Author Bethany Holroyd brings Safety Superhero book to John Hunt Academy, Newark
Pupils at a Balderton primary school were given a fun assembly on safety by a health and safety professional turned author.
Bethany Holroyd brought her Safety Superhero book to John Hunt Academy on Friday to give the pupils a pep talk in not only keeping themselves safe, but empowering themselves to look out for their own safety and others.
As a chartered health and safety professional, Bethany said that she has spent 15 years working in safety leadership, witnessing how safety is often misunderstood and can be seen as dull, restrictive, or purely about rules and reprimands.
After this inspired her to write The Safety Superhero book for children, which sees a curious young boy called Frank learning about the world of health and safety professionals, she then grew The Safety Superhero Academy (TSSA) from her kitchen table to bring this message to schools.
TSSA delivers fun, hands-on workshop sessions for children aged four to ten years old, using storytelling and interactive activities to introduce essential safety concepts, as well as helping children understand they have a role to play in keeping themselves and others safe.
“I wanted to do something different, something truly unique and proactive in this space,” she said, “The Academy is designed to help children see safety not as a set of rules, but as a way of thinking that empowers them.
But it’s more than just a classroom visit - it’s about lasting impact. We talk about everything from hazard spotting to the importance of speaking up when something feels wrong. The impact has already been inspiring.”
Bethany added that the idea was to introduce people working in safety and STEM as role models so children can start to see themselves in those careers and challenge stereotypes about who belongs in those industries.
Every child also received a copy of ‘The Safety Superhero’ storybook to take home.
Heidi Chapman, pastoral at John Hunt School, said that the day was a great success and thanked Abby Taylor of managing director of Proud2BSafe for organising the visit.
“All of the children from Year 1 to Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” she said, “They learnt an awful lot about keeping themselves and others safe, as they all continue to strive to be the best Safety Super Hero in Beth's Academy.”
