As reported by BBC news, a partnership between Cheshire police and schools is encouraging teens to openly discuss sexual consent, helping break taboos and address rising offences
A campaign by police and schools which encourages young people to talk openly about sexual consent is helping to “normalise” previously “taboo” conversations, students have said.
Police in Cheshire are working directly with schools after the force said there was a “worrying rise” in reported sexual offences involving teenagers.
“Since 2019 we’ve seen a 60% rise in sexual offences with both the victim and the offending party being under the age of 18, so that’s a significant rise for us,” Det Ch Supt Gareth Lee of Cheshire Constabulary said.
He said encouraging communication and empowering young people to have open conversations was essential.
The Whitby High School in Ellesmere Port is taking part in the programme. Assistant head teacher Kay Rimmer said the police involvement in the campaign helped the pupils understand the importance of consent.
“Students didn’t know, for example, that underage sexual assault is a sexual assault,” she said.
“They thought that it had to be somebody who was 18 or 19 and actually two 15 year olds in this kind of non consensual situation can have a police record.”
The scheme is currently being run by 40% of secondary schools in the borough and Cheshire Constabulary said it hoped more would follow.
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