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The Ultimate Guide to Protecting Your Child Online in 2021

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Please read SMARTPHONE and share with your children – great advice to keep them safe!

So many Online Child Safety guides are just scaring parents, without telling them what they can actually do; and this is why we came together, a group of cybersecurity experts and parents, to create a different guide. It’s updated for December 2021, and it’s all about steps you can take to protect your child from Sexual predators, Cyberbullying, Mobile phone addiction, and hurtful content. While we don’t think you should panic as a parent, you do need to be aware of the risk’s magnitude, as every kid could be affected.

Follow this link to read the whole guide:

https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/the-ultimate-parent-guide-for-child-internet/

Fay presents The Conies – at the ROAD SAFETY GB CONFERENCE 2020

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Delighted and honoured to have been invited to speak and introduce our loveable Conies at the 2020 ROAD SAFETY GB CONFERENCE. There was a range of excellent speakers giving valuable advice and updates on key information. Watch out for the Road Safety GB Conference in November 2021 when we will hopefully be without masks and in person – hurrah! #roadsafetygb; #wmpolice; #pertempsnetwork

THE CONIES SET CREATIVE CHALLENGE FOR CHILD SAFETY CAMPAIGN

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THE CONIES SET CREATIVE CHALLENGE FOR CHILD SAFETY CAMPAIGN

Road safety heroes The Conies are looking to ‘cone-gratulate’ the creative efforts of families across the UK in helping to promote child safety.

Fay Goodman in a road safety cone costume with Pete Allington from West Midlands Fire Service’s Road Casualty Reduction Team

THE CONIES SET CREATIVE CHALLENGE FOR CHILD SAFETY CAMPAIGN

Road safety heroes The Conies are looking to ‘cone-gratulate’ the creative efforts of families across the UK in helping to promote child safety.

The family of traffic-cone-shaped cartoon characters has been conceived and created by Fay Goodman, Managing Director of Birmingham-based DriveSafe & StaySafe, as successors to The Green Cross Code Man and Tufty the Squirrel, who raised awareness of road safety for children from the 1970s.

The Conies, as part of Road Safety Week, have now invited families nationwide  to help raise similar awareness by submitting photos and videos of themselves in cone-shaped or road safety-based costumes.

The best submission in the challenge competitionwill win the entrants £100 and be used to help promote The Conies’ national road safety campaign. The closing date for entries is 28 February 2020.

Fay Goodman said: “Whether in traffic cone costumes or high-vis jackets, or as the Conies characters themselves, we want individuals and families across Britain to pose with pride in helping us stand upfor safer streets.

“We are asking challengers to post their photo and video on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and tag to #theconies. This will help us spread and unite in the fight for road awareness and prevent road ‘cone-tastrophe’ through a fun activity.”

The competition follows the successful rollout and response to ‘The Conies: Walking to School Safely Journal’, a 40-page fully illustrated dyslexia-friendly workbook for primary school children, featuring The Conies family, which has now reached more than 200 schools and 33,000 children across the Midlands.

The book has been produced and published as a free resource by DriveSafe with the support of the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership, Pertemps Education Network and Goodmedia Limited.

Fay Goodman said: “Children can engage by reading, listening and acting out scenarios from the journal, and there is a review at the end to test how much each child has learnt and absorbed. Teachers will be able to keep this page as ‘evidence’ of the child’s learning and reward it with a certificate or star to offer continued encouragement.

Previous winners of The Conies road safety song competition, Delves Primary School, Walsall

“Now, whenever they see a road cone, we hope children will think about The Conies and the positive messages to ‘Stop, Look and Listen’ before you cross the road and ‘Keep Looking and Listening’ as you cross.”

Fay added: “Too many children are needlessly injured or killed on our roads. We have to do something which will impact in a dynamic way – and what better way than to turn road signs that are all around us into animated characters – especially road cones!

“The Green Cross Code Man and Tufty the Squirrel made such a difference to helping children’s safety in their era – and I sincerely believe our Conies are having the same impact as the new national heroes of road safety.”

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TheConiesWorld/

Instagram:  theconies55

Website: www.theconiesworld.co.uk

Good, but could do better – progress on Road Safety

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Here at Conies HQ we are reading with interest the latest progress report on the Government’s Road Safety Statement.
In December 2015, the Government published its Road Safety Statement, setting out its vision, values and priorities to bring down the numbers of people killed and injured on our roads. In June it let us all know how it was doing against its targets.
You can sum up our reaction as:

“Good, but could do better.”

