The Designated Safeguarding Lead at The George Eliot School is Lucy Havard.
Safeguarding is about ensuring everyone is safe from harm – safe from bullying, safe from people who could abuse, safe from discrimination or harassment – and that we all feel safe in our environment.
Below you can find many resources related to safeguarding. Click on the file below to see more information about the safeguarding team at The George Eliot School.
Pupil support booklet: Click here
School Contacts
Lucy Havard (Designated Safeguarding Lead)
lucy.havard@GeorgeEliotAcademy.org.uk
Natalie McCool (Safeguarding Officer)
natalie.mccool@GeorgeEliotAcademy.org.uk
Warwickshire MASH contacts
01926 414144
https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/childprotection
If you think a child is at immediate risk contact the police immediately on 101 or 999 as appropriate.
Lanyards
Social Media
What is Abuse?
A person may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm or by failing to prevent harm.
It is more often a person known to them and not a stranger.
There are many different types of abuse that can occur, the main categories of abuse are:
Physical Abuse: Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child.
Emotional Abuse: Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child causing severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve telling the children that they are worthless or unloved or inadequate. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.
Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities whether or not the child is aware of what is happening.
Neglect: Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development.
What to do if you think a child is at risk of harm: If you think your child or any other child may have been abused you can contact the children's social care office direct (MASH). You may also ring the school’s DSL or the Safeguarding Officer.
Managing Stress and Keeping Safe
Who can help?
It is important to talk to someone you trust and who is in a position to help you. There are so many to choose from!
- Parents or a family member
- Counsellor – you can contact Mrs Sarah Sharkey, our school counsellor, using your student email account. Her email is sarah.sharkey@GeorgeEliotAcademy.org.uk
- Your Form Tutor
- Your Head of Year
- Any other staff member you feel comfortable talking to
- Our school safeguarding officer is Miss McCool, who you can contact using your school email account. Her email is Natalie.McCool@GeorgeEliotAcademy.org.uk
- Doctor
- If you or someone you know needs immediate help, either because you are not safe or you are hurt, call 999
Who else can help?
Papyrus Hopeline UK– 9am to 10pm weekdays or 2pm to 10pm weekends and bank holidays you can call 0800 068 4141 or text 07860 039967 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org to get support and practical advice on how to stay safe if you are having suicidal thoughts. The people who you speak to are specially trained and know how to best help you.
Childline – you can call 0800 1111, or go on their website(www.childline.org.uk) to speak to someone online, between 9am and midnight. They are there to talk to you about anything. No problem is too big or too small.
Runaway Helpline provides 24/7 help, information, support and options for young people thinking of running away or who have already done so. Their helpline and text number is 116000.
The Mix is a 24/7 text service for young people in a crisis wanting free and confidential information on issues such as sex, relationships, mental health, drink, drugs, crime and safety. Call the helpline on 0800 808 4994 or text THEMIX to 85258.
Samaritans – a safe place to talk any time you like day or night all year round – call them on 116123.
Warwickshire Safeguarding board
NSPCC
RISE
https://cwrise.com/rise (this is what used to be CAHMs)
FIS - Family Information Service
Prevention and supporting missing children and their families
Child Sexual Exploitation
Click Here to view a video relating to keeping children safe from the Child Exploitation and online protection Centre CEOP:
Child Trafficking
Road Safety
Extremism and Preventing Radicalisation:
Anti-bullying (including cyber bullying):
Anti-bullying-Policy-Students - see the documents below
What-is-Bullying - - see the documents below
www.stoponlineabuse.org.uk/
Please report any bullying concerns directly to the school counsellor - sarah.sharkey@midlandat.co.uk
Bullying is unwanted negative behaviour, verbal, psychological or physical conducted by an individual or group against another person (or persons) and which is repeated over time. Department of Education and Skills, 2013
There are many different types of bullying that can occur, some of the more common types are:
Name calling: persistent name-calling directed at the same individual(s), which hurts, insults or humiliates.
Physical aggression: this behaviour includes pushing, shoving, punching, kicking, poking and tripping people. It may also take the form of severe physical assault. Personal property can be the focus of attention for the bully.
Isolation/Exclusion and other relational bullying: this occurs where a certain person is deliberately isolated, excluded or ignored by some or the entire class group; relational bullying occurs when a person’s attempts to socialise and form relationships with peers are repeatedly rejected or undermined.
Cyber-bullying: this type of bullying is increasingly common and is continuously evolving. It is bullying carried out through the use of information and communication technologies such as text, social network sites, e-mail, instant messaging (IM), apps, gaming sites, chat- rooms and other on line technology.
Extortion: demands for money may be made, often accompanied by threats (sometimes carried out in the event of the targeted pupil not delivering on the demand). A pupil may also be forced into theft of property for delivery to another who is engaged in bullying behaviour. Intimidation: some bullying behaviour takes the form of intimidation; it may be based on the use of very aggressive language including body language.
