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Drug
Awareness at Holy Trinity School (5
March 2005) |
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Last
Thursday 3 March, around fifty parents, teachers and youth workers met
together at Holy Trinity School for a Drug Awareness Evening. It had been
instigated by the Cookham Youth Project and was co-ordinated by Cyndy Gray
of the Royal Borough. She was ably assisted by Iris Mitchell, a
schools' nurse and PC Tim Alexander of Thames Valley Police who liaises with
schools. In addition Emily a pupil at Windsor Girls School gave her point
of view of drugs in schools. Attendees included all the head
teachers from Cookham's state primary schools. Cookham Dean Cookham Rise
and Holy Trinity. David Oakden, head teacher at Holy Trinity, had
done a tremendous job in getting the facilities ready and also ensuring
that refreshments were on hand. |
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Cyndy Gray talks to
school nurse Iris Mitchell
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Cyndy started the evening with an
introduction into drug awareness and what the Education department of the
Royal Borough were aiming to achieve from a training point of view in
schools in the area. She was followed by nurse Iris Mitchell, who had set
up an exhibition of drawings by primary school pupils. The children
were told a story about someone who had a bag of drugs and they had to
draw what was in the bag, the owner of the bag, what they would do and
what the owner of the bag would do. The results were quite amazing.
Children of five appeared to be very aware of the drug problem and even
some in the reception year had awareness of drugs. Some of the children
had even written down addresses of drug users. It did appear that many of
the drawings were based on actual knowledge rather than just imagination.
Syringes started to appear in drawings of Year 2 children.
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Some of drawings
done by Primary School children in Cookham Dean and Cookham Rise
schools
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Iris was followed by Emily from Windsor
Girls School. Emily described how some of the older pupils were involved
in a project to explain to younger pupils the problems of drugs and some
of the feedback she had received from this.
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Attendees Listens to
Emily
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PC Tim Alexander then spoke about some of
the areas in which the police were involved and also some of the
assumptions, sometimes incorrect, made by the general public. He said that
the drug that actually caused the most problem was alcohol and this was
the cause of many crimes. Tim had set up an excellent exhibition of types
of drugs with samples and also lots of handouts including a Drug Quiz. One
question was True or False - Ecstasy was invented in 1985, in fact this is
false it was invented in 1914 in Germany. It was used on troops in World
War I, but it made them friendly to everyone. Also amphetamines were given
to troops in World War II to combat military fatigue.
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PC Tim Alexander's
Drug Exhibition
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Everyone then to together in small groups to
discuss the subject of drugs and what they had heard. Also to think of any
questions that may have cropped up during the evening.
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Attendees discuss
the Evening
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Cyndy was extremely happy about the evening
and plans to do another one on 12 May in Maidenhead. Cyndy can be
contacted at the Town Hall on 01628 798888.
If
you want more information about the Cookham Youth Project click here
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