Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Readers’ Letters: Ant and Dec help in school events

Ant and Dec
Ant and Dec

Volunteers and staff from our NSPCC school service aren’t able to deliver our free Speak Out Stay Safe assemblies in person at the moment, because of restrictions to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

But, so we can continue to work alongside staff in primary schools to help children know what to do and who to speak to if something is worrying or upsetting them, we have launched a virtual programme.

We have teamed up with Ant and Dec to produce a virtual assembly, which can be shown in primary schools across the country.

Our dedicated schools service team across Scotland visited 833 primary schools during the last academic year, delivering our age-appropriate safeguarding sessions to more than 145,000 children in the country before lockdown was introduced. The assembly, which features our mascot Buddy, helps children understand how to recognise different forms of abuse and identify a trusted adult should they ever have a concern.

Since May, the monthly number of referrals from the NSPCC helpline to agencies in Scotland, because of concerns about the wellbeing of a child, has been more than a third higher than pre-lockdown levels.

The national lockdown left many children trapped indoors in harmful and distressing situations for a number of months, and the main issues the helpline heard about were physical and emotional abuse and neglect.

Ant and Dec are helping us continue to reach children with our assemblies by hosting this new virtual version, addressing additional worries that children are experiencing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is vital that children know what to do and who to speak to if something is happening in their life which is making them feel scared or anxious.

By signing up to the free virtual assemblies with the supporting teaching materials, which are also available in British Sign Language (BSL), primary schools across this region can help us to protect children. To sign up visit

nspcc.org.uk/speakout

.

Alan Stewart, Schools Service manager for NSPCC Scotland.

Parking problems

I wholeheartedly agreed with John Banks’ letter of 28/10. Why on earth are we still having to pay to park till 8pm Monday till Saturday?

Dispensing of parking charges or at least reducing them big time would encourage people back to city centre shops and generate business for hospitality venues.

Great if this could be done in time for Aberdeen Restaurant week, now extended from November 2-15.

Come on Aberdeen City Council, you know this makes sense.

Sheila Thomson.

Road sense

Re the bike lane being removed at Aberdeen beach. At last you got your common sense council.

It is an utter waste of money. Very few cyclists have been using the cycle lane. Some of the cyclists still go on the pavement. The cafes really need the trade.

A Gordon.

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.