City school launches safeguarding scheme over urban exploring fears |
Teachers at City of Norwich School (CNS), on Eaton Road, sent an email introducing parents to its "Friday Safeguarding" scheme, where every Friday they tackle various issues to keep the children safe.
The City of Norwich School has been named the best state secondary in Norfolk (Image: Denise Bradley)
The first issue was urban exploring, where the school highlighted the "growing trend" of pupils going to abandoned properties and posting their videos on social media.
Some of the locations include Trowse pumping statin, the old Colman Factory and Norfolk County Council's old offices on Ipswich Road, which are less than a mile away from the school.
The sinkhole opened up at the former day care and community hub in Norwich's Ipswich Road (Image: Denise Bradley)
The assistant headteacher said in the email: "This is not only dangerous, but also illegal."
A spokeswoman for Ormiston Academies Trust, which the school falls under, said the subject was not an issue limited to City of Norwich School and that the guidance was issued by the police and shared with students as part of a Norfolk-wide initiative.
The building remains on the councils register of local heritage buildings at risk (Image: Sam Barker @skyscout_)
A police spokeswoman says the force regularly meets with schools and where matters are discussed, it will advise accordingly.
One parent at the school said: "I can understand why the school has felt the need to do this, as there are videos online showing urban explorers looking around these sites.
"I can't see that too many CNS pupils would head all the way across the city to the Colman factory or the pumping house, but I suspect some might have been tempted to have a look at the old council offices in Ipswich Road, as the children who live in Tuckswood would pass that on their way home.
An aerial view of the former Colman's Mustard site (Image: Mike Page)
"I think it's good the school has let parents know about this, so they can talk to their children about the dangers."
Earlier this month, an urban explorer was detained while searching for evidence of asbestos at the former Hollywood Cinema in Anglia Square, which is being demolished.
When the man returned to the site, security staff called police to report the presence of an intruder.
A police spokeswoman said at the time he was given advice after nothing was found during the search and told not to return to the site.