A little about The Real Project's founder, Ciara: Hi! I'm Ciara (pronounced Kiera) and I was born and raised in South London and attended an all-girls private school. I went on to graduate from university and became a teacher before joining the Metropolitan Police as a Detective Constable. Studying the law and various relationship-related offences opened my eyes to my legal rights as a woman and I began to realise that my lack of relationship and sex education at school meant my friends and I had been victims of a variety of criminal offences for years and not known. This was further reinforced when I worked on different domestic abuse units in South London with hundreds of victims who were also not aware of their rights and the laws there to protect them. Whilst serving in the police, I conducted an independent survey of 78 women’s experiences of relationship and sex education. Just under 75% stated it had prepared them for their teenage years ‘not at all’ or ‘not very well’. 72% had gone on to be victims of domestic or sexual violence or harassment with only 19.4% reporting this to the police. Most significantly, a large proportion of women reported not knowing that what had happened to them at the time was indeed a criminal offence.

I began to discuss my experiences with friends, family and others on social media and realised this problem was much bigger than just my own and so… The Real Project was born.

It goes without saying that ANYBODY can be a victim or perpetrator of abuse and that is why I educate everybody with the same content.

Education on the law surrounding relationships and sex as well as a better understanding of the criminal justice system and support agencies available if they need help.

Educating young people will mean they are better able to understand what is legal and illegal and make informed choices within their relationships, helping to eventually reduce abuse within schools.

In the inevitable case where offences still occur, students will be aware of their rights and know where to access support.

As well as recognising when they may have become a victim themselves, it will crucially teach them the legal expectations of their own behaviour too which is so important to counteract the harmful misinformation spread through social media and pornography.

Finally, it will empower young people to become active bystanders and call out inappropriate or illegal behaviour when they see it.

School services:

- Pupil workshops (11+) covering the law surrounding relationships, sex, image-based abuse, domestic abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG). We recommend a number of recommended sessions including Sexual offending; Digital offences; Controlling & coercive behaviour and harassment & stalking; Relationship safety; and Overview of criminal offences. We also create bespoke packages too catering to your schools individual needs. The list of topics we cover can be found on our Content list.

- Year 6 'Transitioning to secondary school' session covering the law surrounding relationships, sex and image-based abuse. These have been designed alongside primary schools, parents and teachers to ensure they are relevant and age-appropriate.

- Parent/carer seminars

- Staff/Governor training

University services:

- Workshops for university students covering the law surrounding relationships, sex, domestic abuse and violence against women and girls (VAWG). Again, please check out our content list for a tailor made product perfect for your school or university's needs.

- Staff training

Local services:

- Training for local services to improve their subject knowledge around the law surrounding relationships, sex, domestic abuse or VAWG. This varies depending on the area of expertise you are looking for but you can get more of an idea of the topics we cover from our content list. See FAQs for local services below for more information.

Below is a list of topics we cover. You can use this to build your own tailor-made package or to give you an idea of the education we offer. If you are not sure what topics would be most relevant for your pupils, let us know and we can help or take pick a recommended session.

Recommended sessions:

- Sexual offending

- Digital offences

- Coercive & controlling behaviour and harassment & stalking

- Relationship safety

- Overview of criminal offences

Content list:

- sexual offences, sexual harassment and consent

- controlling or coercive behaviour

- harassment and stalking

- physical assaults

- malicious communications (covering cyber-bullying or trolling)

- image based abuse

- 'honour' based abuse

- criminal and sexual exploitation

- spiking

- pornography

- types of abuse

- red flags

- intervening

- Ask for Angela/ Ask for Ani

- Clare's Law (a scheme for 16+ who are concerned about their partner or a loved one's partner)

- VAWG (violence against women and girls)

- role of boys and men

- support agencies

- Criminal Justice System overview

- court orders

Prices for each service vary depending on if you pick an in-person or online option. We want our education to be accessible to all and have done our best to keep prices as low as we can while ensuring the best quality.

Follow your usual safeguarding protocol. It is important to carefully balance when the police should be invovled. If further ongoing advice is needed, please see the advice subscription product we offer.

Whilst our sessions have been developed and are delivered sensitively, they do cover areas such as honour based abuse. At The Real Project, we believe it is imperative that all children from all backgrounds are given vital legal information that will help them protect themselves and thrive in modern Britain.

We offer two different types of delivery:

- In-person: these services are delivered by our experts at your establishment

- Online: these services are delivered in real-time via Zoom.