The end of term is nearly here and everyone is getting excited about the festive break. Concerts, pantomimes and parties mean lots of young people will be getting involved with activities after school and going home at different times. Here are SAFE’s handy tips for keeping safe this winter…

1. Going home in the dark

You may be nagged about wearing something bright so that you can be seen walking or cycling home in the darker evenings, and there are good reasons!

It may not seem cool to wear something so bright that you feel like an orange in a fruit bowl, but it is far cooler to be seen than squashed… sorry, hurt!

20% of all children injured on the road are travelling from home to school. Make sure you’re not one of them.

- Walk on the path or the right-hand side of the road

- Wear or carry something brightly coloured in daylight hours

- Wear or carry something reflective at night

- Carry a torch to shine on the ground in front of you

- Check all your bike lights are working, clean them and make sure you use them

2. Going home alone

In the run up to Christmas, you and your friends may be involved in after-school activities and you can end up going home alone.

You can do some simple things to keep yourself safe, such as:

- Telling Mum, Dad, or whoever is at home, where you are and what time you will be home

- Making sure you have credit on your mobile and the phone numbers of your parents, carers or a trusted neighbour, in case you need to contact them

- Keeping your mobile and other valuable belongings in your bag and trying not to use them on the street

- Planning your route home and using well-lit streets and paths

- Using public transport if possible

3. Getting home safely

Thankfully, it does not happen often, but sometimes you may think you’re being followed. If this happens to you, try to:

- Look straight ahead and carry on walking as normal

- Go towards other people

- Walk into a well-lit place with lots of people, like a shop, school, library, bank or any public building

- If you’re really worried, dial 999 for the police

4. Collecting sponsorship for charity

At this time of year, lots of schools ask students to raise money for charity. If you are going out to raise money, plan out what you will do:

- Take a trusted adult with you

- Only knock on the doors of people you know will help you

- Go out straight after school, and make sure you agree a time that you’ll be home

5. Keeping safe at home

With the long winter evenings, it’s easy to spend lots of time on a computer, iPad, or Xbox 360.

Remember, even though you’re home, the internet puts you into the virtual world. So ‘www’ really can mean World Wide Warning.

If you find something that worries you when using the internet you can:

- Tell a trusted adult

- Report it to CEOP http://ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/

- Telephone 101 for your local police

- Dial 999 in an emergency

- Talk, text or email ChildLine on 0800 11 11 or at www.childline.org.uk