Kirklees College is a large Further Education college providing academic and vocational courses to students across Huddersfield, Dewsbury and surrounding areas. They were one of the institutions we selected to be part of the sshOUT (student sexual harassment OUT) programme in 2019, and since then have worked with us to raise awareness with staff and students across their sites.

Following on from the half-day staff training courses we ran at the college, they asked us to deliver sessions directly to students on apprenticeships, foundation course and ESOL learners. We have also trained the Student Union so they know how to respond when a student discloses sexual harassment or other forms of sexual misconduct. In each session, we have adapted our materials to meet the learning needs of these different groups and the response from staff and students has been fantastic.

Rachel Ellis, Student Community Development Officer at Kirklees College said ‘Julie and the team at Freedom Personal Safety are a joy to work with. We have had positive feedback from both students and staff commenting on the high quality of content, the ability to adapt sessions to the needs of the students and the friendly inclusive tone in which the sessions are delivered.’

Julie Tweedale, Training and Development Manager at Freedom Personal Safety added ‘every session at Kirklees College is different, as the students all come with their own views and experiences. We’ve sparked some fascinating discussions about how people respond to sexual harassment, harmless banter vs harassment, and what we can do as bystanders. Many of the students we work with respond to more visual material, so we use role play, videos and images to explore the issues. It feels great to work in partnership with the wellbeing team to bring about a shift in culture and get everyone talking about why sexual harassment matters.’