Introduction
Our ‘Once upon a time’ campaign, aims to help policing families explain to children why their loved ones might sometimes have to miss out on mealtimes, bedtimes or family celebrations.
On this page you will find all the details and assets to use this campaign in your own force.
Why we've created this campaign
We’re the National Police Wellbeing Service. We’re here to help police forces build wellbeing support for everyone who works for them – and their families.
Over the last few months we’ve been developing a programme of support for families. This is driven by the Police Covenant which means all police forces need to demonstrate they’re taking action to support families. We’re here to help you do that.
It’s early days because this is a huge area. We’ve started with in-depth research to understand some of the challenges policing families face.
We’ve already got resources, created by experts, on topics like mental and physical health, nutrition and finance available on our families' hub.
We won’t solve everything tomorrow, but one of the things we’ve heard is that a simple acknowledgement of how tough it can be on all members of the family, including children, really helps. It can mean people feel less alone, and more seen.
This is why we’re introducing the ‘Once upon a time’ campaign, which aims to help policing families explain to children why their loved ones might sometimes have to miss out on mealtimes, bedtimes or family celebrations.
What is the ‘Once upon a time’ campaign?
The Book Trust charity sets out why a bedtime story is so important for children – for literacy, vocabulary and imagination, as part of a good sleep routine and for bonding with care givers.
It’s not always possible for people working in policing to be around for a bedtime story. It’s really important children understand why this might happen.
This new campaign is centred around our hero content/product, the ‘Red Robber Raid’ children’s book, which gives families a chance to share a special bedtime story and explore together why a parent or carer might miss out on mealtimes, bedtimes or other family time.
The book has been developed in partnership with the Norfolk and Suffolk Constabulary Wellbeing Team. They originally created this story book and have now allowed us to use and adapt so it can be used by all forces nationwide.
In addition to a limited number of hard copies of the book, we have also produced a narrated e-book version which will be accessed from our website.
We have also worked with the illustrator of the story to put together activity packs for children that follow along with the characters and story line. And we created a soft toy of Oscar, the dog from the story - and given him an OK9 jacket for good measure!
What we’re doing
The centre point of the campaign will be the chance for families with children to get their hands on one of 500 hard-copy Red Robber Raid books and an ‘Oscar, the dog’ soft toy.
We’ll be running a giveaway which will be live on our website. This will go live from week commencing the 4th March so we can encompass World Book Day - 7th March. It will remain open until the 6th May 2024.
We will be promoting the giveaway via social media – however we would love for you to promote this internally within your forces too.
Once the giveaway is closed, we’ll be making e-book version of the Red Robber Raid available via our website.
How your force can use the campaign
To help you promote this in your force, included in this toolkit is some key messaging, some additional imagery and social media graphics that you can use to bring the campaign to life.
What we want to say and who we want to say it to
Key messages
Working in policing is a challenging role – and not just for the person in the job. Families and loved ones deal with these challenges every day. This campaign focuses on children and provides officers, staff and their family members a resource they can use to help their children understand why they might sometimes have to miss out on bedtimes, mealtimes, or other family events.
These are the key messages we’d like to convey (it’s not about using the exact words here, but the sentiment):
- A role in policing can mean parents, care givers or family members miss out on things like family celebrations, some mealtimes and bedtimes. It can be tough to manage and to explain to children and young people.
- To help with that we’re giving away a very special gift to children and young people with a loved one in policing. The gift includes a copy of the Red Robber Raid book, an activity pack and our gorgeous ‘Oscar, the dog’ soft toy. The beautifully written and illustrated story helps children understand why their parent or care giver sometimes misses out on family time. We have a limited number, so bag yours now.
- Oscar Kilo is here for families too. A role in policing can be tough, and not just for the person in the job. We’re here to support officers, staff and families – you can find useful resources on our online hub here: www.oscarkilo.org.uk/family-life.
Plan of action
We’re kicking off the campaign on Monday, 4th of March.
