Youngsters learn truth about crime

Year 6 pupils from Bowlee Park Primary and Little Heaton CE Primary in Middleton with RBH Communities First Co-ordinator Ruth Sillence

Pupils from across the borough are learning about the severe impact that committing crimes can have on themselves and their communities.

In a series of workshops, 10 and 11-year-olds are given a fictional money pot to create a play area including tunnel slide, tyre roundabout, swings, see-sawand football and basketball pitches.

They are then told the cost of tackling anti-social behaviour such as vandalism, graffiti and litter and see how this significantly reduces the amount of facilities that can be provided for the play area.

In addition, the workshops highlight the physical risks that some forms of anti-social behaviour - such as climbing fences in order to trespass - can present and the serious consequences of receiving a criminal record.

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) is helping to lay on interactive sessions for around 2,500 Year 6 students as part of this year’s Crucial Crew project at the former Newbold Housing Office.

Other organisations, including Rochdale Borough Council and the police, are also laying on Crucial Crew workshops at the site to encourage youngsters to stay safe and on the right side of the law.

It is the fourth year that the project has been staged and organisers believe that, once again, it is bringing home an important message to the pupils who attend.

While the organisers stress that the vast majority of youngsters are model citizens, they are keen to reinforce the message that crime really doesn’t pay.

Ruth Sillence, RBH Communities First Co-ordinator, said: “The young people in our borough are a source of great pride but it is important for them to understand how something that might seem like just a bit of fun can actually have very serious repercussions.

“As an organisation that acts according to co-operative principles RBH is delighted to be working with partner organisations to show how behaving in the right way benefits the young people and their communities.”