Year 2 children from Prior Park Prep were delighted to receive a very special visit from PCSO Mandi Coles, who arrived complete with panda car, hats and helmets.
The visit to the Cricklade school, which was all part of Wiltshire Police’s Youth Engagement work, was aimed at teaching the children who to call in an emergency and which number to dial. In class, PCSO Mandi Coles told the children everything they needed to know and the excited children listened intently.
Then, when the PCSO opened a bag full of police officers hats, helmets and riot gear, the children’s’ faces lit up with wonder. Proudly sporting the hats, the children couldn’t wait to have their picture as a police officer.
When the police car arrived, the children jumped with excitement as she put on the blues and twos! She took the time to explain why it was important not only to have sirens that make a noise but to make different noises so that people would hear the sounds over traffic and loud music in their cars. She told the children that they may see undercover police cars that don’t have ‘Police’ written on them but do have flashing lights.
Clambering inside the car, the competition was, of course, fierce to sit in the driving seat and pretend to race after the robbers! It all got the children’s minds whirring about how things worked.
Teacher, Mrs Fiona Bunn explained, “As a school, we want to make sure that we help children cope with an unexpected emergency situation. If they know what they need to do and that there is someone who will come and help, they may not feel so scared and may be of great help. The children really enjoyed the visit, car and hats, so perhaps we’ll have a few future police officers from our school!”