1.  What is the children’s face equality campaign about?  

The Children’s Face Equality campaign aims to challenge the assumptions that people may make about children with disfigurements and their lives and replace them with greater awareness and understanding.

The campaign is being fronted by Max, Lucas, Harry and Lauren who are all aged between 9 and 13 years old.  They are appearing in a series of adverts which challenge four very common assumptions about children with disfigurements:

•    They are less able to achieve
•    They are less socially skilled/confident
•    They are less sociable (shy/retiring)
•    They lead tragic/sad lives

The children all attend primary and secondary schools in England. Read their stories - Max, Lucas, Harry and Lauren - and find out why these assumptions couldn’t be further from the truth.

Find out more about face equality.

2. How does this relate to schools?

Although adults and other young people and children may not even realise they are making negative assumptions about children with disfigurements, these children are often treated differently as a result.

Children with disfigurements are exposed to other people’s reactions to them on a daily basis. We know that negative assumptions can lead to negative outcomes for these children. Our work with individuals and families and educational professionals aims to ensure that this does not happen.

Teachers are ideally placed to identify personal and social abilities and need. They can use this knowledge to set the right goals, and to monitor and encourage all their pupils. When teachers get it right, children with disfigurements thrive.

3.  Where do these assumptions and beliefs come from?

Find out why so many people hold negative beliefs or assumptions about people with disfigurements.

4. Where can I see the adverts?

The adverts first appeared at London Underground stations between Friday 8 January and Friday 15 January.

J C Decaux are going to put up 500 adverts as and when they have space on their billboards throughout the country during 2010.

Changing Faces is completely dependent on free space to promote the campaign so if you can offer us space please email Winnie Coutinho or call on 020 7391 9289.

5. Can we put the posters up in schools?

Yes. You can download the posters here. The posters will work best as a group, and especially together with other positive posters of children and young people. Alternatively, if you do not have colour printing facilities please email us and we will send you copies.

It is possible that a small number of pupils or students will find the posters difficult. Please click here for advice about how to overcome any hurdles and how to promote effective discussions in schools.

If you need to prepare for a discussion about appearance and disfigurement arising out of the posters you may find some useful general information in our notes for teaching Face.

If you are interested in developing a lesson around these posters e.g. in Citizenship, we invite you to attend our CPD in order to gain the best strategies and techniques to facilitate positive exploration of appearance and disfigurement. For more information please visit our training pages or email our Training Adviser in Education.

If you are working with a child or young person with a visible difference and would like some support or advice about how to best meet their needs, please click here or email our Schools Specialist.

6. What else is happening?

BBC Children’s has filmed a 30 minute documentary about the making of the campaign with Max, Lauren, Lucas and Harry.  It will be broadcast on Saturday 6th March on BBC2 at 11.30am. 

7. How can I support the children’s face equality campaign?

• Complete the Face Equality pledge to show your school’s support.
• Make sure every pupil has things to say about themselves and friendly questions to ask school mates, so that they can all get on well together.
• Enable any student with a disfiguring condition to manage reactions of others in a socially positive way. This could include helping them to practise a brief explanation of the way they look and then having a few questions to move the conversation along.
• Raise the aspirations of a student with a disfigurement, by knowing, and letting them know, that anything is possible.
• Display positive images of children with disfigurements as part of your wall displays to show true diversity. For example, you could display the sporting achievements of students with and without disfigurements.
• Encourage all pupils to achieve, through discussions of interests and aptitudes. Ask pupils to list the ways in which they might pursue these.
• Ensure all the employers you connect with for school visits and work experience are familiar with our Face Equality Campaign. Ask them to look at our website before any visits.
• Make sure that every pupil has at least one positive thing they can say about themselves. Encourage them to think about this every day. They could also start a list of positive attributes to build their self-esteem.
• Ask for training so that you can develop a range of strategies to enable an individual to feel confident in managing any negative reactions from others.
• Explore our education pages to learn more about supporting a child or young person with a disfigurement and to bring face equality to your school.