Safeguarding

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in our academy is the responsibility of the whole school community. All adults working in this Academy (including visiting staff, volunteers and students on placement) are required to report instances of actual or suspected child abuse or neglect to the Designated Safeguarding Lead who is a member of the leadership team.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is: Ms C Cardnell

The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are:

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is also the person who is the designated person for looked after children.

All academy staff will be offered an appropriate level of safeguarding training (to include internal academy procedure and responsibilities; child protection process; how to recognise and respond to signs and symptoms of concern and abuse, including FGM and honour based violence; safe working practice) and must undergo refresher training yearly. Throughout the year, staff will receive updates via staff briefings to keep their knowledge up to date.

Our full Safeguarding Policy is available here

Online Safety Advice

Key advice for parents/carers:

Cyberbullying

Your child is just as likely to be a bully as to be a target. Be alert to your child being upset after using the internet/phones — they may be secretive, change relationships with friends

• Talk to your child and understand how they are using the internet and their phone
• Use safety tools and parental controls – if your not sure how contact your service provider. Please note tools are not always 100% effective
• Remind your child not to retaliate
• Keep any evidence of Cyberbullying – emails, Online Conversations, texts, etc.
• Report the Cyberbullying
• Contact the school so they can take action if it involves other pupils
• Contact the service provider e.g. website, phone company, etc.
• If the cyberbullying is serious and a potential criminal offence has been committed then consider contacting the police.

(Adapted from DCFS Cyberbullying Guidance)

Family Internet Usage

1. Keep personal information confidential. For example don’t give out your name, age, or phone number.
2. Get to know the services and websites that your child uses
3. Don’t believe everything you read or see online
4. Encourage children to tell you about anything they find that is suggestive, obscene, threatening or makes them feel uncomfortable
5. Don’t immediately blame the child if they receive or access something obscene – this may have been done accidentally
6. Use the Internet as a family activity and if possible, keep the computer in a family room rather than in a child’s bedroom
7. Try to get to know your child’s online friends as you would their other friends.
8. Try not to use the PC or the Internet as an electronic babysitter
9. Set your own golden rules and after discussing them, stick them at the side of the computer
10. Enjoy surfing!

There is a copy of our Online Safety Rules under our Students section on our website.

CEOP (Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre) ThinkUKnow

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) works across the UK tackling child sex abuse and providing advice for parents, young people and children about internet safety and online safety. Visit the CEOP website.

More detailed information and the facility to report online abuse and get advice is available by visiting ThinkUKnow.