Safeguarding

Introduction

Central Academy will remain vigilant in respect to all types of abuse and neglect; and the specific safeguarding issues highlighted in the most recent guidance: Keeping Children Safe in Education.

The Academy Policy for Safeguarding and Child Protection is available on the website in the policies section. This policy details what the Academy will do to safeguard its students as well as detailing information about abuse and procedures within school to tackle this.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead at Central Academy is Mrs Michelle Rigg, Deputy Designated Safeguarding leads are Mrs Donna Dunn and Mrs Fiona Sheridan.

Central Academy takes safeguarding students extremely seriously and will unapologetically do this to the highest standard. If you have concerns about a child, do not wait to act- Contact the police on 101, or if the nature of your concern is urgent, dial 999. You can also contact the local safeguarding hub on 0333 024 1727 to report concerns anonymously.

Safeguarding Team

If you have any concerns with regard to your own or any other people's safety or welfare, please speak to any member of the Safeguarding Team.

Nigel Robson

Chair of Governors

The Chair of Governors can be contacted via the Principals PA Linda Farish. Linda.farish@rrca.org.uk

Bullying

All students at Central Academy are entitled to learn in a safe and supportive environment. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable. If bullying does occur, students are encouraged to share their worries with a member of staff, they will be listened to and reassured that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. We are a telling school, meaning that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to report it. Staff remain vigilant to bullying of any nature including – bullying targeting a students race, religion or culture; bullying targeting a students sex or gender including homophobia, transphobic or misogyny.

All teaching staff are trained annually to identify incidents of Harmful Sexual Behaviours and Peer on Peer abuse.

Useful references:

www.childline.org.uk

www.kidscape.org.uk

http://www.peersupportvic.org/

http://ceop.police.uk/

https://www.bullying.co.uk/advice-for-parents/

Bereavement facts:

Every 22 minutes a parent of dependent children dies in the UK
Up to 70% of schools have a bereaved pupil on their roll at any given time
92% of young people will experience a significant bereavement before the age of 16 years

We understand that bereavement can have a significant impact on our young people and therefore seek to support any student or their family who face the loss of a loved one. We are able to consider a range of appropriate methods of support in school as well as signpost to external agencies such as Child Bereavement UK. All teaching staff are trained in Bereavement and Loss annually to support our school community as effectively as possible during these difficult moments.

https://www.childbereavementuk.org/

https://www.winstonswish.org/

Child Sexual Exploitation

Child sexual exploitation is where young people are given things like affection, gifts, money in exchange for performing sexual acts. Children are often led to believe that they are in a loving and trusted relationship and consent can be confused with grooming. This means that the child trusts their abuser and don’t always understand that it is abuse.

Child sexual exploitation can happen to anyone and can be framed as a friendship, a role model or romantic relationship. Child sexual exploitation can happen online or in person. The links below provide support for parents and carers and young people who are concerned about child sexual exploitation.

Child Sexual Exploitation & How to Keep Your Child Safe | NSPCC

Say something- National service providing young people with a means of reporting CSE through a free, 24/7, anonymous helpline. This service will not replace existing local services or existing helpline or service provision, but may generate additional information about exploitation in your area. ‘Say Something’ helpline - Call or Text 116000

Child Criminal Exploitation / County Lines

Criminal exploitation is where a child is coerced, pressured or blackmailed into committing crimes such as carrying weapons or drugs or stealing. These young people may feel they have no choice and can be victims of abuse and violence.

County lines is a police term that refers to urban gangs who recruit young people often to move drugs from large cities to smaller suburban and coastal areas. Children as young as 12 have been exploited to carry drugs for gangs.

Criminal exploitation and gangs | NSPCC

Sexual Harassment

Following on from the Everyone’s Invited campaign, RRCA have undertaken surveys with staff and students to address issues of harmful sexual behaviour, sexual harassment, misogyny and misandry. Results indicated that students felt confident to talk to staff regarding any inappropriate or uncomfortable situations, but were unsure of how to report incidents anonymously. To ensure that students, staff and parents have access to this method of reporting the Academy has an anonymous reporting form on the website which is checked at regular intervals by safeguarding staff.

For parents please see link below from the Children’s Commissioner for advice and guidance to talk about these issues with your children.

https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/cco_talking_to_your_child_about_online_sexual_harassment_a-guide_for_parents_dec_2021.pdf

Mental Health

Central Academy follow’s United Learning’s Tiered Model for Mental Health. This categorises students based on protective and risk factors for each student. This model help identify the level of support a child may need.

