STAY SAFE focuses on identifying the key risks to our children and young people’s chances of:
- Achieving their full academic and personal potential and
- Aiding their transition to adulthood by reducing; bullying, discrimination, neglect, their exposure to violence, crime and anti-social behaviour, sexual exploitation, and accidental injury.
Blackfriars School has in place a range of systems that are designed to ‘support and deliver’ these outcomes but we can only achieve this working closely with other expert, specialist teams and parents and carers. As a school we provide a range of strategies which include:
- Appropriate policies such as Equal Opportunities, Anti-Bullying, Safe Recruitment.
- Ensure that all staff are CRB checked and all references and qualifications
- Have rigorous Child Protection procedures in place
- Investigate all reports of Bullying and monitor the few accidents and incidents that occur.
- Risk Assessments are carried out
- Students who have needs beyond the norms for our school have an individual Care Plan and where appropriate Behaviour Plans.
- Staff have been trained in Moving and Handling Techniques
- All of premises enhancement activities are planned in advance and plans are monitored by one of the Deputy Headteachers.
ROSPA – The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
Unfortunately your home is the place where accidents are most likely to occur. Everyone needs to be aware of the dangers in the home so that accidents can be avoided.
The ROSPA website www.rospa.com has a wealth of information about keeping your family safe and preventing accidents to you and your children.
Area covered include:
Fires
Scalds
Poisoning
Suffocating and choking
Drowning
Safety and Child Development .. and lots more.
Drug Awareness – some useful sites
It is hard for many parents to understand how vulnerable their child is to drug abuse yet it is especially pertinent for many of our children who depend on prescribed drugs to maintain their optimum health. Some useful sites:
DRUG CONCERN- website for parents – www.drugconcern.com
PROJECT 360 – Drugs treatment, info, advice and support for U19s Tel: 01204 337330
NATIONAL DRUGS HELPLINE – www.talktofrank.com Tel: 0870 776600 - Why not try out the Parent’s Drug Test online to find out what you know about drug?
PADA (PARENTS AGAINST DRUG ABUSE) – www.pada.org.uk Tel: 08457 023867
Child Protection Awareness
As a school we are aware that nine out of ten young people enjoy the support of a warm and loving background but it is a sad fact that nationally at least one child a week is killed by their parents or carer. All staff at Blackfriars School that come into contact with children or young people has received training in Child Protection Awareness.
Sometimes the stress of family life and the very special needs of our pupils can overtake the family home. The NSPCC Child Protection Helpline on 0808 800 5000 will always listened to a parent or carer in need of support.
Children’s Social Services
We work in partnership with Children’s Social Services for the benefit of our pupils and their parents and carers. Some families feel intimidated by the involvement of Social Services but, as professionals they understand that any family can face stressful times or have special needs, their job is to help and support in a variety of ways. As a school we do have a legal obligation to inform them if we feel that a child is at risk of harm.
Dealing with Bullying
We all recognise that social relationships between children are very important and can be a very rewarding aspect of school life, equally when they go wrong they can cause upset and hurt.
From time to time children can hurt each other thoughtlessly or accidentally, if we see this happen we will always attempt to mediate and provide the assistance needed. However, if any child sets out systematically and deliberately to humiliate or hurt another, this is bullying behaviour and will always be treated extremely seriously.
If you suspect there is a problem please contact school immediately so that we can address the situation.
CHILDLINE suggest some ways of how you can deal with bullying which you may fine useful to share with your child……….
- Don’t ignore bullying, it won’t go away on its own and it may get worse
- Tell someone you trust – a teacher, parent or friend
- Remember, it is not your fault. No one deserves to be bullied.
Here are some things you might want to try…………….
- Keep a record and save any nasty texts or emails that you have been sent.
- Try to stay away from bullies or stay with a group when you feel unsafe.
- Ask your mates to look out for you.
- Try not to retaliate – you could get into trouble or hurt.
- Try to act more confident – even if you don’t feel it
- Call CHILDLINE for extra help on 0800 1111
Bullying – useful sites
KIDSCAPE 2 – for free booklets about bullying send a large SAE to: KIDSCAPE, 2, Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH Tel: 020 7730 3300 or visit: www.kidscape.org.uk
BULLY FREE ZONE: www.bullyfreezone.co.uk
Internet Safety
In school access to the world wide web is highly filtered and the ICT team are vigilant in trying to protect our vulnerable pupils. It is vital that children and young people learn to use the internet safely – please remind them:
- Never to put their address into an email to someone they don’t know – better still always to check with you, the parent, before giving this information.
- Never to make arrangements to meet anybody they have met through a chat room without discussing it with a parent first.
As a parent always be cautious, it is a sad fact, that some people trawl chat rooms to meet vulnerable you people. Useful sites include:
INTERNET CHAT ROOMS: CHILDNET-INTERNATIONAL – www.childnet-int.org
CHATDANGER – www.chatdanger.com
NCMEC – www.ncmec.org
