Miss Dorothy's one year anniversary at local Ely school

CARDIFF West MP, Kevin Brennan, today returned to Millbank Primary School for the anniversary of the Miss Dorothy programme.

Mr Brennan launched the scheme a year ago and was delighted when Miss Dorothy asked him to return to take part in the one year anniversary of the project which is taking place at a local school in Ely.

The pupils at Millbank Primary School have been taking part in the Miss Dorothy programme to learn how to keep themselves safe at home, on the streets and on the internet.

The school was introduced to the programme last year when Mr Brennan wrote to head teachers in Cardiff West to ask if they would consider trying the scheme to help in educating pupils about safety issues.

"I was delighted to take part in Miss Dorothy's assembly at Millbank Primary School and help the pupils reflect on all the safety issues they have been learning about," said Kevin.

"Miss Dorothy is a great way of teaching children the importance of being safe in and outside the home in a language they understand.

"It is vital that when you educate children on important subjects that you communicate to children on their level and that is what www.missdorothy.com does.

"It is fantastic that children can learn about safety issues and have some fun at the same time."

Head Gail Allen added, "We had a letter from Kevin offering us the missdorothy.com programme. It just fits in so well with everything else we do and it's so easy to use that the teachers love it.

"Miss dorothy has given us the opportunity to talk about things in class that we might not have discussed before and the children really like the characters.

"I hope more schools decide to get involved because it's a really comprehensive scheme and it helps children think about ways of keeping themselves safe."

Youngsters got the chance to meet two of the programme's characters when life-size versions of Cursor the cat and Wizard the dog join Mr Brennan for Friday's celebration.

The missdorothy.com programme teaches important safety messages about everything from crossing the road to the dangers of drugs and weapons through the cartoon character Dorothy Com and her friends.

The programme is supported by the Kids Taskforce, a charity partnership between the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Chief Fire Officers' Association and the Professional Footballers' Association that aims to reach every child in the country with important safety messages by 2010.

The Kids Taskforce aims to set a national standard for the safety information delivered to children in schools.

The secondary school programme 'Watch Over Me' has already been funded by the government for every school in England and Wales.

For more information, visit the charity's website at www.thekidstaskforce.com.