Safeguarding

Child Protection and Safeguarding Statement

Parrenthorn High School fully recognises its responsibilities for child protection.

Our policy applies to all staff, governors and volunteers working in the school.

The six main elements of our policy are to:

Ensure we practice safe recruitment in checking the suitability of staff and volunteers who work with children.
Raise awareness of child protection issues and equip children with the skills needed to keep them safe.
Develop and implement procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse.
Support pupils in accordance with the agreed child protection plans.
Establish a safe environment in which children can learn and develop.
Ensure the delivery of quality safeguarding training to all permanent staff, and keep this updated.

Miss J Hollstein (Assistant Headteacher) is the designated safeguarding teacher at the school and Ms Melanie Pitt is the designated safeguarding governor.

Parrenthorn High School continually seeks to strengthen communications with parents, carers and pupils, and thus concerns relating to any part of school life can be raised at any time with a child's form tutor.

However, if concerns related to child protection or safeguarding, they should be raised directly with Miss J Hollstein or Mr N Moores (SENCO)

Operation Encompass

Parrenthorn High School supports Operation Encompass, a police led initiative which has been designed to provide early reporting to schools of any domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of school and may have an impact on a child attending school the following day.

All schools in the Bury local authority are supporting Operation Encompass which is now being adopted by many police forces and schools around the UK.

Our key adults at Parrenthorn High School are Miss J Hollstein (Assistant Head Teacher & Safeguarding Lead) and Mr N Moores (Assistant Head Teacher and Deputy Safeguarding Lead).

Please be aware that any information shared with school will be dealt with confidentially and sensitively and with the best interests of the child or young person in mind.

For more information, please read the documents below and visit www.operationencompass.org

The Sharp System

Parrenthorn High School operates a school help advice reporting page system which allows students to deal with any issues they might come across inside or outside of school. Please click the link for more details.

Useful links/advice

Safeguarding & Child Protection policy - Our Safeguarding policy for Parrenthorn High School

Keeping children safe in education - A document from the Department of Education regarding safeguarding

OasisUK is a free and confidential service for parents and carers who have concerns or suspect their child is involved in violence, criminality or potentially being exploited. You can find more information here. A face-to-face appointment with the team can be organised by e-mailing parentandcarerteam@oasisuk.org

Safecall is a new charity offering free, confidential and anonymous helpline and support for young people and family members who are affected by missing, county lines and criminal exploitation. The service also provides confidential support and advice for professionals in relation to their work with an exploited young person or family. The service is open from 9am – 11pm, 7 days a week. The contact number to call or text is 116 000.

Snapchat guide for parents - A parent guide to Snapchat

Instagram Guide for parents - A parent guide to Instagram

Radicalisation information for parents - Advice for parents about the radicalisation of young people online and what steps you can use to prevent it.

Blocking online content - Whilst your children are online they may come across websites displaying inappropriate pop-ups and advertisements. It’s important to teach your child how to delete pop-ups. Knowing how to block a website can stop them from being targeted by spammers who use adware and popups to attack their computer.

Parents & carers checklist - The technology children use in their daily lives can seem daunting. You might worry about the risks they can face online, such as bullying, contact from strangers, as well as the possibility of access to inappropriate or illegal content. To help them stay safe, it’s important that you understand how your child uses the internet. By following this simple checklist, you can start to protect them and decrease the risks they face.

Facebook checklist - Do you know your friends? Who can find what you post on Facebook? Be in control of what you share online? How does your profile appear? How do you use your friends lists? Do you know how to de-activate your account?

Meeting strangers - Through the internet, children are now able to communicate with people from all over the world. Online ‘friendships’ can sometimes evolve into real-life friendships. This means your children may be interested in meeting virtual strangers. Depending on the age and maturity of your child, as well as the context of the meeting, you can allow your child to go to a meeting with a stranger together with a friend, instead of a trusted adult.

Online friends - Help your children develop the knowledge and social skills to make sensible decisions about the people they meet online.

Personal information - Any information we put online will remain there forever, for anyone to see - it’s almost impossible to delete! This means it’s important to thoroughly consider what you and your children should reveal about yourselves on the web. You should teach your children which pieces of information should be private and also help them to understand in which situations they should share private details and when they shouldn’t give anything away at all.

Privacy on social networks - Social networking sites allow people around the world to share information. But how can you help your children stay safe when they socialise online? It may seem difficult to protect their personal details on SNS, but a few simple clicks will make sure that some important privacy settings are in place.

Parent guide to XBox live - A parent guide to XBox live.

Internet guidance for parents - A guide from the NSPCC to help keep your children safe online.

FGM information & advice - A leaflet from the Home Office regarding FGM.

CSE social media library - A document which contains details on many different social media apps that can be used by young people.

Anniversary guidance for parents & carers - Advice & guidance for parents/carers for students who were affected by the Manchester bombing.

Searching, screening and confiscation - Parrenthorn adheres to the advice provided by the Department for Education about searching, screening and confiscation. This advice is reflected in our behaviour policy.

Water safety leaflet - Advice and guidance from the fire service about the dangers of playing in or near water.

"Sexting" advice - A document that provides information on "sexting" and how you can safeguard your children.

Parents guide for "MOMO" - A document produced by National Online Safety explaining the "MOMO challenge" and provides helpful advice for parents.

Abusive Head Trauma (AHT) is the most common cause of death or long-term disability in babies. There is a demonstratable relationship between the normal peak of crying, and babies subject to AHT. Research suggests that some lose control when a baby’s crying becomes too much. Some go on to shake a baby with devastating consequences. 70% of perpetrators are male caregivers. Evidence suggests that babies are most likely to be shaken when they are 2-4 months old, the time when babies cry the most. Research shows that AHT prevention programmes are the most effective when the same message is given by different professionals on a number of occasions, the message is: Infant crying is normal, it is ok to walk away, and Never ever shake your baby (ICON).