if police officers are subjectedto assaults? Or in question 1, talk about what happens if violence is threatened. Mightsomeone who fears they are about to be attacked, hit out first? In which case, who isreally responsible for the actual violence?

If I thought that someone was going to hit or push me I would…

Someone who assaults a police officer should…

I think the chances of me being the victim of an assault are…

If I saw someone being assaulted I would…

The best thing someone can do to reduce the chance of being assaulted is…

If all assaults were reported to the police…

Attitude to assaults

Ask pupils, working in groups, pairs or individually, to complete these sentences in theirown words.

Share the contributions and invite discussion and agreement. Do pupils have differentattitudes? Talk about how important it is to respect the views of others, even if they aredifferent from your own.

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Assault in the media

Once pupils understand the principle of what an assault is, organise a project aroundidentifying instances of assault in the media.

Two areas to explore are:

> news reports that mention assaults – on television, radio, newspapers or online.

> children's dramas, soap operas and other fictional representations of real life thatcontain an assault.

Ask pupils to collect cuttings, or make a note of the details of the news story. For thesoap opera, they can name the characters involved and say what happened.

Invite pupils to say, if they can, what was the root cause of the assault – perhapsalcohol, revenge, anger, or to cover up another crime.

Discuss the effect of the media coverage on the people viewing or reading. Would theybe informed, educated or entertained by it? Or alarmed or worried? Try to think of onegood outcome and one bad outcome of the coverage.

Don't forget, assaults sometimes happen on the sports field.

Poster design

Give pupils the task of designing an eye-catching poster. Use paper and pens orcomputer software, as appropriate. Invite them to choose one of two themes:

> a poster that encourages people to report violence and threats of violence tosomeone in authority

> a poster that warns people of the seriousness of violence and threats of violence,and the consequences for offenders

Discuss what makes poster capture people's attention. Elements can include boldcolours, attractive design, strong central message, something interesting, evenintriguing or puzzling.

Display the posters – and don't forget to note whether they have any effect.

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