“Dino-mite” reaction to Pantosaurus books

Staff in nurseries and schools across Orkney began “Talking PANTS” with young children this month and their reaction was “dino-mite”!

Copies of Pantosaurus and the Power of PANTS have been purchased as part of the local Talk PANTS campaign and distributed to various outlets, including schools, via health visitors, libraries, and key agencies such as Women’s Aid Orkney, the Orkney Rape and Sexual Assault Service, Voluntary Action Orkney to ensure the book is read and shared by as many parents and carers with young children as possible.

Activities also include children cutting out and designing their own pants for displaying in the classrooms – just as another way of driving home the message that their privates are private and that their body belongs to them.

The NSPCC children’s book delivers a serious message in a fun way to help keep children safe from sexual abuse.

Head Teacher at Shapinsay School, Emma Clements, said: “The children enjoyed the story, and particularly enjoyed singing along to the very catchy song! The story gave us an opportunity to deliver this very important message in a child-friendly way and is a message that we can revisit in an easy way.”

Head Teacher at Firth Primary School Emma Jane Rendall added: “ Our P1 class were very enthusiastic and engaged with the story, and really enjoyed the activities. We felt 'Talking PANTS' was a good resource as an introduction to an aspect of Health and Wellbeing that is really important to deliver well.”

The books will be widely distributed locally but if you would like your own copy, you can purchase them directly from Matalan selected stores or at Matalan.co.uk, selected Blakemore Retail SPAR stores or the NSPCC shop via www.nspcc.org.uk and all profits from the sale of this book will support the NSPCC’s vital work.

The book, written by Rebecca Girlings and illustrated by Fhiona Galloway and Jamie Nash is based on the charity’s Talk PANTS campaign and it has been published in partnership with Ladybird and features the NSPCC’s friendly dinosaur Pantosaurus. Actress Natalie Dormer, star of Game of Thrones and an NSPCC ambassador for Childline, voices the audio book.

In the book, children read about Pantosaurus getting a new pair of pants and Dinodad tells him that they will give him special powers. Pantosaurus then experiences a problem at school and just as Dinodad told him, his super pants give him the power to speak up.

Research conducted by the NSPCC suggests that 1 in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused and, through PANTS, the charity is working to make sure that all children have the vital language that they need to speak out to a trusted adult.

Since the launch of PANTS, 1.5 million parents have already had one of these conversations with their children and the Pantosaurus Song has been watched more than 2.5 million times. The NSPCC now hopes the book will help many more parents and carers talk PANTS with their little ones.

The local multi-agency campaign group is made up of representatives from the Council, Police, NHS Orkney, NSPCC and others.

Chair of the Council’s Education, Leisure and Housing Committee, Councillor Gwenda Shearer, said: “I am delighted to hear of the ‘dino-mite’ reaction from some young children to the book, which conveys such an important message in an appropriate way. Given the startling figures shared by the NSPCC in terms of the abuse of children, it is vital that campaigns such as these exist to try and equip children and young people with tools to try to help keep them safe and to empower them to speak out if necessary.”