Kidscape is the anti-bullying charity that truly helps. We work directly with children and families who have been impacted by bullying.
Our vision is for all children to grow up in a world free from bullying and harm, with adults who keep them safe and help them to reach their full potential. Our mission is to provide children, families, carers and professionals with advice, training, and practical tools to prevent bullying and protect young lives.
Our ZAP Anti-Bullying workshops are designed to provide children with a range of strategies to deal with conflict and bullying situations, both face-to-face and online. We aim to empower self-esteem, inspire confidence, and build resilience - valuable skills that are transferable into everyday life as they grow.
We also offer advice, support and training to families. As a parent, discovering that your child or young person is experiencing bullying, or is involved in bullying, can be daunting. As parents how we choose to react and how we respond to bullying behaviour is vital to reaching a successful outcome for everyone involved. We signpost our Parent Advice Line and online peer support groups.
Our first ZAP workshop in March 2019 in Newport, saw eight families sign up, and leave the workshop with hope, strength, and strategies to move forward. We’ve made an incredible impact in helping these children, many of whom are going through severe bullying, to feel more confident and use the ZAP tools to stop bullying in its tracks.
Thanks to securing vital funding we have been able to deliver ZAP Anti-Bullying assemblies and Bullying Awareness workshops in your schools which have been overwhelmingly positive, with us working with hundreds of children in the area.
Please take a look here as to what our ZAP workshop means for parents/carers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojp--fVqm0g&list=PLtW1pinZx1FN7PVcVulCYQdtvwL2IK2t6&index=1
At Kidscape, we know that transition and even small change can be a very unsettling time for most children, which is why we developed our RISE transition support programme. Feedback from children and schools has been fantastic and has made a significant difference to those moving up to high school.
Because of COVID-19 preventing us from working in educational settings, we have adapted quickly to be able to provide our ZAP anti-bullying, RISE transition and Online Safety workshops online to continue to support children and their families in the area. These have become increasingly popular as our young people are presented with a return to school and some of those initial challenges start to re-surface.
Of course during our time in Newport, we have also been expanding our network to share our training with professionals and to help to spread the word of Kidscape through local MPs and MSs, as well as local councils, children's centres and parent networks.
Kidscape were delighted to be announced as an Official Charity Partner of Newport County AFC in March 2020, along with Josh Sheehan becoming an Ambassador for our charity.
https://www.newport-county.co.uk/news/2020/march/kidscape-partner-announcement/
During that time, we have been able to offer advice and support to many young supporters and their families on match days and beyond, as well as linking with, ‘County in the Community’ and the Academy. We have also been able to provide free training to many Newport County AFC personnel and with new support we hope to continue future collaborations across the club, along with hopefully gaining the front of the home shirt sponsorship for the coming season, which will elevate our platform and awareness of us as a charity in your community and further. A huge thank you to those who have so far donated and voted for us.
Going forward, we aim to raise as much awareness of the prevalence of bullying and the devastating impact that it can have on a young person's life. A heartbreaking statistic is that still - 1 in 4 children will experience bullying during their school life, which equates to a staggering 7 children in every class, in every school. Children have the power to lower this statistic by proactively practicing kindness, understanding empathy, pledging to be an upstander and encouraging other young people to come forward and start telling other people.
We will continue to grow our network and build our team of volunteers to enable us to reach more people across Newport and the surrounding areas. We want to be the first name that people think of when dealing with such situations, or for their professional training in areas such as Child Protection and Safeguarding.
We know that our work changes lives, and together with your help, this is possible.
For more information about Kidscape, please visit our website https://www.kidscape.org.uk/ To donate to the Newport County AFC Crowdfunder, please do so here and #VOTEKIDSCAPE
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/ncafc