Staying Safe

What is Safeguarding?

Safeguarding refers to all the things we do to make sure you are kept safe from any harm.

Safeguarding means that staff will:

• Protect you from harm.
• Make sure that nothing stops you being healthy or developing properly.
• Make sure that you are looked after.
• Make sure that you have the best life chances and can grow up happy and successful.

We will make sure that our school is a friendly, welcoming and supportive place to spend time in, making it somewhere you want it to be.

We want to make sure that you know who to ask for help, and we will plan lessons to help you know how to look after yourself online and in the real world.

What can I do if I'm worried?

If you are worried about something, you can talk to any adult in school that you trust. This could be your teacher or any other member of staff. If you need to talk, we will listen.

We respect you and want to keep you safe, so we will do our best to help you to feel safe and happy. We will also teach you how to spot risks and what you can to do keep yourself safe.

We think it is important for you to know where to get help if you are worried or unhappy about something, and we will do our best to spot if there is a problem.

Who do I talk to?

It’s important that you tell someone you trust if someone is:

• Saying things that make you feel upset or uncomfortable.
• Touching a private part of your body.
• Hitting or hurting you.
• Taking your things.
• Sending unkind messages on the internet or to your phone.
• Bullying you.

It is important that you tell someone as soon as someone starts hurting or harming you, or if you think that this is happening to someone else.

Speaking to someone like your parent, carer or teacher means we can make sure the abuse stops and doesn’t happen again.

In every school, there is always somebody who has the responsibility to keep you safe and all staff have to tell that person if they are worried about you – this person is called the DSL, which stands for designated safeguarding lead. Other members of staff have also been taught how to do the DSL’s job.

Here are the people at our school who can do the job of the DSL:

We will always make time to listen and talk if you need us.

 Please remember:

• You are important to us.
• It’s never your fault if someone is hurting you.
• There is always someone that can help you. You will not be in trouble telling the truth.
• If someone is hurting you, they may also be hurting someone else, so it is important that you tell someone to make it stop. We want to keep you safe.
• Every child has the right to a happy and safe childhood – do not be scared to tell someone if there is anything worrying you.

If you are worried and need someone to talk outside of school or family, the NSPCC have trained people available to talk to you 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can phone their help line or go online which ever you feel more comfortable with.

If you click on the image above, it will take you to the ChildLine website. This gives you lots of help and advice if you are worried about something. 

It is important to keep safe when out and about in the community, whether it be walking to school, playing out with friends, going shopping or when on holiday. 

Here are some important reminders for  you from West Midlands Police...

• Never go off on your own with a stranger, take things from them or get in a car with them.
• Make sure you tell your parents where you are.
• If someone scares you, or makes you feel uncomfortable go somewhere safe, which could be your home, your school or a police station.
• Remember to tell someone what has happened straight away.
• Always dial 999 in an emergency. 

Some great tips and advice can be found here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/staying-safe-away-from-home/ 

There are also places outside of school that you can go to for help. You can call or find information on the website:

What is bullying?

Bullying is a type of abuse that takes place when someone tries to hurt another person on purpose for a prolonged period of time. People can be bullied in many different ways:

Emotional bullying includes hurting someone’s feelings, by leaving them out or bossing them about. People can sometimes use emotional bullying to take advantage of you to get their own way by making threats or making you feel like you have to do something for them.

Physical bullying can include hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, hair pulling or purposely hurting someone.

Verbal bullying can include insulting someone because of how they look or because of their personality, and can often go beyond that. People can also use verbal bullying to be racist, sexist or homophobic.

Racist bullying is bullying someone because of their race, skin colour, the country they are from or the religion they believe in.

Homophobic bullying means bullying someone because of their sexuality; calling someone gay or lesbian to hurt their feelings would be homophobic.

Sexist bullying is bullying someone because of their gender; bullying someone because they are a boy or a girl would be sexist.

Cyberbullying includes any kind of bullying which takes place online; cyberbullies send insulting messages over the internet and sometimes share secret information online to hurt someone’s feelings.

Bullying is not always done by one person and can often involve a group of people ‘ganging up’ on someone – if you ever see someone being bullied, never join in and always tell a trusted adult. 

What is Online Safety?

Online safety is an important part of us keeping you safe at school. We have lots of safety measures in place, which we keep an eye on both in and outside of the school, to help safeguard you.  

Devices help everyone share things and talk to family and friends, but they can also make it easier for unkind things to happen. It is important to know how to keep yourself safe on your devices.

The school will help you if you are sent unkind messages or if someone online has asked you to do anything that has made you feel uncomfortable.

If you are unhappy with any comments or photographs you’ve seen on your device, you can tell a member of staff.

We have an Online Safety Policy, which is there to protect you.

Relationships

Any relationship you have should be positive and make you feel safe, happy and comfortable. A negative relationship might make someone feel scared, confused, worried, and even unsafe.

It is really important that you know the difference between a positive relationship and a negative relationship.

Positive relationships

• You are comfortable around that person
• You can be honest with that person
• You listen to each other
• You can say how you feel and what you are thinking
• You support each other and treat each other well
• You feel safe
• You trust that person
• You do helpful things for each other
• You are never pressured to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable
• You feel looked after

Negative relationships

• The person might push you, hit you or break your things
• The person might tell you what to do, what to wear or who you can see
• You might feel scared – they might say they will hurt you if you don’t do something
• The person might make threats or do harmful things if you do something they did not want you to do
• The person calls you names, make you feel bad in front of other people and makes you feel bad about yourself
• The person gets angry easily and you don’t know what will make them angry – it might make you feel nervous

School buildings and the playground

All school staff will do their best to make sure the building is safe for you to learn in and spend time in.

We will make sure that you know who everyone is in the school by asking visitors to sign in when they arrive at school. You will always know who a visitor to the school is because they will have a lanyard or badge to wear.

If you see someone acting suspiciously or trying to gain access to the school grounds you should report this to the teacher.

People that we do not know will never be allowed to spend time with you on your own and they will not be allowed to walk around school without a member of staff.  

Booklet

If you would like to access this information in booklet form, please click on the link below: