"The work the school does to keep its students safe is exemplary. Safeguarding is very much at the heart of this school and the leadership of this area is very impressive. The school’s approach to safeguarding is summed up by one senior leader, who says that their aim is to make sure that there is an ‘arena of safety’ for all students." Ofsted, September 2016
Below are some helpful resources and information for our students and parents.
Designated Safeguarding Leader: Mr Justin McAuley, Assistant Headteacher
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader: Ms Danielle Anderson, Assistant Headteacher
Safeguarding Governor: Miss Joanne Grimes, Deputy Headteacher and Staff Governor
As a member of the community/public, if you have any concerns regarding any of our students, please contact us via our safeguarding email at safeguarding@stcuthberts.com or by telephoning us at school on 01744 678123.
Government Guidance:
The Department for Education encourages schools and colleges to share the following support with parents and carers:
Are you worried about bullying?
Bullying is any type of repeated behaviour that is intended to harm someone, either physically or emotionally
What you can do if you are worried about yourself, a friend or your child being bullied:
08/09/2020 - A message from our Safeguarding Unit to all parents/carers:
It has come to our attention that there is a graphic video circulating on social media. Please can you make sure that you are monitoring your child's online activity to ensure they are not exposed to any upsetting, harmful or inappropriate content.
If your child has seen the video, or any upsetting content, or you yourself have any concerns, please feel free to speak to staff in school who are happy to help. Take care and stay safe.
23/06/2020 - Cyber Crime Information from Merseyside Police - staff/parents/carers and students are asked to read the following received from DS John Black, from the Cyber Dependant Crime Unit at Merseyside Police.
As part of my role here I look after Cyber Prevent which comes under “Cyber Choices”. “Cyber Choices” exists to ensure that the Government's National Cyber Prevent Strategy is represented across each Region and into local police forces.
The main aims of Cyber Choices are to deter people from getting involved in Cyber Crime and to prevent re-offending for those who have been involved with cyber crime.
Young people are immersed in communications and computing technology, including phones, tablets, laptops, PCs, game consoles, TVs, devices and of course the internet. The Cyber Choices Network was created to help people make positive choices and use their cyber skills in a legal way, please find link to the NCA webpage re Cyber Choices. https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/crime-threats/cyber-crime/cyberchoices
The below is a link is a link to Parent Info.org website. Parent Info partners with the NCA (National Crime Agency), Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) team. It is a standalone website for parents and is embedded as a ‘newsfeed’ on over 8,000 school websites.
https://parentinfo.org/article/help-your-child-make-positive-cyber-choices New content is written on a weekly basis and articles currently have a COVID-19 focus.
The NCA were asked to write Prevent-focused article with advice for parents/carers/guardians/teachers during the lockdown and the NCA identified this as a good opportunity to promote Cyber Choices, provide direct Prevent messaging for our secondary target audience and signpost them to some resources. Contained within the above is explanation of ‘Cyberland’, this is where Young people aged 12-18 can now get involved in protecting the virtual city ‘Cyberland’ from a cyber-attack.
Within Cyberland there are 16 interactive exercises which include the fundamentals of cyber security such as firewall configuration and a module on the Computer Misuse Act (1990). Individuals can also explore career opportunities linked to their digital skills, it can be found here: https://cybergamesuk.com/
Access is free until September 2020 to help mitigate the potential increased risks of young people becoming involved in cybercrime over the summer, either knowingly or by mistake.
Tackling criminal exploitation
The Children's Society, along with many other organisations, are working to disrupt the activity of criminal gangs and keep young people safer. They work with the police to stop county lines activity and recognise the young people that have been exploited by criminal gangs as victims, not criminals.
The Children's Society has developed resources for parents and professionals if they are worried a young person is involved in county lines.
Criminal exploitation: A guide for parents
This parents' guide can be downloaded here: https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/cce-advice-for-parents.pdf
Other useful information is also available on The Children's Society website
Designed by young people, for young people, BOSS is a Barnado's website, which is free, safe and confidential to support the wellbeing and mental health of young people aged 11-19 years and living in St Helens. Check out the BOSS - Barnados website on the resources section to the right of this page or click image above. Young people aged 11-19 can also access Live Chat and Online Counselling. There are Self-Help and Ask a Question facilities for children and young people, parents/carers and professionals.
Check out this new Government website educateagainsthate.com. This is a new website as announced by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan as part of a package of measures to protect children from extremism.
Online Safety: some useful downloads - click on the links below
Child Criminal Exploitation: Some useful downloads - click on the links below
