From Drawing Board to Classroom:

Guest Authors: Steve Shepherd and Samantha Meghawry

Every project reaches the point where ideas have to leave the drawing board.

For D.O.G. - Dedicated Online Guardians, that moment came this summer when the programme moved from books, lesson plans and prototypes into a real primary school classroom.

Like any pilot, we weren't trying to prove we had all the answers. We wanted to discover whether children would engage with the stories, understand the ideas and, most importantly, begin using them.

What surprised us most wasn't how quickly they remembered the characters. It was how naturally they began using the language. "Pause and Think" became something they said during activities, reminding one another to Check, Ask, Protect, Block & Tell or Reset before making a decision.

For us, that was the real success.

The stories had become behaviour.

The final session brought parents into school, but instead of adults teaching children, the children became the guides. They proudly led their families through the activities, explaining what they had learned and demonstrating the strategies they had practised over the previous five weeks. Watching those conversations continue beyond the classroom was one of the most rewarding moments of the entire pilot.

Anyone working in cyber security knows that changing behaviour is far harder than sharing information. We spend enormous effort helping adults build safer habits. D.O.G. simply asks whether those same habits can begin much earlier. The pilot gave us confidence that they can.

Not because the programme is finished, it isn't. Like any good pilot, it has already helped us refine activities, simplify resources and improve delivery.

But it confirmed something we believed from the beginning: helping children pause, think and ask for help may be one of the most valuable digital skills we can teach.