See what we did to protect our children
We hope these pages have helped you. Now it’s your turn. We’d like you to share with us your own stories of what you’ve done to help protect your children.
Would you like to see anything else on this site? Are you pleased (or displeased) with any of the services you’ve seen here? If you think there’s anything more we could be doing in the area of child protection, then please let us know at protectourchildren@O2.com
See what we did to help schools learn about mobile safety
A man named Richard from the Nuisance Call Bureau has an inspiring story he’d like to tell us about the ‘Prison Me No Way’ campaign. Over to you, Richard.
“The Prison Me No Way (PMNW) Trust has been in existence since 1993, and aims to raise awareness among young people of the causes and consequences of crimes. Through education PMNW aims to deal with the common misconceptions of imprisonment, and to dissuade young people away from crime.
To date the charity has reached in excess of 4.5 million young people with very positive results. How? By running regular workshops and distributing questionnaires with schools, along with other agencies such as the police, ambulance, fire brigade, magistrates, drug awareness, alcoholics anonymous, youth offending unit, and others.
Surveys conducted afterwards have shown very encouraging results. 83% of the children attending said they found the presentations informative, 88% said having heard what prison is really like they are determined not to go there and 80% said they now felt much less likely to commit crime. All in all, these workshops are extremely rewarding and worthwhile to take part in.”
Great stuff, but where does O2 fit in?
O2’s Nuisance Call Bureau(NCB) is lucky enough to be involved in the Trust’s crimes days. On these days, the NCB helps run workshops, role plays, and question and answer sessions for young people. The NCB talks to them about all the major mobile phone safety issues; these include nuisance calls, bullying, and chat rooms. In some cases they’ve taken children out to see a true to scale prison cell which is in actual fact a van that as been converted to look as much as possible like the real thing.
Well worth it
The reactions to the NCB presentations have been very positive, pupils ask plenty of questions and the NCB team encourage them to do so. On occasions, the NCB team have had young people approach them privately about an existing situation either within their family or school. They give as much advice as they’re able to and point them in the right direction to get further assistance.
See more positive stories at http://www.pmnw.co.uk/ (opens in a new window)
If schools would like more information on mobile phone safety they can contact Customer care or email ncb@o2.com
See what we did in partnership with Childnet
"Alongside the work that O2 is doing in providing the Childnet "Parent's Checklist" advice for its customers, O2 is also working with Childnet to train and support O2 staff across the company to help them better understand the safety issues for children when they use the internet and mobile phones.
An ongoing programme of staff workshops called "Mind the Gap" is running which helps staff better understand the "gap" which exists between how adults use the internet and mobile phones, and how children do.
The presentation looks at the responsibilities that mobile operators have agreed to in ensuring that children are safe using their phones and the features and choices now available for families. Feedback from the workshop has been very positive, with many staff saying how much they have benefited from the advice, and how it will help them both in their families but also in the workplace.”
Will Gardner, Childnet International
See what we did to spread the word about new media
Not that we’re ones to blow our own trombones, but we were actually the first mobile phone operator to sign the Media Literacy Charter (MLC) recently.
What’s being Media Literate when it’s at home?
The MLC is there to make sure that every man and his dog is making the most of all new media content. In plain English, that’s playing safe on the internet, and using our mobile phones and the different types of messaging services out there. The Charter sets out to make people more aware of how important all this new-fangled technology really is, in all spheres of life.
So why did O2 join?
One of the big reasons we joined was so that we could go one step closer to helping children and young people know more about how to use their phones responsibly and appropriately. It’s making sure children are in the best possible position using their phones, and that they fully understand the good and bad aspects of new technology.
“Congratulations to O2 - the first mobile company to sign the Charter and celebrate the rich creative possibilities of mobile media in this way. O2 recognise there are some challenges and pitfalls in using any media, but good information and back-up support can empower people to make the most of the exciting and creative opportunities of mobile messages and services. I hope more companies will now follow O2's excellent lead and sign up.”
(So says Heather Rabbatts CBE, Chair of the Media Literacy Task Force.)