Unique film premiere in capital
A film premiere was held in May to launch the first educational resource of its kind in Scotland, which explores personal safety issues that affect the lives of teenagers.
Keeping Myself Safe has been produced as a series of ten animated films presented by young actors.
Three of the films were screened at the Dominion Cinema to celebrate the launch of the new resource.
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Keeping Myself Safe (for teenagers) was developed after the Youngedinburgh Viewfinder 2 survey in 2004 revealed that a substantial amount of young people felt that more needed to be done to make them feel safe in their own city.
The films, which will be delivered as part of personal and social education lessons to secondary school children throughout Edinburgh, are all based on true stories that were written anonymously by young people within the city’s secondary schools.
Project manager, Audrey Fairgrieve, said: “The project is extremely exciting as it is the first personal safety programme ever produced in Scotland.
SCENARIOS IN THE PROJECT - Safety at parties and nights out
- Peer pressure and the use of drugs
- Abuse of technology
- Domestic violence
- Knife crime
- Teenage depression and suicide
- Grooming
- Internet safety
- Sexual abuse
- Sexual assault.
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“It is also the only educational resource that uses peer education to cover the major safety issues teenagers face today.
“It is a fantastic programme for young people, as they have been instrumental in both its content and production.
“It’s so important to ensure personal safety is taught in schools to our young people and that we encourage them to develop their own safety strategies to deal with the dangers they may face in today’s society.
“The programme contains a facilitators’ guide and the films have all been designed to promote discussion and raise awareness of safety issuesat all stages of secondary school across the curriculum.
“The class teacher will deliver the lessons and will be trained to deal with any issues raised by pupils.
“The stories have been produced in a graphic form with a voice-over which hopefully will give it a longer shelf life and will allow for translation into different languages and adaptation for young people with special learning needs.”
The project is supported by the Council, Lothian and Borders Police, Youngedinburgh, No Offence (Edinburgh Youth Crime Strategy) and Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership.