Rob Hattersley

Rob is Education Co-ordinator at Safeside, an interactive 'safety village' comprising street scene, bus, train, canal, shops and house, run by West Midlands Fire Service. He is responsible for the development of education programmes delivering experiential safety and citizenship education to children and adults across the West Midlands. Rob is also Co-ordinator of the Safety Centre Alliance, the national network of similar centres.

Rob has taught in several primary schools around the UK, most recently as a deputy head. He worked for a major house-builder in setting up a school and community programme across the Midlands and South-East. He ran his own business for three years developing programmes incorporating the objectives of businesses, local authorities, campaigning groups, charities and other organisations into the school curriculum, and designs and manages websites in his spare time.

Facebook for under 13s?

May 24th, 2011 by Rob Hattersley

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, is arguing that under 13s should be able to use Facebook. At the NewSchools Venture Fund's Summit in California last week, Zuckerberg told an interviewer that improving education and making the Internet more open are his favourite dinner party topics. Currently, Facebook ...

Computer screens can't replace active learning

November 25th, 2010 by Rob Hattersley

It seems some public sector organisations are thinking about putting everything - especially training - online in an effort to save money.From an educational perspective I think such online schemes are overrated. In trials for one online scheme I was consulted on, I remember thinking that any competent ...

Cyclists as safe as necessary? Not in many urban areas.

July 15th, 2010 by Rob Hattersley

Great to hear Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA’s chief executive, saying that children should be encouraged to cycle with more freedom in order to gain life experience skills. I agree with him that children should be 'as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible.' This is a principle we promote at Safeside, wher...

Trialling Lifeskills

June 25th, 2010 by Rob Hattersley

Really enjoyed the trial this week for Lifeskills - our new Year 8 programme in the safety village. It comprised of an interactive tour led by Safeside Presenters and drama students from Birmingham City University. The drama students have written and devised their own scripts, based on criteria set do...

Welcome to the West Midlands

March 13th, 2010 by Rob Hattersley

I'm just taking a short break from writing a new and exciting interactive education programme for newcomers to the West Midlands. The scheme will fully utilise Safeside's realistic indoor street scene to deliver information and develop skills which our research suggest will be useful to those struggling to a...

Get on the Safeside

March 4th, 2010 by Rob Hattersley

In the space of two hours, the six children got help for someone who drowned, crossed the road safely several times, and were pretty scared as they walked down a dark alley to find someone standing round an even darker corner. They did some shopping, tried to buy some cigarettes for a neighbour, although...

Communicate your messages through schools

April 3rd, 2008 by Rob Hattersley

Investing in curriculum resources for schools can be a very effective way of communicating messages on sustainability to wider audiences for local authorities. Not only do the children in schools benefit, but you can also effect behavioural change in parents and the wider community, especially when...

Get out the vote

March 15th, 2008 by Rob Hattersley

It's coming up to election time again and local authority election departments might be wondering what turnout will be and thinking of ways to improve it. For a small investment in a primary schools programme elections departments could: - * generate excellent media opportunities highlighting the...

Building good relations

February 22nd, 2008 by Rob Hattersley

Building sites are dangerous places for children and building work often seen as extremely inconvenient to local communities. Local authorities and building firms can turn that perception around with a carefully planned schools programme. For example, visiting schools near your sites with a safety message...

A culture of pressure

February 13th, 2008 by Rob Hattersley

Who can disagree with the idea that schools should do more of everything in the same amount of time - more culture, more sport, more topics, more writing, more reading, and yet it's the Maths that doesn't add up (Lessons in Culture for every Child (13.02.08)). It seems every Education Secretary comes in and needs ...