Children taking part in a Wandsworth summer school welcomed Commissioner Cressida Dick to the camp as they marked the last day of this year’s event.

The Commissioner visited Parallel Youth Enterprise (PYE) Summer Camp, based at St Cecilia’s School, on Thursday (August 20), to speak to the young people taking part and ask about their experiences over the last four weeks.

The camp is staffed by Met police officers, volunteers and PYE staff, and provides a four-week programme for children between nine and 16 years old who live, or go to school, in the boroughs of Wandsworth, Merton, Kingston or Richmond.

Due to Covid-19, places this year were limited to 70, broken down into ‘bubbles’ of ten children, each with their own staff.

As well as visiting them in their ‘homerooms’ to find out about their favourite activities over the summer, the Commissioner spoke to the whole group to tell them more about her work as a police officer.

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Commissioner Cressida Dick, said: “This year of all years the summer camp is extremely important. It gives 70 young people the chance to do some activities, to learn some new skills, to make some new friends and potentially to challenge some of their preconceptions about crime and policing.

“But the most important thing is to give them meaningful activity and things that will be useful for them and give them some sort of support and inspiration.

“It has been a really tough year for a lot of young people and to have them coming together in this way, safe, socially distanced and enjoying themselves and doing some quite challenging tasks, is really good for them.”

Chief Superintendent Sally Benatar, Commander of South West BCU, also visited the site to welcome the Commissioner, as well as judging posters that the children created as part of a session they had on knife crime.

Ch Supt Benatar, who retires from policing this week, said it was ‘very special’ to show the Commissioner around. “The Commissioner spent a lot of time with our young people and it was great not only for the children to see her but for our colleagues as well,” she said.

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Parallel Youth Enterprise (PYE), a not for profit organisation and charity, raise the funds for the camp and do the year-round preparation ready for it to be managed and run by youth engagement and schools officers from South West London.

It aims to give young people who would not necessarily have the chance to enjoy such activities the opportunity to do so, while also helping them to keep fit, active and be supported during the summer months.