The Hackney-based school represents an expansion of the Hope in Haringey Police Engagement Programme, showcasing the programme values and objectives are repeatable outside of Haringey.
By Omar Alleyne-Lawler, Communications and Police Engagement Manager
Haggerston School, Hackney saw its first ever Police Engagement event in school history, curtsey of Hope in Haringey and TSG officers.
Officers and students opened the session with a fish and chips lunch
Haggerston School, which caters for 11- to 19-year-olds across its secondary and sixth-form provisions, reached out to Hope in Haringey to engage its Year 7 cohort. Understanding that each of our engagements brings young people and police officers into neutral spaces for mutual learning and understanding, the school was keen to move forward.
Constable Mackay plays table tennis with Haggerston Students
Tailoring the session to the student’s interests, the session opened during lunchtime, inviting students to have lunch with the officers, play table tennis and chat casually about the latest shows, movies and video games.
Following the open-to-all lunchtime event, 30 students were invited to continue the engagement, this time in the auditorium where they would learn about their rights, stop and search and explain the role and local presence of the TSG.
Students were also shown how the TSG uses their equipment in public safety environments.
Following the session, the Head of Year 7 Ms Annan said ‘It was a really great event. Thank you [to Hope in Haringey] for coming in. The students really enjoyed themselves and we all learned a lot!”
For the session students were asked to complete a questionnaire detailing their confidence in the police before and after the workshop. Class-wide student confidence increased across several areas including: feeling well informed about police activity over the past 12 months by 33% and knowing how to contact their local ward officer by 16%.