“I didn’t even know what child sexual exploitation is, never heard of it so how could I know it was happening to me? Or what to do about it? Even just knowing what it was, that it happened, would have been a bonus, would have helped me.

“That’s why Real Love Rocks is important, it’s like anything, if they teach it to you in school it just becomes natural, something you just know. Kids that do Real Love Rocks will be able to know the signs, understand what a healthy relationship is… before it all goes wrong. That’s why I think it’s good there is a Real Love Rocks for primary schools, I was 12 when it started happening to me… I needed warning before then.

“The fact that Real Love Rocks has stories coming from real young people is crucial- means you can relate to it- it’s their experience, it’s their story, it makes you trust it, makes you listen.” Quote from young person involved in developing the real love rocks programme.

Staff at Barnardo’s Greater Manchester Sexual Exploitation Development team are today launching an innovative new resource pack called Real Love Rocks.

The resource is a programme developed by Barnardo’s to promote healthy, consensual, safe relationships amongst children and young people. It seeks to raise awareness of grooming, child sexual exploitation and online safety.

It is thought to be the first of its kind in the country.

It will be launched at a premiere at Cineworld Didsbury on Wilmslow Road in East Didsbury, Manchester between 1-3pm on Wednesday 14th May and will include Lynn Perry MBE, Barnardo’s Director of Children’s Services and Sheila Taylor MBE, CEO of Network Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation.

Real Love Rocks has been designed to be delivered by teachers, school counsellors, youth workers or other professionals who have experience of delivering sex and relationship education to young people.

There are two separate resource packs, one for children in years six and one for young people in years seven-nine. Both packs contain animations, games and activities and contain stories of real young people and has been designed for both boys and girls.

Each Real Love Rocks pack is made up of four sections. The primary school edition contains:

• Healthy relationships (including power and control)
• Grooming
• Keeping Safe
• Internet safety

The secondary school edition contains:

• Healthy relationships (including consent)
• Child sexual exploitation and grooming
• Keeping safe
• Impact of porn and sexting

Assistant Director for Barnardo’s, Sue Cuffe, said: “Real Love Rocks has been in development for the last two years. What became evident in planning it early on was the gap in a provision for a preventative programme of work that wouldn’t just focus on sexual exploitation, as many young people interviewed were confused around appropriate relationships, consent and social media.

“We recognise that as parents and professionals, talking to children and young people about sex and relationships is difficult. The natural reaction of most adults is to protect our children and to preserve their innocence for as long as possible. But the sad reality is that there are adults and peers who sexually abuse and exploit children and young people and take advantage of their innocence. Perpetrators now have greater access to our children through the internet and social media.

“We cannot always be there for our children and young people and, therefore, we have a responsibility to equip them with knowledge to help keep themselves safe. We have to educate them about healthy relationships. Children need the knowledge and confidence to speak out in case someone makes them feel uncomfortable and to be able to resist peer pressure.

“This resource pack has been developed out of our work with children and young people who have been sexually exploited. We hope that this resource will help children and young people to find their way through the challenges of real life, the internet and social media. It is designed to be used in schools or groups settings and to open up those difficult discussions with the aim of building confidence and resilience.

“Real Love Rocks is dedicated to all the children and young people Barnardo’s have worked with because they have been sexually exploited. They have taught us so much by sharing their experiences and we hope that this pack will prevent other children from becoming victims.”