PCSO Michelle Armitage from Central Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) has been named as 'Barnsley's Best' by a panel of South Yorkshire Police judges after her involvement with schools and young people.

All PCSOs are required to spend a minimum of 1 hour a week in a local school in their area. Michelle often exceeds this recommended amount, in particular with her visits to Joseph Locke Primary School, Shaw Street, Barnsley.

Michelle chooses to spend so much time in the school as it enables her to meet pupils, educate them on a variety of safety matters and perhaps most importantly, build a relationship with them and shortening the gap between young people and the police.

She visits the school every Wednesday to assist their social awareness module in the project, ‘Miss Dorothy’. The programme, which is part of the national curriculum, depicts the life and experiences of main character Miss Dorothy. The children are talked through a range of different social issues including bullying, trusting people and road safety.

In November last year, Michelle helped promote road safety by carrying out practical exercises with the children as part of a 6 week joint project with Joseph Locke School aiming to provide children with vital road safety awareness including the dangers of standing too close to the kerb and traffic.

Joseph Locke Head Teacher Keith Armitage said, “In all the time she has worked for us she has always been an enthusiastic and approachable link with the police for both the adults and children at school. She has made herself a very prominent member of the school community and not only does she participate in endless events but she constantly brings new ideas as to how the children can engage with police and improve their community. I can safely say on behalf of the children, my colleagues and I, we would hate to loose her and hope she stays for a long while.”