Esteem

Crossing the Line - or Championing our Children?

It’s that wonderful time of year again when we all become tennis fans, get the strawberries and cream in, and maybe even dust off our own rackets and have a game. Yes, it’s Wimbledon time. For many of us, playing tennis will mean a casual knock about with no great importance placed upon the result, while the top pros at Wimbledon have a lot more pressure on them to perform well - none more so than Andy Murray – although they are rewarded very handsomely for their efforts.

A new app aimed at protecting children

A new app called 'Gallery Guardian' has been launched, responding to the risks involved with young people sending or receiving explicit photos. The app scans through every image a child takes or receives on their device then, using an image recognition algorithm, automatically detects any images that include nudity. If something is detected, the app sends an alert to the phone of the young person's parent or carer, without saving or showing the image.

The evidence base for tackling ‘sexting’ with young people

Sexting is an issue that gathers a large amount of public interest, including from the press and professionals working with young people. However, sometimes it seems hard to identify how to best tackle the issue. acet UK’s Esteem programme includes multiple activities and an example lesson plan, developed over 5 years of specific experience in teaching about sexting. To help youth workers, teachers and parents talk about the issue, acet UK has created a brand new physical resource called #IsItOK? in partnership with Youthscape.

Training teachers to deliver relationships and sex education

This month, we had the pleasure of leading some fantastic relationships and sex education (RSE) teacher training for the staff of Oasis Academy Silvertown. It is always fun to work with a new group of passionate educators and this staff team was no exception. To fit in with the school’s timetable, we provided the training across a number of twilight sessions after the students had finished for the day.

Challenging HIV stigma and raising awareness

Just before the half-term break, our good friend, and Esteem educator, Hannah Musa, joined us at a London school. Together we led a session with more than 100 year 12 students, who we’ve been running a series of Esteem RSE sessions for.

During the session, Hannah spoke movingly about her experience of living with HIV – what it was like to learn her status, the fears that she faced and the stigma and discrimination she’s experienced from some people.