Miss I Kyle

Senior Mental Health Lead

Mr J Sisterson

Senior Mental Health Lead

Internal Mental Health Support at Central Academy

There are many ways a student can be referred to mental health support within Richard Rose Central Academy. Firstly, students will complete two questionnaires each year, one from United Learning and the other from the Aspirations Programme. This will highlight any student who may need support as well as identifying trends within year groups and the academy around wellbeing. Secondly, any member of staff can refer a student for mental health support to the Senior Mental Health Lead, additionally, parents and carers are welcome to refer their child through the Year Team Manager. Finally, students are able to refer themselves by speaking to a trusted member of staff within the academy and the referral process can begin.

The mental health need is then categorised through consultations with professionals. This may be mild, moderate or high. The diagram below shows some traits for each level. This will determine the support put in place for the student. For all levels, we recommend visiting the GP in the first instance. For mild risk students, the support would be signposting to websites, regular check ins with form tutor/HOY/YTM and potentially a referral for group work depending on the need. Secondly, moderate risk would receive either a group or 1-2-1 referral with either an internal provider such as The Manchester United Foundation or an external provider such as Barnardos. Finally, a high risk student would be directed to their GP, offered a consultation with Barnardos Clinical Lead for support strategies and advice on how to access external services which can support their child.

Barnardos

Within Richard Rose Central Academy we have a Mental Health Support Team from Barnardos. They support the mental wellbeing of young people within an education setting. This could be via group or individual work. Your child would receive between 4 and 12 sessions which are held weekly, and usually last 40-60 minutes. To access this support, an internal referral to Miss Kyle must be completed via the referral process stated above. Please note there are sometimes wait lists for this service and putting a referral in does not mean your child will definitely be seen by the service, every case is assessed through a consultation with the Clinical Lead from within Barnardos to evaluate the best support we can offer.

Barnardos Support Services

North Cumbria Mental Health Support Team

United Minds

In partnership with the Manchester United Foundation, ‘United Minds’ is a programme which has been developed alongside mental health specialists with a purpose of encouraging resilience and help develop mental and physical wellbeing in young people.

The aims are to support the development of healthy strategies:

Self-exploration and reflection
Recognising and understand mental wellbeing
Develop character, ability, and skillset
Build self-esteem, communication, and active listening
Develop knowledge and confidence
Behaviour changing, transitions & habit formation
Teamwork, social skills, motor skills
Emotional regulation, resistance of temptations and impulse control
Learn about and develop self-help strategies
Understand where support can be accessed (effective signposting) and develop alternative routes to seek support

Throughout the programme students will learn to create energy or calm in any given situation, and to help develop lifelong strategies and skills to help build resilience, self esteem, confidence and self-awareness.

Delivered over a 12 week period with our trained Foundation staff – students can access this support via an internal referral.

More information of the Foundations work in tackling mental health can be found on the website: mufoundation.org/en/Wellbeing/Tackling-mental-health

Online Mental Health Support

Young Minds offers different, online programmes for young people to reduce the wait time for someone with mental health worries to be seen. They also offer advice and support to parents.

YoungMinds | Mental Health Charity For Children And Young People | YoungMinds

Kooth offers a variety of online services such as journalling, forums and 1-2-1 counselling. Young people can sign up anonymously and interact with as much of the website as they wish.

Home - Kooth

SHOUT is a crisis text mental health service for individuals to access when they need. They are available 24/7 via text message, all messages are confidential and anonymous and it’s free!

Shout - UK's 24/7 Crisis Text Service for Mental Health Support | Shout 85258 (giveusashout.org)

The Mix offers general support to under 25s, from mental health to money worries to relationship concerns. They offer 1-2-1 chat as well as a crisis line.

The Mix - Essential support for under 25s

Mind offers general advice and support for young people and their carers around mental health.

Home - Mind

Self-Harm

Alumina offers a free, 7 week, online course for young people who are struggling with self-harm. Each course has up to 8 young people, all accessing the sessions from their own devices. The courses take place on different evenings of the week and are run by friendly, trained counsellors and volunteer youth workers. Young people can sign themselves up, and no-one will see or hear them during the sessions.

selfharm.co.uk/alumina-online-support-for-mental-health-and-wellbeing

Online Safety

The Academy works tirelessly to ensure that our students understand the importance of keeping themselves safe online – whether this is on social media platforms, exchanging messages and images or recognising fake news. The links below offer guides for parents to help them understand how to support their child online.