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Past events

You may have met E-ngagelive before. It began life as Superhighway Patrol and later became known as Net Detectives.

The idea is simple and effective. Most schools wish to work with community professionals such as the Police and other agencies but are not sure how to make contact and how to use time effectively in the face of curriculum pressures.

At the same time, the community agencies are seeking opportunities to work with schools. They have important messages to impart - messages like Crime Prevention, Bullying, Water Safety - but may have difficulty making contact and delivering their messages effectively to large numbers of children.

E-ngagelive provides the solution

E-ngagelive provides activities which take place on specific dates, each lasting about a hour. During each activity a realistic scenario unfolds. The activities all meet curriculum objectives, particularly PSHE and Citizenship but importantly, each also covers an issue of vital importance to young people - issues such as Internet Safety, Youth Crime and the Environment.

• Click on past events to see the range of scenarios
• Click on curriculum for details of learning opportunities

Working Online with the Experts

The unique feature of E-ngagelive is that during each activity there is a team of officers online to answer questions and respond to issues raised. The officers will be relevant to the activity - for example a Distraction Burglary scenario will have Trading Standards and Police officers in the Control Room; a Youth Crime scenario will have real magistrates online to take questions.

The importance of this cannot be too highly emphasised. Teachers do not have the in-depth knowledge to answer specific questions with accuracy and few visiting professionals can engage students in the reality and emotion of serious issues.

How does it work?

In schools, the pupils work in teams, receiving the messages and responding to them. The experts work together at another location and are available throughout the session to answer questions and give advice.

If the local community beat officer can also visit the school on the day of the event relationships can be forged in a few hours which might take years of normal classroom "chats".

• Click on Joining in for more detailed information.

Superhighway Patrol and Net Detectives

If you have met the project before under one of these names you will know how valuable it is and you'll be pleased to know that your previous log-in details will still work. Click on teachers area to log in now.

The story of E-ngagelive

The project started in the mid 1980s when its creator, David Casey, was a serving police officer in Huntingdon. As the Schools Liaison officer for the area David was introduced to an early email system by Cambridgeshire Advisory Teachers, Paul Springford and Brian Smith and he immediately spotted an opportunity for police officers to communicate with children using the new medium.

The first initiative was a series of Ask the Police days in which children in the few schools which used email at the time could send questions to David and receive live email answers. He also devised an on-going "soap" called Echo 99.

As email spread the idea grew into Superhighway Patrol in which a series of emails delivered information about an unfolding story - often a crime but sometimes a road traffic accident, fire or other incident. As the story unfolded in real time, children were able to email questions to real police officers in the "control room".

As the Internet developed this simple yet immensely successful idea entered a new phase with a dedicated website which harnesses the benefits of both email and noticeboard technologies. Many people will be familiar with the name Net Detectives under which it was promoted by the charity, Childnet International.

In 2005 the project became independent and is now known as E-ngagelive.

But the immense benefits first noticed by David, Paul and Brian are still at its heart and they continue to inspire and excite the children and teachers who take part. It has even won two prestigious prizes - a Cable and Wireless ChildNet Award and the European Junior Global Challenge award.

• Click on Joining in to find out how to participate.

E-ngagelive scenarios cover a wide range of topics as you can see in this list.

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