BUDDY the ‘speech bubble’ helped to spread the NSPCC campaign message ‘Speak Out Stay Safe’ to Fernhurst Primary School pupils.

The children’s charity mascot and representatives Jane Dray, Val Taylor and Charlotte Evans visited the village school to raise safeguarding awareness.

Headteacher Gill Richardson said: “We are always looking for new ways of educating our pupils and arming them with the information they need to keep safe.

“So we are very pleased to be working alongside the NSPCC and embracing their Speak Out Stay Safe campaign.

“As well as raising safeguarding awareness among children, the NSPCC are also fundraising for their charity. As part of this, the children are being invited to take part in Buddy’s Big Work Out, which is a chance to get fit, have fun and help more children by raising sponsorship money.

“The children can choose what activity they do to raise money. It can be anything from swimming to hula hooping to taking part in an obstacle course.

“The key thing is getting as many sponsors as they can. They are looking forward to getting stuck in and helping Buddy raise money for this worthy cause and we look forward to welcoming the NSPCC back in a couple of weeks and telling them how much we raised.”

The NSPCC representatives held two assemblies aimed at the year groups in attendance and both introduced pupils to Buddy.

They went through the different forms abuse can take and spoke to the children about what to do if they are worried or sad.

They also spoke about trusted adults and they recognising who these people might be.

Pupils in years five and six also took part in some interactive classes that went into more depth about the issues raised.