Safeguarding
Keeping Children Safe in the Holidays
During the school holidays, our school safeguarding staff are not available or ‘on call’. If you are worried or concerned about a child or young person, you can contact the Plymouth Gateway Service (or equivalent in Devon or Cornwall).
The child or young person may be someone in your own family, or the child of a friend or neighbour. The services below are made up of professionals who can offer advice and support about a variety of issues, including how to keep children safe.
Plymouth Gateway Service
Call 01752 668000 & select Option 1 – Children’s Services.
Alternatively, email gateway@plymouth.gov.uk.
Devon Children’s Services (for families in Devon)
Call 0345 155 1071
Early Help Hub (for families in Cornwall)
Call 01872 322277
Children’s Services, Multi Agency Response Unit (alternate for families in Cornwall)
Call 0300 123 1116.
Parents/carers can contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 for advice, guidance, and reassurance if you are worried about a child.
Online Safety
If you have concerns about online safety, then the police provide helpful advice and guidance through their service Child Exploitation Online Protection. Young people can report any concerns they have about inappropriate communication that they have received online. The CEOP team can advise parents/carers about how best to support their children and young people if there are concerns about online safety and online sexual abuse.
For further helpful information visit Think U Know
Other
Children and young people can contact Childline on 0800 1111 for support.
Phase 3 and 4 students can also access online counselling via Kooth.com
For young people and their families in Plymouth, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) have a helpline that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They will provide advice and support if a young person is experiencing a mental health crisis, or you are worried about the mental health of a young person. Their number is 01752 435122.
There is a 24-hour helpline for anyone who is worried about or experiencing Domestic Abuse run by Refuge.
School Safeguarding Process
There may be times when as a school we need to make safeguarding referrals to external agencies, without parental notification, this is when we have concerns that: a child or young person is at risk of, or is suffering abuse or neglect; an adult is at risk of harm; or we need to help prevent or detect a serious crime. Our intention is to always act in the best interests of a child’s safety.
PREVENT Duty
Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. The Prevent Strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing, violent Islamist groups and other causes.
From July 2015 all schools (as well as other organisations) have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism. This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from drugs or gang violence. Importantly, we can provide a safe place for students to discuss these issues so they better understand how to protect themselves.
OPERATION ENCOMPASS
As a school we are part of the Operation Encompass strategy, working with the police and other agencies when families are experiencing domestic abuse. Please see here for more details.