Introducing Safety Stars: free safety lessons for your students

Every school wants children to know what to do when something feels wrong: when a stranger offers a chocolate, when someone unknown says “your Papa sent me” at the gate, or when a phone call asks for a number. Teaching this well takes time, the right words and a calm tone. That is why we made Safety Stars, a free course from SchoolTrendz Kids.

What Safety Stars is

Safety Stars is five short animated lessons with two friendly characters, Riya and Arjun. Each video is under two minutes long, and all five together take about eight minutes. After every lesson, children answer a five-question quiz and download a colourful certificate with their name on it.

The course is free for every school, teacher and parent. There is no login, no sign-up and no app to install. Open the page and press play:

• English: schooltrendz.com/kids
• Hindi page with Hinglish videos: schooltrendz.com/hi/kids

The five lessons

1. My Trusted Grown-ups. Children make a Safety Hand of five trusted grown-ups, learn to keep telling until someone helps, and learn Childline 1098.
2. Surprise or Secret? A surprise is happy and short. A secret that worries a child, or says “don’t tell your parents”, must always be told.
3. No, Go, Tell! If a stranger offers food or a drink: say No, Go to a safe place, and Tell a trusted grown-up.
4. Safe at the School Gate. Never go with anyone without checking, even if they know your name. Go to the teacher or the school guard, and make a family code word.
5. Never Share an OTP! An OTP is like a house key. Never share it on a call or a message, give the phone to Mummy or Papa, and ask before clicking prize links.

Each lesson ends with one simple rule that children can say out loud, such as “No, Go, Tell!” or “Never share an OTP!”. The quizzes use short stories about Riya and Arjun, with a big emoji on every answer button for children who are still learning to read, and a Listen button that reads each question aloud. A wrong answer brings a gentle hint and another try, never a “wrong!”.

Certificates children are proud of

When a child finishes a quiz, they type their name and download a Certificate of Achievement as a picture or a PDF. Children who finish all five lessons unlock a special Safety Stars Champion certificate. These are fun, informal certificates from SchoolTrendz Kids, not official qualifications, but they give you a lovely reason to call children up on stage.

Made with children’s privacy in mind

• Every video is marked “made for kids” on YouTube, on the separate SchoolTrendz Kids channel.
• We never ask for any details about a child. Quiz progress is saved only in the browser being used.
• The name typed for a certificate is used only to make the certificate on that device. It is never sent to us.
• We keep only anonymous totals, such as how many quizzes were finished or certificates made, never a name.

How to run it in assembly

You need a smartboard, or a laptop with a projector, and about ten minutes:

1. Play one lesson. Open the page and play the video for the whole assembly.
2. Ask two or three questions. Each lesson on the page has teacher notes: three questions to ask and one short activity. For “No, Go, Tell!”, the whole school can say “No!” with a hand held up, take two steps for “Go!” and point to a teacher for “Tell!”.
3. Do the quiz together. Read the questions aloud, or press Listen, and let children call out the answers.
4. Celebrate. Print certificates for a few children and call them up as your Safety Stars.

You could run one lesson a week in assembly, or one a day during a safety week. Class teachers can then repeat the lesson in a class period with the activity from the teacher notes.

Which classes is it for?

Safety Stars is made for young primary-school children, about 5 to 10 years old. You know your students best, so watch a lesson first and decide which classes it suits.

If you have questions, or ideas for topics you would like us to cover, we would love to hear from you through our contact page.