Childcare provider partners with martial arts organisation to offer free self-defence classes

News Desk
Authored by News Desk
Posted: Thursday, November 14, 2019 - 14:51

The UK’s largest online childcare platform has once again partnered with national martial arts organisation The Jiu Jitsu Foundation to offer free self-defence classes to children ahead of Anti-Bullying Week 2019. The partnership has once again been announced following a report by the NSPCC, which found that 33% of secondary students and 25% of primary school students have been victim to online bullying.

The UK’s largest online platform for childcarers and parents has partnered with a national martial arts organisation for the second year, offering free self-defence classes for children ahead of Anti-Bullying Week 2019 (Monday 11th – Friday 15th November).

Childcare.co.uk has once again teamed up with The Jiu Jitsu Foundation to offer its two million members free junior self-defence classes, helping young children not only learn how to defend themselves, but build self-confidence, develop leadership skills, make friends and become more active.

The first 1,000 members of Childcare.co.uk to register their interest will receive a full month of free classes for their child.

Childcare.co.uk members can register to receive a month of free junior self-defence classes here: www.childcare.co.uk/bullying

The campaign follows data from the NSPCC’s latest annual statistics report*. The 2019 study found that bullying is the most prevalent type of ‘inappropriate’ content seen online, with 25% of primary school students and 33% of secondary school students saying they had seen bullying online.

In 2017/18, the same report found that bullying was the most commonly reported form of inappropriate content, with 18% of all site reviews mentioning bullying.

The partnership has once again been announced following the success of last year’s campaign, which saw thousands of parents across the UK sign up for the free sessions. Due to high demand, The Jiu Jitsu Foundation has chosen to double the number of sessions offered to Childcare.co.uk members.

The Jiu Jitsu Foundation is the largest single-style Jiu Jitsu organisation in the UK and aims to teach children a variety of martial arts skills and situational awareness, as well as encourage children to respect and eventually teach each other to develop their confidence. 

Childcare.co.uk is a platform which allows parents to search for and connect with babysitters, childminders, nannies, nurseries, private tutors and schools and also allows childcare providers to advertise their services. The site has more than 2 million users nationwide and is the largest online community for parents in the UK having launched in 2009.

Richard Conway, founder of Childcare.co.uk, said, “It’s incredibly sad that bullying is still such commonplace in 2019. Whether face to face or online, bullying can truly devastating impact on children and adults alike, which is why the work of organisations like the Anti-Bullying Alliance is so important.

“We’re very excited to announce our partnership with The Jiu Jitsu Foundation for a second year – last year’s campaign was a huge success, so it’s fantastic to be able to offer even more free spaces to our members this year. We hope that by offering these classes, hundreds more children across the UK will have the chance to build their confidence and learn something new!”

Gareth Horgan, Operations Manager at The Jiu Jitsu Foundation, commented, “The Jiu Jitsu Foundation is a non-profit organisation that teaches the self-defence based martial art of Jiu Jitsu. Our aim is to bring consistently high-quality Jiu Jitsu to as many people as possible across the globe. In doing so our Junior arm seek to provide life changing skills and experience for children, young adults and their families. We are delighted to have again been chosen to partner with Childcare.co.uk to offer their members and associates training in Jiu Jitsu.”