Owls stars back anti-social behaviour work in schools

Sheffield Wednesday stars were among the VIP guests lining up to praise Sheffield Homes for its work in combating anti-social behaviour, when they helped dish out prizes for a schools poster competition.

 

Owls defender Graham Coughlan visited Foxhill School, while team-mate Dave Graham did the honours at Ecclesfield Primary, presenting art boxes and drawing equipment to the winners and runners-up in the competitions, which followed a series of anti-social behaviour-themed in-school initiatives from Sheffield Homes' Neighbourhood Action Team, (NAT). 

 

The pair know better than most that if you want good results, you need

strong teamwork and Ecclesfield Tenants and Residents Association (TARA), certainly helped its arm of the campaign by teaming up with NAT to help with presentations and fund prizes.

 

NAT's Senior Housing Officer Dawn Wragg said: "NAT was formed two years ago as a team within Sheffield Homes with a remit to look at ways of preventing anti-social behaviour through education and re-engagement.

 

"We encourage children to think about the effect that anti-social behaviour has on the environment and on other people by using fun, interactive classroom sessions.

 

"We've worked in 14 schools and seen more than 3,000 children during the year and we're getting very positive feedback with teachers telling us our work has made children re-think their attitudes and actions."

 

The sessions include discussion groups, role-playing and games like snakes and ladders and bingo, all with an ASB theme. Classes are then asked to devise their own set of `community rules' to improve the area where they live and design a poster showing what they've learnt. The winning design is turned into a booklet, which the children are

encouraged to distribute to family and friends.

 

"TARAs also work very hard to improve their neighbourhoods and we're keen to encourage them to see our classroom work first hand," added Dawn.

 

"So we were very pleased when Sue Haddon from Ecclesfield TARA attended sessions and agreed to provide prizes. We found that young people have similar aspirations for their areas as older people, so our schools work complements the work of the TARAS and of other anti-social behaviour enforcement action, carried out by other teams within Sheffield Homes.

 

"The work's on-going, so we're very much looking forward to visiting more schools throughout 2006. Prevention is always better than cure and we know that if we raise awareness and change attitudes early, these children will grow up to be part of the solution to good neighbourhoods, instead of part of the problem."

 

Around 400 pupils in each school, aged four to 11, took part in the competition. Winner of the Foxhill school competition was six-year-old Ethan Bailey, while the prize came as an added bonus to Amelia Travis of Ecclesfield Primary, who picked up the prize on her 11th birthday.

 

 

Press contact: Neil Anderson on 01142 257080 (office).