Award Winning Films for the All Wales School Liaison Core Programme and Straker Films

The All Wales School Liaison Core Programme and Straker Films have won major awards for films on sexting and domestic abuse, which are offered to all secondary schools throughout Wales. 

At the EVCOM 2015 award ceremony at Park Lane’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Friday 27th March, dramas ‘Risky Pics’ and ‘Hidden Hurt’ won two Gold awards for Education and Health & Safety, plus three Silver and two Bronze awards in other categories.

‘Risky Pics’, a film about sexting for 11-14 year olds uses a ‘sliding doors’ idea where the character splits at the moment of decision and we watch the outcomes of both sending or deleting. The film aims to show both the consequences and future risks of sending images for both parties. Many School Community Police Officers comment that children are unaware of the consequences of sexting socially, emotionally and in terms of the Law. The film makes it clear that making a positive choice is the best course of action.

Risky Pics Trailer

‘Hidden Hurt’ warns of the danger of getting drawn into a relationship with an abusive partner and highlights how difficult it is to escape the relationship once you’re caught in it. The hard hitting drama is shown to 11 – 14 year olds in lessons delivered by School Community Police Officers and is narrated by the best friend of the abused girl.

Hidden Hurt Trailer

The All Wales School Liaison Core Programme has a long standing relationship with Straker Films. Back in 2012 the team won awards in Education and Health & Safety for the films ‘Be Cyber Safe’ and ‘Look Who’s Talking’.

Each of the four films are bilingual, which meant shooting each scene twice, once in Welsh and then in English, and use a different creative device to engage the particular age group, with the script developed in close connection with the Police Forces and Straker Films. Since its release in September 2012, ‘Be Cyber Safe’ has been seen by over 93,000 pupils; released at the same time, ‘Look Who’s Talking’ has been seen by over 51,000. ‘Hidden Hurt’ was released to schools in September 2014 and has already been seen by over 14,000 young people; ‘Risky Pics’ was released to schools in January 2015 and has already been seen by over 7,000 pupils. This means since 2012, these combined films have reached over 165,000 children in Welsh Secondary Schools.

Bethan James, Schools Coordinator for Dyfed Powys Police said: “The feedback we get from pupils in Dyfed Powys about the films is very positive. They are great quality films with high impact stories and they are bilingual.  Our School Community Police Officers are addressing some really serious topics within schools and having high quality resources to assist with lessons is of great benefit to the School Officers and most importantly, the pupils.”

Faith McCready, National Coordinator of the AWSLCP based in South Wales Police said, “Working with Straker Films was successful because the team understand the requirements of producing high quality films that grasp the attention of young people and provide credible advice and information. The films have been incredibly successful in delivering the messages to pupils across Wales. Subjects such as sexting, safe relationships and esafety are a growing problem in schools so it’s vital that our School Community Police Officers get the message across to pupils.”

Straker Films won the commissions through an open national tendering process. They said:

“The awards are testament to the trusting relationship with theAll Wales School Liaison Core Programme and the Police. We worked closely together on defining the messaging and the creative idea to make sure it would hit home with the schoolchildren and engage their attention. We also won a Gold Award for Training and 2 Silvers for a film for the CPNI on identity fraud, so we’re really pleased with the results this year.”

Full list of awards won – 2015 and 2012