Oscar Kilo will be shouting about the campaign and giveaway on our own social media channels and website. A key point of that social media activity will be hooking on to World Book Day on 7th March.
We’d love you to get involved and promote the giveaway to the families of your officers and staff.
Whilst we want to get as much engagement with this giveaway as we can – the resources in the families' hub (and e-book version of the Red Robber Raid) will remain available online on our website indefinitely - so you can share this whenever it suits you best.
You can find assets and suggested copy to use on this page.
Intranet/newsletter copy
Oscar Kilo is running a giveaway to launch their ‘Once Upon A Time’ campaign
Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service, has launched their ‘Once upon a time campaign’ to help policing families have important conversations with their children.
The Book Trust charity sets out why a bedtime story is so important for children – for literacy, vocabulary and imagination, as part of a good sleep routine and for bonding with care givers.
It’s not always possible for people working in policing to be around for a bedtime story. It’s really important children understand why this might happen.
This new campaign is centred around the beautifully written and illustrated Red Robber Raid children’s book which gives families a chance to share a special bedtime story and explore together why a parent or carer might miss out on mealtimes, bedtimes or other family time.
The story was originally written by the wellbeing team at Norfolk and Suffolk Constabulary and they have worked with us at Oscar Kilo to build on the story and make this available to children of police officers and staff right across the country.
To launch the campaign, Oscar Kilo is running a giveaway for policing families to receive a copy of the book, an activity pack, and one of our gorgeous ‘Oscar, the dog’ soft toys.
Visit the Oscar Kilo website to enter the giveaway or scan the QR code.
There’s a limited number available so enter quickly to be in with a chance!
To find out more about the support available to families from the National Police Wellbeing Service – visit www.oscarkilo.org.uk/family-life
Campaign images
We’ve also created an image bank with photos and four social media graphics that you can download and use.
Social media graphics
Social media messaging
Please feel free to edit this copy – it’s just a suggestion.
Post 1:
Short version:
It's tough explaining to your little ones why you’re missing out on mealtimes and bedtimes. That’s why @OscarKiloUK is giving away a special gift pack with a Red Robber Raid book, activity pack, and ‘Oscar, the dog’ soft toy. Enter for your chance to win 👉 www.oscarkilo.org.uk/family-life/free-gift-for-children
Long version:
Sometimes, working in policing can mean missing out on family celebrations, mealtimes and bedtimes.
We [name constabulary] understand that this has an impact on the whole family. It can also be hard to explain to children why this happens.
That’s why @Oscar_Kilo_UK, the National Police Wellbeing Service, is giving away a very special gift pack which includes: a copy of the Red Robber Raid book and activity pack, along with the ‘Oscar, the dog’ soft toy. The beautifully illustrated story helps children understand why their loved ones sometimes miss out on family time.
If you or your loved one works in policing, make sure to bag one of the gift packs for your little ones – click here to find out more: www.oscarkilo.org.uk/family-life/free-gift-for-children
Post 2:
Short version:
#WorldBookDay reminds us how important bedtime stories are for children. If you work in policing, sadly these can often get missed. To help explain why this happens, @OscarKiloUK is publishing their brand new Red Robber Raid book. Get them here: www.oscarkilo.org.uk/family-life/free-gift-for-children
Long version:
This week was World Book Day, a great reminder of how important bedtime stories are for children. But as we know, for those working in policing, this quality time is often missed.
@Oscar_Kilo_UK, the National Police Wellbeing Service, is giving away a special gift pack, including the brand-new Red Robber Raid book. This important book helps children and young people understand how vital a job in policing is, and why it can sometimes mean their parent or care giver misses out on family time.
Don’t miss out on the chance to win one of the limited copies of the book as well as an activity pack and gorgeous ‘Oscar, the dog’ soft toy. Enter the give-away here: www.oscarkilo.org.uk/family-life/free-gift-for-children
Community activation
Make sure to tag the Oscar Kilo account when you post about the ‘Once upon a time’ campaign on your social channels – this will give us a chance to engage with and repost your messages on our channels.