Grandmother Launches New Way To Tackle Knives, Guns And Gangs Violence.

Nov. 10, 2009 - PRLog -- Islington grandmother launches new way to tackle youth knife crime and gang violence

Available to do On Air interviews.

www.egar.co.uk


(London, July 2009)

Following the news out today that the number of knife deaths in areas targeted by an anti-knife crime scheme has risen, one Islington grandmother thinks she has found the answer to this horrifying trend. Rather than spending millions of pounds on new initiatives, Sue Scott-Horne believes the answer lies in 'talking tools.'

Sue Scott-Horne, 59, is a mother of four, grandmother of five and founder and developer of EGAR Educational Games And Resources.

Over a career spanning twenty five years in Islington Education Department, London teaching Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) addressing issues including: Drugs Awareness, Self Responsibility, Interview Skills, Presenting Yourself and Decisions/ Consequences to teens and young adults, Scott-Horne has seen youth on youth violence escalate dramatically.

Horrified by the inner city killings of Damilola Taylor, Martin Dinnegan, and Ben Kinsella (whom Scott-Horne had known personally) she wanted to make a difference and started to scribble, devising educative discussion card sets and posters launching EGAR in 2008.

Rather than simply punishing troubled teens for their anti-social behaviour, Scott-Horne wants us to address the underlying causes. More often than not it is as basic as encouraging them to come away from the screens and turn off their mobile phones, iPods and really think about and talk about the issues that affect them. Scott-Horne has devised a set of Discussion Card games that stimulate meaningful focused discussion between teens and teachers or youth workers in a non-judgemental way. Her aim is for teens to put down their knives and pick up the discussion cards and start talking about how they feel. They can be used in a one-to-one basis or in a group classroom situation.

CHOICE discussion cards
Launching in July 2009, Series 2A covers ten topical discussions around CRIME PREVENTION.

How the game works:

There are 10 'CHOICE' Discussion Card sets in the CRIME PREVENTION series.

Game 1) KNIFE CULTURE
Game 2) GUN CULTURE
Game 3) DRUGS AWARENESS
Game 4) CRIME
Game 5) ANGER
Game 6) GANG CULTURE
Game 7) SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Game 8) STEALING
Game 9) VANDALISM
Game 10) ALCOHOL ABUSE

For each game there is one question, such as "Why do young people join a gang?"
(Game 6: GANG CULTURE)

There are approximately 25 answer cards in each set covering responses such as "To get respect", "The gang takes the places of the family" and "To cause trouble". The teenager is encouraged to choose and place the answer cards in order of importance, according to how they feel. The order of the cards provokes thought and discussion in a non judgemental way.

Communication, education and support leads to personal growth and the confidence to make the right choices.

Praise for EGAR products:

"I'm impressed by the EGAR 'Choice' Discussion Cards and Posters. I work with 11 to 20 year olds in an area of London where kids are under peer pressure to carry knives. They don't like what's going on but can easily be led and don't think about their actions. The cards get them thinking about the consequences of what they do. I was shocked how much they opened up - it's like planting a pea in their head; they're more aware and start to grow. They should be used in every secondary school." Paul Canoville, ex Chelsea FC player, now a youth worker and teaching assistant.

"Rarely do I come across resources that I want to shout about but this is one of them. These games are simple, to the point, and allow workers to open up conversations without young people feeling threatened. All the groups I tried them with wanted more." Richard Frankland, Prospex Youth Services Manager

Scott-Horne says, "EGAR resources fill a gap for staff teams to communicate and discuss real issues in young people's lives. These Choice Discussion cards and posters tie in with the governments Every Child Matters agenda as well as being an additional and complementary tool for the national core or recreational curriculums. Adolescence is a massive transition, there is so much that happens at that time for young people in terms of personal development. These aren't simply a discussion tool but can actually help change young people's minds and attitudes opening up better decisions made and of course consequences. This in turn will raise young people's self esteem and confidence making them valuable citizens of society."

Each card set retails at £20.00, discount of £180.00 for the set of ten (one game free).

Press samples available upon request. The full range is available at egar.co.uk, online at Amazon, W.H. Smith and Waterstones.

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About EGAR: Company Profile
EGAR.co.uk

Founded by Sue Scott Horne in 2008, EGAR Educational Games And Resources is an Award Winning Islington based small business, with a social mission, dedicated to developing and producing innovative and effective educational games and resources to assist teachers, youth workers, mentors and parents to communicate productively with teenagers and young people.

Developed with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and the Every Child Matters (ECM) programmes in mind, and drawing upon Sue’s extensive experience of working with Inner City teenagers and young people, EGAR is founded on the simple but powerful educational principle: get young people talking about the issues that matter.