Letter to school re NSPCC

[CervixSampler]

Our Catholic primary have announced that they will be having an nspcc assembly soon. I know there have been issues with this charity before and I am hoping those who know far more than me about this can help me compose a letter expressing my concerns regarding supporting this charity. I know there was the wanking in the toilet in fetish gear horror but I don't know the full story and as far as I know they support transing children but I'd be very happy to be told I'm wrong on that. Thank you.

Hmmm. The NSPCC have had (and do have) some excellent safeguarding / personal safety resources. The fact that they've allowed themselves to be captured by the trans lobby and as a result have diluted certain aspects of their safeguarding work is shameful. BUT, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and would assume that this a legitimate child centred session.
To allay my fears I might simply ask for a summary of the presentation (schools have to know what will be raised in assemblies by outside groups) and an assurance that the issues of gender identity will not be raised in the assembly. In the light of today's Mermaids paedophilia scandal I'd probably ask the school to confirm that Mermaids will not be mentioned or promoted by the NSPCC.

Well done for thinking about it - there's been such extreme levels of gaslighting children by outside organisations it's now up to parents to be "that parent" and ensure that schools are keeping the queer theory advocates away from children.

Ask to pin down the NSPCC's dual position that:

(Pants campaign) a child's body belongs to them, they judge if they are uncomfortable and don't feel safe, and should never undress or show their body in situations where they don't want to and are uncomfortable to do so

and

girls expressing that they are uncomfortable and don't feel safe undressing in changing rooms with male children should be taught to be kind. And get their clothes off.

The NSPCC bottled a MN chat over that one rather than explain how consent should be predicated for girls on whether or not saying 'no' made a male person sad.

Ask the school if they know what the NSPCC's definition of child abuse used to be and what it is now.

Unless I am mistaken it was changed in recent years to be that the child had to understand it as abuse for it to be abuse.

There will be past threads on this.

Yes I think that's right, it was "anything that makes the child uncomfortable" or similar

I seem to remember something around the child had to dislike it. Which as anyone with any safeguarding training knows is problematic in the extreme, as many who are abused as children carry immense guilt and trauma that some of it they did enjoy or were encouraged to believe they enjoyed.

Essentially boundaries were moved in the favour of adults.

I remember this too. Was really disturbed at the time & immediately recalled it when I read about the Mermaids paedo. It defined abuse as something that made the child feel uncomfortable, without categorically stating children cannot consent to sexual activity. Links nicely with the "not all paedophilic relationships are harmful" school of thought.

Couldn't find it on their website today.

It was this tweet:

twitter.com/lilylilymaynard/status/1285982284353540099?s=46&t=iKPNAF6PWlolJVI3u4MzYA

I've seen messaging along the lines of "no-one should be doing anything that makes you uncomfortable"; but it seemed clear from the context that it was meant to add creepy behaviour to the list of things children should be saying no to and telling their parents about, not suggesting that being comfortable made it all right.

And this was the web chat they didn't show up to? I think.

Facebook Live about talking to kids about staying safe from abuse with NSPCC
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnetfacebooklive/3343961-Facebook-Live-about-talking-to-kids-about-staying-safe-from-abuse-with-NSPCCC_

This was the last MNHQ post on there, from what I can see:
Thanks for waiting; we've been thinking about what to do.

The focus of this Facebook Live was intended to be the NSPCC's Speak out. Stay safe and PANTS campaign and how to speak to children about keeping safe. Because the questions here are so focused on gender identity, the feeling is that the NSPCC campaign itself and the NSPCC's specific safety messages are unlikely to get much of an airing. As a result we came to the decision not to run the stream live on Facebook, although we will be recording some content with the NSPCC on the original topic which should go live either later today or tomorrow.

We’re sorry to all those who were waiting to put questions as part of the live event. We recognise many of you feel strongly about safeguarding in relation to issues around gender identity, but this was never intended to be the focus of this activity.

