Kent Police Schools Open Day
9 January 2018
I would like to offer you the opportunity to attend an exciting new event that Kent Police are hosting especially for schools in Kent on the 29 June 2018, primarily aimed at Year 6 children.
The Kent Police Schools Open Day is an extension of the annual event which usually takes place in late June, early July for the last six years. Each year attendance has increased and we reached capacity at 13,500 visitors in one day in 2017.
Held at our Training School in Maidstone, we have access to very large playing fields, our skid pan and the ground floor of the Training School itself. This enables us to offer a vast array of attractions spread over a large area with refreshments and toilet facilities able to cater for large volumes of visitors.
The response from people attending has been overwhelmingly positive and all the displays and events during the day cater for children and adults of any age and are all fully wheelchair accessible.
While the event started as an Open Day, it is now much more. As well as encouraging people from all our communities to engage with us and find out more about what we do, it is now an exciting (and educational) event in its own right.
Displays and activities include:
- A visit from a police helicopter (children are allowed to go inside)
- Police dog displays (including the puppies)
- A re-enactment of a police car pursuing an offender with ambulances and fire engines in attendance
- A ‘public order’ display in our ‘street scene’ (a real-scale street where officers are trained)
- A staff safety display in our large gym (showing how officers safely deal with offenders)
- Our firearms range (with displays showing how to tell a real gun from an imitation)
- Life-saving demonstrations
- Crime prevention stalls (staying safe out and about and online including road safety)
- A Taser display
- How we use drones (including a live demonstration)
- How our Control Room operates (where we take 999 and 101 calls)
- Lots of blue light vehicles (which children can sit on or go inside) including police, fire and search and rescue vehicles
- A visit to a cell in our custody suite
- Free face painting and bouncy castles.
Overall the offer is both educational and huge amounts of fun for everyone.
Here is a small sample of the feedback on Facebook:
“Brilliantly organised event. We thoroughly enjoyed everything and it was an amazing eye-opener to what Kent Police actually does.”
“4th year of attending and found this to be the best yet. The police dogs were a huge hit.”
“Fantastic officers on site, well organised and setting a fantastic positive image of the police to all the younger visitors.”
“Amazing day out for the kids! The staff were so knowledgeable and friendly which it so nice as the kids had tons of questions and wanted to try out everything!”
As I mentioned earlier, the event is aimed at Year 6 Pupils. We are unfortunately unable to offer funding for transport but will provide coach parking and of course the event itself will be free. We will aim to provide a staggered entry into the event and will cater for the hours of the school day.
If you would like to attend, please could you register your interest with approximate numbers of Pupils and Adults to schoolscoordinator@kent.pnn.police.uk by 5 February 2018.
I do hope that you are able to attend this exciting event and I look forward to welcoming you and your students.
Yours sincerely
Angela Dench
Children and Young Person Manager, Kent Police