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As part of our ongoing commitment to Safeguarding, we have produced this briefing with some reminders and updates.
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Designated Safeguarding Lead: Kayley Button
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads: Di Gonzalez and Ros Rayner
Safeguarding team: David Ramsden, Jon Linz, Radha Verma, Josh Coulson, Sam Chaventré, Toby Jessop, Amy Parsons, Chris Davies, Kathrine Pike and Beckie Whitford
HR Manager: Lesley Dykes
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Reminder
If you have a Safeguarding concern that you need to pass on, please make sure that you speak to a member of the Safeguarding Team IN PERSON.
Please don't just send something on an email - with teaching/meetings etc we cannot guarantee to pick it up in time.
It is really important that any concerns of a Safeguarding nature should be passed on face to face and, of course, as a matter of urgency.
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“KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE IN EDUCATION 2024”
The DFE has published the draft of its updated guidance. “Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024” comes into effect on 1 September 2024.
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CONCERNS EMAIL
concerns@littleheath.org.uk
As we have done over previous holidays, we wanted one point of call for emergency contact or safeguarding matters that you feel you need to pass on whilst school is closed for the holiday.
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Please note that this email is for emergency or Safeguarding matters ONLY and should not be used for “routine queries”.
This email is: concerns@littleheath.org.uk and it will be monitored on 23 and 24 December, 30 and 31 December and 2 and 3 January.
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A REMINDER – ANTI BULLYING PROCESS
If you are contacted by a parent, or have a conversation with a student about a potential friendship or bullying issue...
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DO
Reassure the student /parent that they have done the right thing in talking to you.
If the matter is a friendship “falling out”/disagreement issue that you are comfortable dealing with:
- Please talk to the students involved.
- Phone parents to inform them of the issue/ any actions taken.
- Phone other parents as necessary, so families of all relevant students are informed
- For issues that arise between students in a lesson, please follow the advice above, inform your HoD – and if you are not the tutor, please inform tutor(s) so that tutor(s) of students involved is/are aware.
**Please regularly remind students of their avenues of support in school.**
If the matter is a bullying concern or a more complex friendship concern:
- Write up notes from the conversation you have had – including any quotes where possible (this can be in the form of an email).
- Tell the student that you are going to pass on this information and that someone will be in touch with them shortly to help them resolve the issue.
- Pass on the concern as soon as possible to the Key Stage Office/HoY.
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In order to protect yourselves…
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DO NOT
If a parent or student sends you a screenshot or an image unsolicited with a request that you deal with the matter:
- Do not open any images or screenshots sent to you by a young person or parent.
- Do not forward the email or attachment to anyone – but please contact Kayley Button (DSL), Di Gonzalez or Ros Rayner (DDSL) or a member of the Safeguarding Team immediately to let them know.
- After the Safeguarding team have dealt with the matter, please delete the image from your inbox and deleted items folder.
- Ask those who sent it not to do so again.
If you become aware of indecent images being shared by or about a young person:
- Do not screenshot the image.
- Do not ask for the image to be forwarded to you.
- Do not copy and do not print the image.
- Do not show the image to anyone else.
…and, importantly, please contact Kayley Button (DSL), Di Gonzalez or Ros Rayner (DDSL) or a member of Safeguarding Team immediately.
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LHS DEFINITION OF BULLYING
Written by our students for our students
Bullying is the use of hurtful behaviour to harass, harm, humiliate or intimidate another person. This behaviour causes pain or distress to the victim and affects their self-esteem.
Bullying can take many forms including:
- use of mobile phones, social media or other technology to harass, humiliate or hurt someone;
- verbal threats including name-calling and spreading rumours;
- physical aggression;
- emotional, such as excluding someone from a group of friends or making someone feel inferior;
- peer pressure;
- taking someone else’s possessions or messing around with them;
- harassment because of disability, sexuality, gender, race, religion or beliefs;
- using homophobic or racist language;
- being a bystander - standing by when someone else is suffering.
Everyone at Little Heath School has a responsibility to help anyone who is upset or hurt.
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NINE PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS
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SAFEGUARDING ASSEMBLIES
As part of our commitment to keeping our young people safe, we have run a series of assemblies for all year groups this term. These assemblies have discussed what Safeguarding is, information about our safeguarding responsibilities as a staff body and our duty to keep our students safe. We have talked to students about the importance of appropriate behaviour towards each other.
We have also held a series of additional assemblies:
- Years 10 and 11 have received an assembly from Thames Valley Police about Violence against Women and Girls
- Years 11 and 13 have received an assembly about Knife Crime from Martin Cosser, founder of Charlie’s Promise.
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CHARLIE'S PROMISE
Charlie’s Promise was set up by Martin Cosser, who lost his 17 year old son when Charlie was a victim of knife crime at a party in July 2023. Through Charlie’s story, Martin started this charity to spread Charlie’s story and to educate and inform young people about the dangers and lasting consequences of knife crime. Please have a look at the charity’s website:
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RELATIONSHIPS
The NSPCC have advice about healthy and unhealthy relationships and talking with young people about relationships. There is also advice about what to do if parents/carers are concerned at any time.
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VAPING
There has been a lot of concern about vaping and the harmful effects for children and young people, including health, addiction and the effect on mood. Vaping can be a lot more discrete than smoking, and may be happening without an adult being aware.
Further information can be found at:
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LOOK CLOSER
The Childrens’ Society has partnered with the British Transport Police and the National County Lines Coordination Centre on an award-winning “Look Closer” campaign to raise awareness and advice about the exploitation of young people. On the website, parents can find information around the signs of exploitation/signposting and reporting mechanisms. There are lots of downloadable materials on their website:
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PARENTS PROTECT WEBSITE
The website is designed to help parents and carers protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. It has lots of information and advice, including a confidential helpline.
The website can be accessed at Parents Protect
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ALCOHOL
The Alcohol Education Trust offers advice to parents about discussing drinking with young people.
See the guide below:
Talking About Alcohol: A guide for parents and carers
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ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL
The Department for Education has published a blog which reinforces the importance of attendance at school. The blog explains the effects on wellbeing and development of children missing out on school.
You can read the article at:
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PARENTING SMART
Place2Be has a website designed to support parents with typical situations that they may experience with their child. There are a wide range of topics and tips available.
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STAY TRUE TO YOU
This website supports positive conversations with young people about staying safe: staytruetoyou.co.uk/
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10 Top Tips for Promoting Physical Wellbeing
Encouraging Children to choose Respect
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SEXTORTION
All schools in the UK were recently sent information from the National Crime Agency, raising awareness of the recent rise in reporting of financially motivated sexual extortion (a type of online blackmail often known in the media as ‘sextortion’). Children and young people worldwide are being targeted.
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This type of crime involves an adult offender (often from an organised crime group based overseas) threatening to release nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of a child or young person, unless they pay money, or meet another financial demand, such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card.
Victims of any age and gender can be targets. However, a large proportion of cases have involved male victims aged 14-18. A child or young person is never to blame if they have been a victim. Offenders will have tricked, groomed and/or manipulated them into sharing an image. Find out more about online blackmail on CEOP Education’s parents and carers website:
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Talking to your child
It’s important to have frequent, open and non-judgemental conversations with your child about relationships, sex and being online to build trust and support them if something goes wrong. Financially motivated sexual extortion should be included in those conversations.
Here are some tips about how to approach this:
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- Chat regularly about their life online: have ongoing conversations with them about their life and time online. Continue to take an interest as they grow, explore new apps and sites together and talk in a balanced way, considering the benefits and the potential harms.
- Talk about where to find information about relationships and sex: organisations like CEOP Education, Childline and Brook have age appropriate advice topics such as sexual communication and image sharing. This will help your child to understand what unhealthy relationships look like, such as applying pressure and blackmail; and give them trusted sources of information to explore these topics. Protecting the public from serious and organised crime.
- Review privacy settings: talk to your child about the importance of using privacy settings on their accounts to restrict who can contact them. Read CEOP Education’s advice on how to talk your child about their privacy settings: A parent's guide to privacy settings (ceopeducation.co.uk)
- Make sure they know where to go for support: let them know that they can come to you with any concerns and won’t be judged. It’s also important to make them aware of other trusted adults or sources of support, if they feel they can’t talk to you, such as Childline.
- Make sure they know where to report: remind your child how you can help them to report an incident to the police or using the CEOP Safety Centre. Let them know that if a nude or semi-nude of them has been shared without their consent, they can take these 3 steps to try and get them removed:
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Use Report Remove | Childline, a tool from Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation. Your child can use this to remove images that have been shared or might be shared.
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Use Take It Down (ncmec.org), a tool from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Your child can use this to remove or stop the online sharing of images or videos.
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Report directly to the platform or app that the incident has occurred on. For advice on how to report to major social media platforms, visit Internet Matters - Report online issues to protect your child.
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To learn more about what resources are available to help you support your child, visit the UK Safer Internet Centre: saferinternet.org.uk.
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What can I do if this has happened to my child?
If your child tells you that someone is trying to trick, threaten or blackmail them online:
- Don’t pay, do stop contact and block: you may be tempted to pay, but there is no guarantee that this will stop the threats. As the offender’s motive is to get money, once you have shown you can pay, they will likely ask for more and blackmail may continue. If you have paid, don’t panic but don’t pay anything more. Help your child to stop all communication with the offender and block them on any accounts that they have been contacted on.