However, in view of the questions asked in this thread, we asked the NSPCC for a statement:

The NSPCC doesn’t consider there to be specific child protection concerns in relation to trans-inclusive policies. Any space and activity involving children should have strong safeguarding policies in place, with a proper risk assessment to minimise the risks to all children involved. And every adult working with children should undergo rigorous safety checks and vetting procedures to ensure that young people are safe in their care.
^
Trans young people are at particular risk of physical, sexual and emotional abuse from peers. This can heighten the risk of abuse by adults as children turn online for support and access to networks of those sharing similar views and feelings. There should be high-quality, statutory relationships and sex education, alongside strong school safeguarding policies, to ensure that all children are kept safe in schools.^

Thanks for sharing this.

Was really disturbed at the time & immediately recalled it when I read about the Mermaids paedo.

Which one? The chat room predator or now ex-trustee Jacob Breslow?

I've just reread the letter from school. I've edited out anything identifying for the school:

...we will be participating in the NSPCC’s Speak out. Stay safe online programme that involves an online assembly along with supporting classroom based activities. Speak out. Stay safe is a safeguarding programme available to all primary schools and it aims to help children understand abuse in all its forms and to recognise the signs of abuse in a child friendly way. Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or Childline.
In the assembly, the Speak out. Stay safe messages are given in a fun and interactive way with the help of the NSPCC mascot Buddy as well as special guest appearances from Ant and Dec.
Two accredited NSPCC volunteers will be visiting our school to do workshops with the older children.
We have studied the content of the materials and are extremely confident that they are appropriate for primary-school-aged children and believe this will empower children.
If you want to know more about the programme there is information on the NSPCC website www.nspcc.org.uk/speakout.

It's a Catholic school in a parish where the the diocese have denied and covered up CSA and the whole thing makes me very uncomfortable.

In our primary school, the NSPCC gave a talk defining abuse as something that the child is uncomfortable with.

There's countless testimonials from survivors as well as research articles and court transcripts showing that grooming is a technique designed to enable abuse, to put the child at ease so they don't resist. Often victims do not understand until much later that what was done to them was abuse.

If any school really wants to safeguard children (and they do, otherwise they wouldn't have invited the NSPCC) it is therefore vital to challenge the NSPCC's definition, because it may be harmful to children.

I sent an email to our kids' headteacher at the time explaining my concerns and he was grateful for the input and the school did their own work on safeguarding and abuse with the children afterwards.

Independently from me, my friend who worked as a classroom assistant was present at the NSPCC's talk and was as shocked as me. Which we realised when we met sometime after and chatted about events at school. It definitely wasn't what either of us expected from such a renowned child protection organisation (which has powers other charities do not have after all).

The NSPCC run online forum "Childline" is extremely problematic.

Let's just say they don't/can't check the identity of people who post on the forum (claiming to be a child,) asking questions to others such as "when did you have your first orgasm" or "are your breasts developing yet" or "would you like a private chat to talk about your gender dysphoria" etc etc.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3712123-Porn-and-childline

Childline openly supporting porn use in children

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4281842-Safe-Schools-Alliance-UK-thread-on-Childline-and-NSPCC

Might be of use

Childline considered M Bergdorf a suitable campaigner for them

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3605120-Munroe-Childline-s-first-LGBT-campaigner

Wasn't James Esses issues/job loss related to childline?
I can see stuff on Twitter but no account. Maybe someone can link/screenshot?

Am I right in thinking that the NSPCC has statutory powers which is unusual in that no other children charity has this? (When my friend's daughter called Childline they had the Police turn up.)

It's great the school are confident with the materials OP 🙄 but you clearly aren't.

Maybe you should ask to see these materials in person and also find out the dates the online assembly and other activities are happening so you can remove your DC?

These were a couple of Tweets from a few years ago, which may be of interest.

School have just told me to look at the links but I've asked to know exactly what they are going to use.

Well done OP.

If they say they do not wish to share materials due to copyright issues do say you can make a time to visit and view the materials in person.

If they decline that then I'd wonder what they were hiding!

Wasn't James Esses issues/job loss related to childline?

Yes

https://jamesesses.substack.com/p/dear-childline