Firstly, the good bits. We applaud the progress being made on driver safety, especially on the toughening of penalties against those who use mobile phones while driving. We’ve all seen the high-profile cases of mobile phone use leading to horrific crashes and we think that increasing fines against offenders will help protect children, both as passengers and pedestrians.
We’ve long been supporters of walking and cycling and that’s why we are also pleased to see the government agree plans for investment in safer cycling and walking infrastructure. Great that it will also spend some time and money in persuading people out of the car.


However, we are frustrated by the lack of progress in implementing 20mph speed limits in appropriate areas. The progress report claims that it is ‘in progress’ and a report is due to be published later in 2018. There is clear evidence that 20 mph speed limits help save children’s’ lives, so we are puzzled why there has been no progress in this area and no definite date set for when the Governments report is due. Why the delay?


The Conies will continue to campaign and inform to help keep our children safe on the streets especially around schools. We welcome the progress made, but key areas need to be addressed. And quickly.

Six safety tips for the six week holiday

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The school summer holidays are here and The Conies want you and your family to have a safe and enjoyable six weeks.

Here’s our six best ways to stay safe

1. We all feel more cheerful when the sun is shining but if the weather continues to be as hot as it has been, then it is really important to protect your skin and keep cool. Follow our guide to sun safety to keep yourself and your children protected.

2. At least 25 British people drown in swimming pools each year with more than 500 serious incidents occurring. Only swim at official sites, stay vigilant around swimming pools and don’t rely on lifeguards. Read this useful guide to pool safety for more information

3. The recent tragedy in Norfolk has highlighted how important this point is. Before letting your child on to a bouncy castle, spend a couple of minutes checking out the operation, says ROSPA. This could help prevent any accidents.

4. Barbecues should be fun but it’s easy to get distracted when you have friends and family around for a few drinks. Keep children and garden games away from the cooking area.

5. Help your kids avoid stranger danger. Agree a place to meet if they get lost at an event, consider using a named wristband with your phone number on and tell them to speak to a policeman or another parent with children if they get lost.

6. The chances are children will be playing outside more during the holidays. Now’s a good time to remind your children about the basic steps:

• Find a safe place to cross

• Stop at the kerb

• Look right

• Look left

• Look right again

• If the road is clear, cross – don’t run!

• Keep looking and listening for traffic as you cross.

How about playing this online game from brake to help them think about safety in the car?

Enjoy the school holidays.

Competition winners announced

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Well done to the two winning families who will be going to see the Aviva Premiership Rugby Final. They were chosen at random from all those who entered our recent competition and correctly selected ‘Cone with the Wind’ as the answer.

Cone with the Wind is our latest video available to watch on YouTube if you haven’t seen it yet, please do so. A gorgeously animated story with educational messages about the environment that will delight as well as inform all the family!

 

The winning entrant Linsey Ferrari asked if she could share her prize with another winner as she didn’t need all the tickets.  So two families, the Ferraris and the Worths will now benefit from the tickets given to The Conies by Aviva.  The tickets were presented in an assembly at Balsall Common Primary School today.

Pupils at Balsall Common Primary School took part in The Conies Road Safety pilot last year.  We also delivered another 300 journals this week so even more children can learn about road safety with our fun characters.

Howard Rose, Director of Funding and Publicity BCPS, said: “This is such a great initiative and I am delighted to say that I have been lucky enough to be involved with it from the start almost. It was fantastic news to find out that the winner of the competition came from our school and that we were able to present the prize as part of The Conies Road Safety Assembly, thanks to Fay and her team.”

Fay Goodman, our founder, added: “Thanks so much to Aviva for the tickets. We’re grateful to all the businesses who help to support the work of The Conies, we couldn’t do it without them.  If you’d like to get involved then there are several ways you can help.” 

Helping More Children To Walk To School Safely

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Five thousand school pupils from 70 schools in the Aston, Nechells and Winson Green areas of Birmingham have benefited from road safety education and advice as we continue to expand our successful road safety projects throughout the city. This is at a time when a series of recent incidents have highlighted just how dangerous the journey to school can be.

Fay Goodman, our founder explains: “In the last few weeks we’ve seen some awful news stories about accidents near schools, school crossing patrols being cut, and just how dangerous it can be for some children to get to school.  Our vision is to create a safer world where children can go to school and play outside safely.”

Following our first pilot in 27 Birmingham schools last year, we delivered road safety teaching resources to nearly 3000 children, located in high accident hotspot areas of the city involving school children. The response was 100% positive in feedback from both teachers and pupils alike. The success of the pilot means we have now been able to increase the number of children we reach with the delivery of thousands of fun and educational work books to local pupils. Teachers also receive lesson plan books with a variety of activities and scenarios for delivering road safety education to their classroom.

At an official launch event on Tuesday 22 May, representatives from West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service, Birmingham Council, Five Alive Roadwise, and local schools heard more about the impact of The Conies Journal on local children’s understanding of road safety.

Thanks to Colour Cubed who print our journals.

Fay Goodman – founder of the Conies, PC Malcolm Cooper – Young person’s officer – Birmingham Partnerships, Jean Roberts – Five Alive Roadwise, and Claire Turner.

Fay added “We are delighted with the support we’ve received to extend our Road Safety programme and thank all our supporters who have made it possible. Our mission is to reduce accidents and to avoid potential dangers out there. The Conies are a fun and friendly way to teach children about risk and how to mitigate it.

“Our work is by no means done with this latest round of journals, ideally we need another 15,000 just to meet the demand from the schools we’ve already spoken to.  If any local businesses or organisations can support us we would be incredibly grateful. You can get in touch with us via our website.”

The Conies are already supported by the Birmingham Safety Community Partnership which comprises the WM Police, West Midlands Fire Service and Birmingham City Council. Also Tim Watts, Chairman of Pertemps Group, Jess Phillips MP and celebrity Rick Wakeman. West Midlands Mayor Andy Street sent a message of support that was read out at the event.

Department for Transport statistics show on average in the mid-1990s, 260 children killed on Britain’s roads annually. Year on year these figures dropped until 2011 with the trend now reversed upwards. In 2016 69 children (an increase of 15 from 2015), were killed on our roads. This was the highest figure since 2009. We believe that concerted efforts need to be undertaken to address this worrying trend.

All support whether financial or volunteering time and skills would be very welcome, please get in touch if you can help.

The Benefits of Walking to School

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It’s Walk to School Week from the 21st to 25th May, and we want to encourage you to get out of the car and walk with your children to school. Here’s our 5 top reasons for walking:

1. Road Safety

Use the walk to school to teach your children about road safety. Skills they learn now will be invaluable for the rest of their lives.  The school run would also be safer for everyone if there were fewer car traffic around schools. Axa have published a report drawing on over six years’ data which showing 85,814 UK child injuries on roads within a 500m radius of schools, the equivalent of 1,190 a month.

2. Community

It’s better for your community. Fewer cars mean less pollution, less congestion and reduced parking problems around the school. According to Living Streets organisation their annual survey shows where 70% of primary school children in the 1970s used to walk to school, today that figure is 48%, the lowest ever. Such a decline impacts on children’s health, air quality, traffic congestion and road safety. By contrast 67% of Dutch children either walk or cycle to school. The amount driven by car in Holland is just 4%!

3. Health

Childhood obesity is rising fast and children need at least an hour of exercise each day. Why not walk to school to tackle those issues? The benefits of walking are seen as follows:

  • Building strong bones and muscles.
  • Decreasing the risk of obesity.
  • Lowering risk for diabetes and metabolic disease.
  • Lowering risk for cardiovascular disease.
  • Improving mental health

After a good cardiovascular workout, studies show children who arrive at school are more alert, focused and perform better in their academic education. Those driven to school have poorer concentration levels and over a three year period have been shown to be as much as 6 months behind academically. Exercise helps our brains make better use of oxygen thereby reducing mental fatigue and sharpen your thinking. 

4. Cost

You’ll spend less on petrol. When the car’s engine is cold it is less efficient so short journeys to school and back are particularly costly. One in three children driven to school live less than a mile from their school.

5. Time

Walking to school could save you time. Have your measured it? By the time you’ve loaded your car, driven and parked, walking could be just as quick – or even quicker. If your school runs a walking bus then you can wave goodbye to your children from a nearby safe location, saving valuable minutes in the morning.

There’s more information about the benefits of walking to school on the Living Streets website. And, it’s not just about walking to school, May is National Walking Month, and we fully support the Walk This May campaign.