- Avoid deleting anything: try not to delete anything that could be used as evidence such as messages, images and bank account details. Protecting the public from serious and organised crime
- Report to the police or CEOP: call 101 or 999 if there is an immediate risk of harm to your child. Or you can use the CEOP Safety Centre to report any online blackmail attempts. If it has already happened and your child has shared an image and sent money to someone exploiting them:
- Reassure them that they’ve done the right thing by telling you: make sure they know they are not to blame for what has happened and they have done the right thing to ask for your help. Children and young people’s mental health may be negatively impacted by experiences of exploitation; you can find advice on looking after your child’s mental health from the NHS here: Children's mental health - Every Mind Matters
- Report to the police or CEOP: call 101 or 999 if there is an immediate risk of harm to your child. Or you can use the CEOP Safety Centre to report an incident. If your child is 18 and over, call 101 or 999 if they are at risk of immediate harm.
Report any images or videos that have been shared: help your child to remove images that are online or prevent images being shared online by following the steps outlined above.
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ONLINE SAFETY
If your child is ever upset by anything they have received via text or via a social media site, please report to your mobile phone provider, or, if online, via the reporting functions on social media sites. Students are reminded that if they receive anything that concerns or upsets them, they should not reply; they should block the person and they should tell an adult.
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CEOP is also available if a child has been contacted in an inappropriate manner or if they are in danger of being tracked or abused. The CEOP website allows you to complete an online form which goes directly to the police. This is for when someone is in danger from another person.
You can make a report here:
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SEXTING
The NSPCC have produced some advice for parents to support them in having conversations with children about sexting.
You can access the advice at www.nspcc.org.uk
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CEOP (Centre for Online Protection and Exploitation) have a resource for parents and carers entitled “nude selfies: what parents and carers need to know”. You can find this resource on their website at www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents
We remind parents/carers to be vigilant about what their children are receiving and sending online. Young people are at risk of receiving potentially harmful content such as nudes. Young people may ask for, or take and send such pictures. Should you become aware of any such content, please take measures to ensure that your child does not save or pass it on. Adults should do everything they can to avoid seeing explicit pictures of children themselves. Sending or passing on pictures of children is illegal, even if the sender took the picture of themselves. You should inform the police via 101 or online if you are made aware of a child sending, being sent or being asked for nudes.
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HOW CHILDREN UNDERSTAND SOCIAL MEDIA
The Conversation UK have produced the following article about how teenagers navigate social media:
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CHATTING ONLINE
Many young people spend a great deal of time communicating with others online.
You need to be aware that there are people who may use these games to start chatting to your child and then encourage them to chat on alternative apps (which are more private, encrypted or have fewer safety options).
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Mitigating the risk
- Ensure your child is accessing age-appropriate apps/games and that appropriate parental controls are set up.
- Chat to your child about the risks (inappropriate chat, contact from strangers, bullying, sextortion)
- Depending on the age of your child, it may be more appropriate for devices to be used in family rooms so you can monitor what they are doing and if they are chatting to others.
- Make sure that you and your child know the reporting functions available on the platform they are using.
- Make sure your child understands the importance of blocking anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable.
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Further information and advice is available at ceopeducation.co.uk
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'PARENTING IN THE DIGITAL AGE' WEBINAR
Here is a link to the recording of the session Dr Gemma Maynard held about the risks associated with young people and children having mobile phones and ways to keep them safe. We hope it might be of interest:
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Please find below a series of apps which we hope might be helpful.
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Google Family Link (Android phones):
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Parental controls have been designed to help you manage your child's online activities. There are various types, some of which are free but others which can be bought. However, nothing is totally fool proof so they shouldn't replace the need for you to support and advise your child using the internet. For more information and step by step instructions on setting up parental controls, visit www.internetmatters.org
Have an Ongoing Conversation
Continue to talk about the apps, games and sites they like to use, and what they like and don’t like and any concerns about being online. Discuss with them when to unfollow, block or report. For help starting this conversation, read having a conversation with your child.
Be non-judgemental
Explain that you would never blame them for anything that might happen online, and you will always give them calm, loving support.
Make sure they know where to go for support
Remind your child they can always speak to you or an adult they trust if anything happens online that makes them feel worried or upset.
Talk about how their online actions can affect others
If your child is engaging with peers online, remind them to consider how someone else might feel before they post or share something. If they are considering sharing a photo/video of somebody else, they should always ask permission first.
Make sure they know about NCA CEOP
Young people can report a concern about grooming or sexual abuse to NCA CEOP at www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/ and get support from a specialist Child Protection Advisor.
Tell them about Thinkuknow
Our websites provide open and honest guidance for young people on friends, relationships and the internet, covering topics like dealing with pressure; consent; and getting support when you’re worried. Visit our website for 11-18 year olds for age appropriate information.
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Tips for Open Discussions about Digital Lives
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Online Child Sexual Abuse: 7 minute Briefing from Surrey Safeguarding Childrens Partnership at:
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Online grooming - IWF safety campaign aims to help parents have conversations with their children about keeping their 'door' closed to child sexual abusers.
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EAL resources for online safety can be found at:
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