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Safeguarding
Brooke Weston knows that it is of the upmost importance to have good systems for protecting and safeguarding the welfare of all our students. This means that anyone who works with our students must be alert to possible concerns and report these appropriately and in a timely manner.
In order to protect our students, it is our aim to:
- Create an atmosphere where all of our students feel safe, secure, valued and listened to
- Recognise the signs and symptoms of abuse
- Respond quickly and effectively to cases of suspected abuse
Brooke Weston will support all students by:
- Encouraging self-esteem and self-assertiveness whilst not condoning aggression or bullying
- Promoting a caring, safe and positive environment within the Academy
All Brooke Weston staff should be aware that:
- Their role is to listen and record carefully any observations, which could indicate concern/abuse
- They should not attempt to investigate, once the initial concern is raised
- They should involve a member of the Safeguarding Team immediately
- If the Safeguarding Team are not available, the Principal should be contacted
- A disclosure of abuse or harm could be made at anytime
- Prior to external agencies being invited in to the Academy to work with our students or to carry out work on the premises, all relevant DBS checks and identification has been seen/verified.
The Brooke Weston Trust policy for safeguarding and Child Protection is to:
- Protect children from any maltreatment or harm, whether this is within or outside the home, including online, and provide help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge, to prevent any impairment of their mental and physical health and/or development
- To ensure each academy offers a safe and supportive environment for all children under its care and creates a culture of vigilance throughout the organisation
- Ensure all staff, governors and visitors are aware of and clearly understand their statutory safeguarding responsibilities
- Outline how all staff, governors and visitors will meet their safeguarding duty and protect children from harm
- Enable all children, no matter what their background or circumstance, to have optimum life chances beyond the Academy
Staff
If a staff member has a concern, that a child is being harmed or is at risk of harm or receive a disclosure (intentionally or unintentionally), they must contact one of the key Safeguarding staff.
Parents and Students
It is really important to us that our students remain safe. If you have any issues regarding the safety or wellbeing of a student please contact the school using the one of the following:
- Contact form: Please use the contact form below
- Email address: safeguarding@brookeweston.org.
- Phone: 01536 396366.
- For further information on safeguarding please view the Brooke Weston Trust policy for safeguarding and child protection.
Out of Hours Support
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
The MASH can advise on whether a family needs early help or whether they meet the threshold for statutory child protection. Telephone: 0300 126 7000
Out of hours service
Should you need to contact children's Social Care urgently during the evening, at night or at the weekend, phone the out of hours team on 01604 626938. An operator will answer the phone and take details of the concern and your contact details. They will then pass this information over to the duty social worker.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse: a form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse: the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning or preventing the child from participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the illtreatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyberbullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse: involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing, and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse. Sexual abuse can take place online, and technology can be used to facilitate offline abuse. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children. The sexual abuse of children by other children is a specific safeguarding issue in education and all staff should be aware of it and of their school or college’s policy and procedures for dealing with it.
Neglect
Neglect: the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy, for example, as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate caregivers); or ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs
Mrs Kate Jeyes |
Mrs Angeline Annable |
Mrs Steph Schofield |
Mrs Sara Mangan |
Miss Mollie Marshall |
Mrs Vicky Hilling |
North Northants Local Authority Support Offer |
Childline |
NSPCC |
Family Lives |
Northants Local Offer |
Barnardos |
Mental Health
Young Minds |
Child net |
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) |
Service Six |
Papyrus |
Beat |
Calm |
Online Safety
Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre |
Marie Collins |
Childnet |
Internet Matters |
Cyber Aware |
LGBTQ
Stonewall |
Drugs and Alcohol
NHS |
Frank |
Mind |
Sexual Abuse/Behaviour
Lucy Faithfull |
Rape Crisis |
Domestic Abuse
Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service (NDAS) |
Refuge |
Women’s Aid |
Men’s Advice Line |
Prevent
Prevent |
Honor Based Abuse
Karma Nirvana |
Financial Support
Citizens Advice |
Stop Loan Sharks |
Reporting Non-Urgent Crime
Crimestoppers |
Fearless |
The Brooke Weston Trust policy for Safeguarding and Child Protection aims to:
- Protect children from maltreatment
- Prevent impairment of children’s health or development
- Ensure that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- Take action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Contact Us
- If you use the contact form below, a member of the team will get back to you within 48 hours, during school time.
- If you have a concern that is over the weekend or a school holiday please contact one of the local support helplines listed within this area e.g. Youth Works.
- If your concern in urgent please contact the Samaritans on 116 123, Child Line on 0800 1111 or if it is an emergency or you are in danger please call 999.
- If you want to report a concern anonymously, you can also complete the form without your name or contact details.