Safeguarding & eSafety

The Henry Box School is committed to promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.  All appointments are subject to enhanced DBS clearance and other relevant pre-employment checks.

The Henry Box School fully recognises its responsibilities for child protection.  Our policy and procedures apply to all staff, governors and those visiting the school. Our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy can be found in the Policies folder in the Key Information section on the website.

If we are concerned that your child may be at risk of abuse or neglect we must follow the procedures in our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.

If there are any concerns that your child may be at risk of abuse or neglect, in almost all circumstances we will talk to you about our concerns and we will also tell you if we need to refer our concerns to Children's Social Care. We will inform you if we need to make a referral, but in some circumstances we may need to make the referral without consulting you.  We will only do this if we genuinely believe that this is the best way to protect your child and the fact that you did not consent to the referral will be recorded.

 

Government Guidance

For the latest government advice and guidanace to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm. Please visit the GOV.UK website here.

 

Childline

Details for how to contact Childline.

Phone:  0800 1111

For the Childline website click here.

 

Online Safety

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the use of ICT, e.g. mobiles, the Internet, to deliberately and repeatedly cause distress to someone else. It is illegal to send anything that is grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing.

If you are being bullied on your mobile or on the Internet, don’t ignore it. It can be stopped. Tell someone you trust who can take action. Schools have the power to intervene in out-of-school issues which have the potential to impact on the behaviour, discipline and welfare of the whole student body.

Mobile Phones

  • Do not give your phone number to just anyone but only to those you can trust.
  • Use your voicemail to screen calls. Do not leave your name on the voicemail greeting. Use the automated system instead. It is anonymous.
  • If you receive an abusive or silent phone call, make a note of the date, time and the caller’s number if possible.
  • Keep any abusive messages on voicemail as evidence
  • If you get an abusive or silent call, don’t hang up immediately. Put the phone down and walk away for several minutes. Then hang up and turn your phone off. The caller may get bored and stop.
  • Do not use camera phones to intrude upon the privacy of others.
  • Think about the kind of photos you are taking or sending. Could they offend someone or embarrass you?

 Text Messages & E-mails

  • Do not respond to bullying messages, especially with abusive/threatening messages of your own
  • Keep any bullying messages as evidence
  • If texts or emails are threatening or malicious and they persist, report them to the police and give them the evidence you have collected.

 Social Networking Safety Tips

  • Think twice about who you befriend. How well do you know that person? Is (s)he really the person (s)he says (s)he is?
  • Do not give out personal details such as your address, phone number, your age, password or the name of your school.
  • Think carefully about what you write before sending. Do not leave yourself open to bullying.
  • Think! before you publish photos of yourself. Could they be used to bully you?
  • Take control of your social networking account. Know how to change or remove content on your profile. Use privacy settings to restrict who sees your profile.
  • Do not share other people’s secrets.
  • Stick to public areas in chat rooms. Get out if you feel uncomfortable.

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Parents' Ultimate Guide to TikTok

 

National Online Safety

National Online Safety make it their mission to make the internet a safer place for children. They aim to achieve this through equipping school staff, parents and children with the knowledge they need to understand online dangers and how best to react should an incident arise.

Please click here to visit their website for useful e-safety guides.

 

Sexting and 'Revenge Porn'

  • Sexting is sharing sexual or indecent text or images by electronic means. It is usually intended to be kept private between individuals but occasionally it is accidentally or deliberately made public.
  • Think! before you post/send any images of a sexual nature.  Should you really be sending this? Once sent, you no longer have control over who has it. Can you rely on the person you are sending it to keep it private? What about later on?
  • If you regret having sent something, don’t panic. Tell someone you trust to help you. Don’t wait.
  • Talk to the person you sent the image to and ask that it is deleted.
  • If someone has posted an image of you which is offensive, contact your social network site and ask them to remove the image. If it is in breach of their terms and conditions, they must act.

Revenge Porn' is the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person without their consent and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress. Sexual material includes anything that a reasonable person would consider to be sexual, so this could be a picture of someone who is engaged in sexual behaviour or posing in a sexually provocative way.

Sharing explicit images without consent, even if you think it's just a bit of fun, is a criminal offence. Be aware before you share.

PREVENT

PREVENT is one of the four elements of the government's counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. It aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism

The PREVENT strategy responds to the ideological challenge we face from all forms of terrorism and aspects of extremism, provides practical help to prevent people being drawn into terrorism and works with a wide range of sectors, including education, where there are risks of radicalisation.

The Henry Box School does not support terrorism and will not tolerate any activity which could lead to the radicalisation of others. Staff and governors will work together through our safeguarding policy and procedures to support those most at risk.

We will also build students' resilience to radicalisation and empower them to challenge extremist views by promoting fundamental British values through Personal Development and assemblies.

All staff at The Henry Box School have a duty to safeguard and promote the health and wellbeing of all children and young people with whom they have contact in the course of their duties. This includes identifying and protecting children who may be at risk of radicalisation and being drawn into terrorism.

The Henry Box School has a designated safeguarding lead who has completed PREVENT training. The school will ensure that the PREVENT duty is included in staff safeguarding training in order that they remain alert to changes in students’ behaviour which could indicate that they need help and protection. If a member of staff is concerned about a student, it is their duty to follow our safeguarding procedures.

As with other online risks of harm, we will be alert to any risks posed by the online activity of extremist groups and we will continue to educate our students about staying safe online in and out of school. 

If you have any concerns about potential radicalisation, please contact the designated safeguarding lead at school.

Visit Educate Against Hate for practical advice about how to protect children from extremism and radicalisation.

101-anti-radicalisation-leaflet.pdfChannel-Vulnerability-assessment.pdf

 

Useful Links: 

  • Facebook Checklist for guidance about how to manage your Facebook profile, manage your Friends List or report bullying or harassment: www.saferinternet.org.uk 
  • Advice on how to use chat rooms safely, how to manage risks when gaming, what to do and who to inform if you are being cyberbullied or are otherwise worried about others’ behaviour on-line www.thinkyouknow.co.uk/11_16/ 
  • Online safety experts guide you through the many issues children can experience when using the internet www.internetmatters.org