'Paper Dolls Police Academy' Project

A Merseyside St Helens police officer has joined forces with colleagues and partners to launch the 'Paper Dolls Police Academy Project', to provide under-privileged children in the area with school uniform ahead of the new school year.

Inspector Vicky Holden, who works alongside the St Helens Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub, created the 'Paper Dolls Police Academy' initiative with the support of the staff network she is part of, Parity 21.

Any team, unit or department offering to collect and donate school uniform to the scheme gets a paper doll with the first name and age of the child they will be helping.

To publicise the appeal Vicky has been hanging up paper boy and paper girls dolls in the canteen at St Helens police station along with a Back To School supermarket trolley to put donations in. On Monday, 17 August Vicky visited Merseyside Police Headquarters to collect more donations.

Inspector Vicky Holden said: "I was shocked to learn that so many children may be unable to go to school in September due to not having the correct basic pieces of uniform such as pinafores, polo shirts, socks and trousers. As a mother, the thought of my own daughter ever being in that situation really got me thinking.

"It made me determined to do something about it and I came up with the Paper Dolls idea as a way of giving people a physical reminder of who they were buying for or donating to.”