THE NSPCC is here for every childhood. We offer support and help for every child and family.

This week, our practitioners are launching a brand new version of one of our most popular child safety resources Talk PANTS. It’s a simple conversation to help keep children safe from sexual abuse. The PANTS acronym spells out: ‘Privates are private, Always remember your body belongs to you, No means no, Talk about secrets that upset you and Speak up, someone can help’.

Some of your children may already be aware of the PANTS rule thanks to visits from our schools service and the Pantosaurus mascot, to primary schools to help children understand that their bodies belong to them, and to have confidence to speak out when something is not okay.

Any parents or carers out there who have encountered Mr Tumble in Something Special on CBeebies will be familiar with Makaton as a type of sign language developed to help people with communication difficulties speak to others.

Now, thanks to support from an NSPCC partnership with The Makaton Charity, the campaign has been adapted to allow the Talk PANTS information to be shared through Makaton for the very first time. The move will help ensure primary schoolchildren with communication problems will be able to recognise when something is not okay and tell someone about it. Resources will be available through the NSPCC website from this week.

We have filmed versions of our free parental online safety webinars with a representative of Sign For All Community Ltd, who translated our short presentation into British Sign Language to make our messaging as accessible as possible to parents, carers and children with special communication needs. These updated versions of our Talk PANTS campaign and safety webinars are projects we’re proud to be part of.

It’s everyone’s responsibility to keep children as safe as possible from abuse and neglect, and we recognise that it’s our responsibility to make our guidance and advice as easily accessible as possible. We will continue to be there for children and families and will continue to ensure adults have information and confidence to speak out if they have a concern.

We hope readers will join us on our mission to help keep children safer, they can do that with information we regularly update and share on the NSPCC website. The link to the Talk PANTS Makaton films will be on there later this week. You can sign up for a webinar through our online safety hub too.

* Debra Radford is NSPCC Assistant Director, Yorkshire and the North East.