SCHOOL children in a North Yorkshire town are being given a lesson in crime awareness.

Community safety experts are going back to school to join students from Easingwold School in a month-long Crime Challenge.

Year seven students will be set a series of tasks and questions to explore their attitudes to community safety issues.

Discussions will include a wide range of issues, including vandalism, fear of crime in relation to the elderly, anti-social behaviour, theft, arson and hoax calls, drugs, alcohol and behaviour on the journey to school. Expert advice will be handed out to the children over the five-week exercise, ending with the judging of the shortlisted projects on June 19.

Prizes provided by Home Office funding will be awarded to the members of the three winning project teams. The programme is the second Community Safety Challenge launched by the Hambleton Community Safety Partnership this year.

Updated: 10:01 Friday, May 02, 2003