Over 1,600 local children learnt life skills at the 32nd Junior Citizen event

Crawley Borough Council recently organised its 32nd Junior Citizen event, attended by more than 1,600 Year Six students from 24 schools.

Junior Citizen, a long-running event held at The Hawth, gives children advice on how to safely deal with potential dangers and teaches them valuable life skills. This year’s event was funded by Crawley Borough Council, Safer Crawley Partnership and Southern Water, which specifically funded the coach travel.

The fortnight long event covered a wide range of topics including: • vaping • fire safety in the home• body image and self-care• safety at train stations and on trains• online safety – gaming• reduce, re-Use, recycle• online safety – what’s safe to share• handwashing• water use and using water wisely• anti-social behaviour

The organisations supporting the event included Crawley Young Persons Council, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, Juno Project, Southeast Communities Rail Partnership, West Sussex County Council Community Safety and Wellbeing, West Sussex County Council Waste Prevention team, Sussex Police and Southern Water, as well as Crawley Borough Council Environmental Health team and Crawley Borough Council Community Protection team, with Crawley Luxury providing the transport.

Representatives from Crawley Borough Council visited one of the morning sessions including Mayor of Crawley, Councillor Sharmila Sivarajah, Councillor Yasmin Khan (Cabinet member for Public Protection), Councillor Bob Noyce (Cabinet member for Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change).

Councillor Yasmin Khan, Cabinet member for Public Protection, said: “We are pleased to have organised our 32nd Junior Citizen event, which encourages good citizenship. Local children have had the opportunity to learn key life skills, as well as being reminded of important online safety advice such as not to reveal personal details to strangers.”

Councillor Bob Noyce, Cabinet member for Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change, commented: “It was great to see the students at Junior Citizen learning about the importance of protecting our environment, encouraging them to adopt lifelong behaviours such as re-using and recycling, and using water wisely.”