Safeguarding at Wellacre

Our Commitment to Safeguarding

At Wellacre, the safety and wellbeing of every child is our main priority. We are fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people. We expect all staff, governors, volunteers and visitors to share this commitment.

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, and we work together to ensure that every child feels safe, supported and able to thrive. This means more than just ensuring their physical safety, Wellacre also focuses on looking after their emotional and mental wellbeing. We educate students on keeping themselves safe when they are outside of school, from road safety to online safety.

All staff are aware of, and are able to recognise, the signs of different types of abuse, neglect and exploitation, as well as specific safeguarding issues. All staff understand their role in responding to these concerns.

We work in partnership with parents and carers to safeguard children. We may need to share concerns with external agencies if we believe a child is at risk, in line with our legal responsibilities.

For further information please refer to our Safeguarding and Child Protection policy which can be found here.

Wellacre's Safeguarding Team

If you have any concerns about the safety or wellbeing of a child, please do not hesitate to contact one of Wellacre's Safeguarding Team.

Outside of school, if you are worried about the safety or wellbeing of yourself or another child or young person under the age of 18 then please phone Trafford Children's First Response on 0161 912 5125 during the day, or the Emergency Duty Team on 0161 912 2020 if it's an emergency at night or during the weekend. You can also email them at firstresponse(at)trafford.gov.uk

If you or a child or young person is in immediate danger, then call the police on 999. You can also contact Greater Manchester Police on 0161 872 5050

The NSPCC can also help on 0808 800 5000. The NSPCC has a YouTube video which shows you what happens when you call the NSPCC. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

If you are a child, you could also phone Childline on 0800 1111 or visit their website. Childline have a YouTube video which shows you what will happen if you phone them.https://www.childline.org.uk/

Worried about the behaviour of an adult who works with children?

If your concern is about the behaviour of an adult who works with children in a paid or voluntary capacity, please contact the Principal in the first instance, the Chair of Governors and/or the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for Trafford via LADO(at)trafford.gov.uk

Operation Encompass

We are an Operation Encompass School. This means we work in partnership with the police to support children who have been present at incidents of domestic abuse. Through Operation Encompass, the school receives confidential communication from the police when a child has been involved in or exposed to such an incident. This allows us to provide timely, sensitive support to help children feel safe, secure and ready to learn.

Bullying and Cyberbullying

Bullying behaviour is often deliberately hurtful, repeated over a period of time and is difficult for victims to defend themselves against. It is the wilful, conscious desire to hurt, threaten or frighten someone else. Any behaviour which is intended to hurt others and is SPECIFIC and REPEATED is bullying.
Bullying at Wellacre is very rare and we deal with any reports of bullying quickly and effectively.
If your son has a problem in school with bullying or cyberbullying, please contact their Achievement Tutor or their Head of House.
For more information on how Wellacre keeps your child safe, and how we can support you, please see the policies section of the website and the information below.

Anti-Bullying guide for parents and carers

Information toolkit for parents and carers on bullying

 

Online safety

At Wellacre we take online safety seriously. All Internet access is filtered through a proxy server to screen out undesirable websites at source. All staff at Wellacre participate in annual online and face to face training, enabling online safety to be taught as an integral part of the whole school curriculum.
Protecting children from harm is just as important online as it is in the real world. As a parent or carer, you can play an important role in helping children have safe and positive experiences online whether this be from a PC, smartphone or tablet.
The internet offers an exciting world of experiences for children and the whole family. It can be entertaining, educational and rewarding. However, using the internet also involves risks and challenges.
Children might be exposed to content that is sexually explicit, violent, prohibited or even illegal. They may also experience cyber bullying or be at risk from contact by strangers.
Children may – unknowingly or deliberately – share personal information without realising they may be subject to identity theft, or that they are leaving behind content that might not reflect well on them in the future.

By taking an active role in talking with your children about the risks and answering their questions or concerns about something that they find on the Internet you can help them stay safer online.

For more information on how you can support your child in staying safe online please access the material below:

E-safety and Parental Controls
Supporting Young People Online
Keeping Safe Online - Checklist
Online Resources for Parents and Carers - Childnet
Young People Social Networking Sites
Sexting
Instagram Guide
Guide to Facebook
Online Grooming

Further support

Please see below resources that you may find useful:

42nd Street 
Kooth 
Trafford Talkshop
School Nursing Team School Nursing – Trafford LCOS
Trafford Directory | Children and Families
Early Break
TDAS Trafford Domestic Abuse Services
Counselling and Family Centre