Barnsley's PC Dickens Goes Back To School

Allan Dickens is a Constable with South Yorkshire Police and has served in Barnsley for ten years, most recently working with the communities of Royston and Cudworth as a Children and Young Persons Officer in their local Safer Neighbourhood Team.

 Pc Dickens will be based within Carlton Community College as part of the Safer Schools Partnership. This is a national initiative, coordinated locally by the Carlton Community College team, youth services and agencies, police, community leaders and restorative justice experts, Remedi. The aim is to establish the police at the heart of communities by stationing officers in schools.

The scheme, which has taken two years to fully develop, is the result of a multi partnership approach to crime prevention, community reassurance and educational achievement. Edward Sheerien and Royston High officially merged on 29 June 2009 to become Carlton Community College and Barnsley’s second Safer School Partnership. (Dearne High School, Goldthorpe Green has successfully worked within a Safer School Partnership for the last two years.) Students from the two schools will join together for classes in September 2009 with the aim of moving to a new build site in Carlton by 2010.

Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls pledged his support for Safer Schools Partnerships in the latest Department for Children Schools and Families SSP guidelines, 2009. Figures from a survey carried out by ACPO suggest that over 5,000 schools across England currently have some sort of formal arrangement with police. It is envisaged that as neighbourhood policing develops and communities continue to benefit from Safer Neighbourhood Teams more schools will become involved in the initiative.

Carlton Community College was chosen for the Safer School Partnership because of the excellent levels of partnership work between Barnsley agencies, the strong leadership and drive of Head Teacher, Sue Hamby and the supportive relationship the two schools already have with their local Safer Neighbourhood Team police officers.

As the dedicated Safer School Partnership Officer, PC Allan Dickens will provide education, advice and support to 1,100 pupils, their parents and the wider community. Based within the school, PC Allan Dickens will be at the heart of the community and as such be easily accessible to the residents he serves.

Safer Neighbourhood Chief Inspector Scott Green said, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to this initiative. Safer School Partnerships are very much inline with neighbourhood policing. They break down barriers and improve the quality of our interaction with young people. Relationships that form early can last a life time and having a police officer that is approachable, accessible and responsible for serving pupils and parents is something that will benefit not only the school but the community as a whole”.

Head Teacher, Sue Hamby said, ‘This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and planning and I am very pleased that we will be working together with the Police, Remedi and other partners for the benefit of our young people.’