Flintshire County Council’s Community Safety Partnership (FCSP) has secured funding to run a series of theatre workshops for local schoolchildren which aim to raise awareness about rape and sexual assault.
Of all the recorded rape and/or sexual violence incidents reported to North Wales Police in the last year, a significant number of cases involved young people between the ages of 13 and 16.
The Flintshire Sexual Violence Task Group, which is part of the FCSP, felt it was important to make young people more aware of this wide and complex issue. Cats Paw Theatre Company has developed a forum theatre production for upper high school students which explores the subject in a sensitively handled way. Funding has been provided from Cymorth, the Children and Young People’s Partnership Fund, allowing this production, to now be delivered throughout Flintshire secondary schools to Year 9/10 pupils.
The production centres around a scenario involving a 15 year old girl and her 18 year old boyfriend and the events that unfold over the course of an evening. The girl says she didn’t give her consent to them having intercourse, but her boyfriend says she did. The audience is shown the scenario from both the girl’s and the boy’s perspective. Pupils then have the opportunity to discuss what happened and to act as an informal jury to decide on the truth. Along the way the realities of the law and the implications for all concerned are discussed and examined in detail.
Jackie Goundrey from the Flintshire Community Safety Partnership said:
“The production has already been seen by upper high school pupils in most of our secondary schools. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from the pupils themselves, teaching staff and a number of agencies who have been brought in to support the tour. It was important for us to secure funding to deliver this innovative and dynamic piece of forum theatre so that young people are fully aware of the issues. The subject is covered in a sensitive and interactive way that engages young people, and also provides an opportunity to raise awareness around the services out there that can offer support”.
DS Ros Morgan from the Serious Sexual Offences Investigation Team said:
“This has been an excellently developed production which was commissioned as a result of the high levels of reporting of sexual violence from our target audience. The high number of reported incidents demonstrate that young people are now more confident in coming forward. Our intention was to ensure that young people were educated on how the law stands with regards to sexual offending, along with highlighting what support is available for victims of Sexual Assault. Hopefully young people will be more aware of the implications that both sexual relationships and sexual offending can attract, not just immediately, but also for their future.”
The Cats Paw production is currently being shown in schools across the county.
