PRESENTERS Ant and Dec and children’s author David Walliams will be leading an online assembly this morning as the NSPCC urges youngsters to ’Speak Out. Stay Safe.’

The special broadcast this morning (Friday June 5) will deal with some of the additional worries that children are experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’ll be a Question and Answer session for primary school age pupils during the assembly. Children have asked questions around what to do if their family argues all the time, whether they should be tested for coronavirus before returning to school and what to do if they can’t concentrate on their schoolwork at home.

Since January the NSPCC’s Childline service has delivered 6,938 counselling sessions to children and young people impacted by coronavirus.

The charity says that during the first seven weeks of lockdown it carried out 2,593 counselling sessions with children who shared concerns about abuse or neglect - an increase of approximately 60 more per week than in the months leading up to lockdown.

The digital assembly aims to equip children with the knowledge and understanding they need to help them stay safe from abuse and neglect.

As part of the assembly, the NSPCC’s School’s Team will run a brand-new session adapted to address the challenges children are facing during the crisis.

It will culminate in a Q&A with Vicky Ford MP, Minister for Children and Families.

Hosts Ant & Dec, who’ve been supporting the NSPCC for many years said:

Ant: ’It’s great fun to be able to host the NSPCC’s virtual assembly for children and their families, especially as this one carries such an important message – that every child can turn to someone when times are tough.’

Dec: ’We believe it’s vitally important that all children know what to do if they have any concerns, particularly now, and we feel very honoured to be supporting the NSPCC with this.’

In 2019/20, the NSPCC Schools Service visited almost 450 primary schools across the South West of England, reaching over 80,000 children in the region.

Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or Childline. Trained NSPCC volunteers and staff deliver an assembly and workshop with the help of Speak. out Stay safe mascot, Buddy the speech bubble.

Today’s assembly can be found at 9.30am on the NSPCC Facebook page.