Schoolchildren have been taught a valuable lesson.

Congleton Town Council's White Ribbon ambassadors recently paid a visit to Black Firs Primary School to discuss the importance of challenging unhelpful gender stereotypes.

Years five and six took part in three sessions facilitated by councillor Richard Walton, Jonathan Dakin and Mike Wesley, with White Ribbon champion councillor Kay Wesley.

Councillor Wesley said: "We have done a lot of workshops in high schools, where teachers have told us that some children are coming in at year seven with unfortunate attitudes about boys and girls, so it is good that the primary schools are asking for these sessions.

"The Black Firs team have really embraced this work and it fits well with their school values and focus on being kind to each other. Many thanks to them for inviting us."

The government recently published a national policy to tackle misogyny in schools as part of its goal to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

This includes primary schools, where a third of teachers in a national survey reported regularly hearing sexist language from pupils.

The White Ribbon charity provides age-appropriate materials for the trained ambassadors to lead discussions with all ages that promote equality and help young people to challenge unacceptable attitudes and behaviours.

The focus of the sessions is on what is 'fair' and 'not fair' and the team facilitated a quiz where the class shouted out whether certain things were unfair on girls, boys or 'everyone'. 

Councillor Walton, who chairs the council's White Ribbon Working Group, said: "It was an absolute pleasure meeting these youngsters and their answers were more than impressive.

"The level of interest and engagement was high. They considered the questions posed with thoughtfulness and enthusiasm. Well done everyone."

The White Ribbon Ambassadors explained that there is often bias in media like movies and games because most were created by men, even though this is changing.

These and other influences can lead to perceptions about what girls and boys are supposed to do and be like, in other words, harmful gender stereotypes. They can limit the choices people have and prevent them from being themselves and doing the things they want to do.

During the workshop the youngsters participated in a role-play conversation where one person made a sexist or stereotyping comment and the other responded with constructive challenge, writing down their answers for discussion with the wider class.

Ambassador Jonathan said: "Some of the answers we got from the young people were better than our model ones­. Some needed a bit of work, and this itself generated good discussions about constructive challenge, which everyone took on board

"As White Ribbon ambassadors we often talk about some quite dark things that happen in the world, but these youngsters really gave me hope for the future."

At the end of the session the team asked the students to suggest their key message from the workshop and they made suggestions like 'Be kind', 'Be who you want to be', 'Don't judge people' and 'Do what you love'.

Headteacher Anna Jones said: "This has been such a valuable morning and the feedback from staff was full of praise for the powerful and well adapted presentation and workshop. What a hit!"

The school plans to continue the work, look at becoming a White Ribbon Supporter, and has already invited the White Ribbon team back for the next school year.

Any schools or organisations interested in arranging a session with the White Ribbon team should contact [email protected].