A four-day programme led by the Kent Police netball team combined sport with sessions on mental health, crime reporting, sexual health and emergency first aid for girls aged 11 to 16.
Nineteen girls from Maidstone schools spent four days last August at a safety and sports camp run by Kent Police — netball on court, life skills off it. Local schools were invited to nominate pupils aged 11 to 16, and the programme ran from 3 to 6 August 2026.
PC Jessica Arnold led the camp alongside PCSO Kirsty Greaves and People Development Officer Chloe Marlow. England Netball provided the coaching. Fusion Café ran sessions on sexual health and personal safety, and South East Coast Ambulance Service handled the first aid element — CPR, defibrillators, the works. Female Kent Police officers from crime scene investigation, dog handling and the Violence Reduction Unit also came along to talk about their jobs.
Not just sport, then.
Topics covered included mental health, personal resilience, how to report a crime and how to stay safe. PC Arnold described the atmosphere as “amazing”, with strong engagement across all sessions. Feedback from participants and parents was, according to Kent Police, “great” — which, given teenagers are involved, is probably saying something.
One participant, Daisy Groombridge, wrote a poem about the course leaders. It described their kindness and encouragement, and the trust they’d helped build between young people and police. She framed the camp’s success not in sporting terms but as “opening a hopeful door”.
Kent Police said the force hopes to run the event regularly, and that having women from across policing speak to the girls was expected to leave a lasting impression — on their confidence, and their awareness of personal safety.