Dealing with bullying behaviour in schools
The school is in a unique position to promote attitudes and to shape patterns of behaviour which are positive and caring. The school should provide an environment where the child is physically safe and happy and where good relationships are fostered between pupils, teachers, parents and others involved in the running of the school. Parents in particular have a responsibility to share in the task of equipping their children with a range of skills which will help them in their dealings with others.
What if my child tells me they are being bullied?
Talk to your child about bullying now! Empower your child with information and skills in an age appropriate way before they encounter bullying behaviour LISTEN to your child Ask questions but don’t interrogate Avoid treating your child as a victim Work with your child’s school where appropriate Help your child to build his/her confidence and self-esteem in other areas. This can be supported through your child engaging in out of school activities, such as sports, music or art activities. Talk with your child’s teacher if the bullying is school related. A pupil or parent may bring a bullying concern to any teacher in the school. Individual teachers must take appropriate measures regarding reports of bullying behaviour in Accordance with the school’s antibullying policy
What if my child is bullying?
Don’t panic Listen to your child Try to establish the cause of the behaviour rather than focus on who is to blame Your aim should be to get cooperation without building resentment. Try to pass on responsibility, not blame, focus on the bullying behaviour not the child and solutions rather than problems.
For assistance from school:
Contact your child’s Form Tutor in the first instance. This can be followed up by contacting their Pastoral Lead.
Mrs Sharkey is the school Anti Bullying Advocate and is also available to offer advice an
Mental Health
Relationship Abuse and Domestic Violence Awareness and support:
Drugs and Alcohol Awareness
Female Genital Mutilation FGM
Gender Identity Awareness and Support
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Awareness and support
Gangs and youth violence awareness
Hate Crimes Awareness and Support:
Faith Abuse
Forced Marriage
Self Harm
www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/self-harm/
Don’t struggle alone. Tell a parent, friend or teacher. Come and speak to Mrs Sharkey (School Counsellor) or Miss Read (Safeguarding Officer) if this is something that is affecting you.
0800 622 6000 Thu-Sat 6.10pm-10.30pm
Harmless - https://harmless.org.uk/
http://www.sane.org.uk/0845 767 8000 6pm-11pm every day
https://youngminds.org.uk/ 0808 802 5544
https://www.childline.org.uk/ 0800 1111
https://www.samaritans.org/ 0845 790 9090
E-safety
The Children's Commission and the Time Educational Supplement have put together the following information leaflets:
httphttps://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/s://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
https://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/
Social Media
Which social media services are age restricted?
WhatsApp announced last year a change to their terms and conditions for users based in Europe. Users will now need to be 16 to use WhatsApp.
Nearly all other social media services require users to be at least 13 years of age to access and use their services. This includes Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Musical.ly and Skype.
Whilst there is no age restriction for watching videos on YouTube, users need to be 13 or older to have their own YouTube account (enabling them to subscribe to other channels, like videos, post comments, share their own content and flag inappropriate content).
Why do these restrictions exist?
The reason most social media services use an age limit of 13 or over is in part because of a law in the USA. The COPPA law or Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act states that any organisations or people operating online services (including social media services) are not allowed to collect the personal information of anyone under the age of 13 without parental permission.
To avoid the necessity of obtaining parental permission for any user under the age of 13, most services have instead chosen to place an age restriction of 13 to their services. They write this rule into their Terms and Conditions – which users must agree to when they initially sign up and some services may ask users to declare their age during sign up.
WhatsApp’s new age limit has been chosen in response to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into effect from the 25th May 2018 and applies in the European region.
Users, and the parents of users, should have been experiencing more communications from companies as they work to ensure that they are complying with the new General Data Protection Regulation.
What do we advise?
Whilst COPPA and GDPR exist to protect the personal information of children, there are also other elements of social media use which may not be appropriate for young users.
Our advice with regards to age restrictions is that it’s always better to wait until the required age to join any social media service. These rules around age relate to privacy, but also are relevant to safety. Some services offer additional protection for users who are registered as under 18, and by supplying a fake age young people can potentially lose some of this protection. Young people also risk being exposed to content which is intended for older users when they use sites that are not designed for people their age.
Additionally, we will need to report underage accounts of user’s that violate terms and conditions of social media platforms, which could result in deletion of user’s accounts and any content which has been shared on that platform.
We know that social media services are popular with young people of all ages. Parents have an important role in helping prepare their children to go online before they start to use social media platforms. Together you can look at the key things they need to know about staying safe online, critical thinking, and the safety settings that are available to them.
When looking at creating a profile online with your child, have a discussion as a family and make this decision together – talk about why they want the account and ensure that any family members using social media know what tools are available to help them stay safe.
Please see below some useful links:
https://www.childnet.com/blog/family-agreement
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/social-media-guides
https://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/
