Safer surfers!

THOUSANDS of Liverpool schoolchildren are becoming safer surfers thanks to a brand new booklet.  Liverpool City Council is sending every school in the city a copy of its new ‘E-Safety Super-Highway Code’, the first guidance booklet of its kind in the city. The launch of the new booklet comes on European Safer Internet Day, Tuesday 9 February 2010, which will see countries across the continent taking part in activities aimed at helping protect young people online.

The colourful, easy-to-read guide passes on information, advice, and tips to teaching staff and young people about how to stay safe when using the internet, as well as providing information on national e-safety policy and procedure.  And young people from the city are taking word about the new guide direct to the government. Pupils from King David Primary and Notre Dame and St John Bosco Secondary Schools will travel to Westminster on 2 March to meet with internet safety tsar, Professor Tanya Byron, show her the guide and share their ideas about e-safety.

Liverpool City Council’s executive member for education, Councillor Keith Turner, said:- “The new e-safety guide will be an invaluable resource for our schools. Technology and the internet is now integral to young people’s lives – in school and at home. It provides our youngsters with fantastic learning tools, but it also brings risks.

Liverpool’s £500 million Building Schools for the Future programme is seeing us build cutting-edge 21st century learning facilities in every part of the city. It’s vital that we have measures in place to make sure youngsters can harness the wonderful opportunities of new technology while being protected from its potential dangers. This new guide will help us achieve that.

I’m also delighted that some of our young people have been invited to Westminster to tell the government about the fantastic e-safety work we are doing in Liverpool. I’m sure Professor Byron will be very interested to hear what they have to say and I hope their views will help inform her forthcoming review on internet safety.”

Professor Tanya Byron was tasked by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2007 to conduct an independent review looking at the risks to children from exposure to potentially harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games.  The Byron Review was published in March 2008. It sets out a number of recommendations which are now being implemented by the government.  Professor Byron continues to be the figurehead of the government's response to E-Safety. As well as meeting with Liverpool pupils in March, she has also invited young people in the city to submit illustrations around E-Safety for inclusion in her forthcoming 2010 Byron Review.

Liverpool's E-Safety Super-Highway Code is supported by the city council and the Liverpool Safeguarding Children Board.

HEARTBEAT - VALENTINE'S DISCO

A special Valentine's Day themed disco is taking place for young people in Norris Green, Lifestyles Ellergreen Sports Centre.  The center  will be opening its doors on Friday, 12 February 2010, exclusively to 8 to 15 year olds in the latest event organised Robby the Bobby and Friends.

The event is supported by sports Lifestyles staff, local teachers, mentors and Kinda volunteers from the local area.

Constable Robert Pritchard, also known 'Robby the Bobby' said:- "Both the Halloween and Christmas discos have been very popular, attracting over 450 youngsters each time. The youngsters are from Croxteth, Norris Green and the surrounding areas. We also noticed that during these events that there were very few reports of anti-social behaviour. Our thanks go to the youngsters and their parents who have been coming along; it is their behaviour which has helped to make these events a success. I hope we will see many more at the Valentine's disco so that we can keep the events running in the future."

No alcohol is served during the event and police officers and PCSOs will be in attendance to support the event.

The disco will begin at 5.45pm and go on until 8.45pm.  Entry costs is only £2. The money collected will be distributed to local non-profit making organisations, such as Kinda.

Fancy dress is encouraged but optional. We would encourage the young people to get their early because are numbers are growing each month as the discos become evermore popular.

Lifestyles Ellergreen Sports Centre is located on:-

Ellergreen Road, Norris Green, Liverpool L11 2XY

For more information please contact Robby the Bobby on:-

07734744696 or by email.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AN UNDER 15's EVENT ONLY

Young people from Liverpool and Manchester join a national campaign to change the face of architecture

A group of 30 young people from Liverpool and Manchester have been chosen to participate in a series of unique workshops and will have the opportunity to work alongside design professionals to explore different art forms and create a vision of their dream city.

The workshops will see young people learning about the cities in which they live and undertaking a wide range of activities including a tour of Liverpool ONE with the people who helped to design it and an exploration of Manchester with urban free runners Parkour.

Taking place between February and April 2010 in Liverpool and Manchester the workshops are part of ‘Architecture for Everyone’, a three year nationwide campaign that aims to identify and support new and emerging architectural talent from amongst social groups that have traditionally been excluded from careers in the profession. The campaign was founded by the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and international architects RMJM, and is being led in the Northwest by architecture and built environment centre Places Matter!

Architecture for Everyone engages with young people, particularly from Black and minority ethnic groups and inner city areas, to encourage them to direct their creative talents to architecture and urban design. Not only does it aim to improve accessibility and the diversity of the architecture profession but it also has ambitions to shape Britain’s deprived inner cities ‘from the inside out’ by encouraging those who live in them to learn about the built environment and to empower them to shape the communities in which they live.

During the 2009 campaign Callum Gilbert, 21, of Mossley Hill, Liverpool, won the opportunity to head across the Atlantic to study at Harvard University on a 6-week architecture scholarship after taking part in the 1 day Architecture for Everyone workshop in Liverpool earlier in the year. The Liverpool workshop saw participants working together and utilising their design skills to develop a scheme for a central Liverpool site. After the workshop, Callum was short listed for a highly competitive interview process in London where he saw off competition to successfully be awarded one of six scholarships. Callum said:- “Getting on this course means the world to me, it’s overwhelming. It’s like winning the lottery.”

Commenting at the launch of the 2010 campaign which will focus on the role that sport plays in the regeneration of communities, Doreen Lawrence said:- "Architecture remains a profession that is seen by many as unattainable. Through the work of Architecture for Everyone, RMJM and the Stephen Lawrence Trust work with partners in inner cities across the country and show young people just how they can apply their creative talents to the built environment. The industry won’t change overnight but sparking that initial interest is a huge step towards opening up the profession."

Jo Harrop, Places Matter! Education Manager, said:- "Places Matter! is delighted to be the regional partner for the Architecture for Everyone Campaign in the Northwest for a second year. Helping to increase awareness of the opportunities open to young people and break down the stereotypes around people who work in the built environment sector is part of all our projects and we look forward to giving young people from Liverpool and Manchester the opportunity to see their great cities in a new and inspiring way."

Workshop Schedule

Explore the City:- Tuesday, 16 February 2010, Manchester; Thursday, 18 February 2010, Liverpool.  -  A tour of the city centre with a local architect.

Liverpool ONE:- Friday, 5 March 2010, Liverpool. -  A behind the scenes tour of Liverpool ONE with designers BDP.

Parkour: Saturday 6 March, Manchester. -  A tour of Manchester with urban free runners.

Weekend Design Challenge: Saturday, 27 March and Sunday, 28 March 2010:- Manchester and Liverpool.  -  Working on a design with the help of professionals.

Evening Presentations: Thursday 22 April 2010. - An evening exhibition and social event with presentations of final designs.

NEXT OF KIN - PETER JAMES DOYLE

CORONER'S Officers in Sefton are appealing for the next of kin of 64 year old Peter Doyle who died at his home in Talbot Street in Southport Wednesday, 3 February 2010. There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding Mr. Doyle's death but the Coroner’s office are struggling to locate his family to inform them. It's believed Mr. Doyle has family in County Wexford, where he was born. Anyone who has any information are asked to contact the Coroner's Office on:- 0151 777 3480.