Something Has Happened: A Storybook and Guide for Safeguarding and Supporting Children’s Right to Feel Safe

This beautifully illustrated storybook and guide have been created to teach children about safeguarding in its broadest sense: that being safe from harm is the most important right they have, and that the trusted adults around them will always take action to protect, believe and respect them. Covering all of the fundamental aspects of safeguarding, the Protective Behaviours (PB) process, and teaching children about the safety continuum, networks of support and persistence, the invaluable lessons in this resource help children develop their own internal measure of safety and will teach them how to ask for help if they ever feel unsafe. The set includes: Something Has Happened: Supporting Children’s Right to Feel Safe - An engaging storybook, offering opportunities for discussion throughout, helping children learn about difficult feelings, who they can go to for help and what do to when it feels like nobody is listening A Practical Resource for Supporting Children’s Right to Feel Safe – A practical resource that includes session plans and activities to accompany the story and fundamental guidance around safeguarding for the adult This is a must-have resource for teachers, support staff and other professionals working with primary and lower-secondary aged children.

Table of Contents:
This set contains: Something has Happened – an illustrated storybook that follows the story of Joe. Children learn, with Joe, about how their bodies can tell them if they feel ok or not; what to do, who to tell, how to persist in order to get help and that we can break the rules in an emergency. Supporting Children’s Right to Feel Safe: A Practical Resource – this is for use with teachers, support staff and all those working directly with children. It contains details of sessions that can be used in individual, group or whole class settings covering the fundamental aspects of protective behaviours.

About the Author :
Liz Bates is an independent education consultant. She supports both primary and secondary schools in all aspects of Emotional Health and Wellbeing, and Safeguarding, including whole school approaches, training staff and delivering talks to parents. Liz is a Protective Behaviours Trainer, a Wellbeing Award Advisor for Optimus and a regular contributor at national conferences.

Review :
"Something Has Happened is a valuable and practical safeguarding resource for all professionals who work with children. It covers key themes about feeling and being safe in a detailed, yet engaging, way. The reading book can be used as a standalone resource with clear language and charming illustration, but when combined with the lesson plans and resources it becomes an even more powerful tool to empower children to recognise their own feelings of safety or otherwise and to act upon those feelings appropriately to safeguard themselves. Staff are clearly guided through the lesson plans, with suggestions of appropriate language to use to draw out the main protective behaviours themes and useful photocopiable resources are provided. The fact that we never learn what Joe's "worry" is helps to make the resource universal - it can be used in the curriculum to support children with common worries, through to things that require an "Early Help" approach with other agencies, through to serious disclosures of abuse and neglect. Giving children the language and permission to talk about their worries in this way is both powerful and positive." Jo Perrin, Lead Safeguaridng Adviser, Services For Education