The safeguarding of our students is our primary concern.
Should you wish to raise any concerns then the primary Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Mrs Wall. There are also a large number of deputy DSLs which reflects the importance that we attach to safeguarding at Walton-le-Dale. For students in school, these can be identified by a purple lanyard.
You will find the full Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy on our "Policies"
At Walton-le-Dale High School, we feel that all our staff work hard to contribute to making the school a safe place to learn, for our pupils to be cared for, and shaped in to well-rounded, responsible young people. We aim to protect pupils from harm, promoting the well-being and welfare of all who attend our school.
We feel that the school is committed in promoting the emotional, physical, mental and educational needs of every pupil and recognise our roles and responsibilities in protecting and keeping our pupils safe.
We are proud of our pupils and staff and believe that we promote a positive, nurturing, and stimulating environment through our lessons, and our vertical form and house systems, so that our pupils feel safe and happy.
Should you have concerns about the safety or well-being of someone at our school, please talk to one of our Designated Safeguarding Leads.
Alternatively, you may wish to contact your child's House Achievement Leader who will share this information with one of the DSL's.
Operation Encompass was set up to provide early reporting to schools about any domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of school hours to which a young person attending Walton-le-Dale High School has been exposed, and which might then have an impact on their schooling the following day. Following an incident, students will often arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared. Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff are made aware early enough to help and support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.
Information will only be shared with the school by the police where it is identified that a young person was present, witnessed or was involved in a domestic abuse incident.
A nominated member of school staff, known as an Encompass Key Adult, has been trained to liaise with the police. They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. The Key Adults will keep this information confidential, and will only share it on a need to know basis, for instance, to teaching staff for the child or young person. It will not be shared it with other school students. The Key Adults at WLD are Mrs Sheridan (Designated Safeguarding Officer) and Mrs Wall (Safeguarding Lead) who are both DSLs for the school.
You can find out more information by visiting the Operation Encompass website (click the link below) or by contacting Mrs Sheridan at school.
There are lots of different types of support available for children with mental health issues. These include the following.
Contacting a GP
GPs may be able to diagnose mental health conditions, suggest next steps and provide medication.
There is information on the Childline website about visiting GPs
Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
Across the UK, CAMHS is a free NHS service for children and young people that aims to help with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders.
Teachers, social workers, GPs and parents can refer a young person to CAMHS. Services differ from area to area.
In England, you can find CAMHS services in your area through the NHS CAMHS webpage.
Counselling and therapeutic services
Counselling services are available to help children and young people with their mental health. Services can include helplines, one-to-one counselling sessions in person, online or by phone, and online chats and forums.
These services are available through a range of fee-paying and free services including schools and the NHS.
Childline
Children and young people can get free, confidential support from a Childline counsellor via online chat, email or phone.
Childline will listen and provide advice to any concerns about topics, ranging from exam stress to depression and suicidal thoughts.
Childline offers a range of resources for children and young people, including:
- Art box to write or draw about their feelings
- Calm zone with breathing exercises
- Games to help relax and de-stress.
Childline also has dedicated resources for under 12s.
Download or order Childline posters and wallet cards to display across schools, encouraging children to contact Childline if they need to talk.
NSPCC services
We provide therapeutic services to help children, young people and families with their mental health.
Online Child Abuse
Online Child Abuse is a continuing issue both nationally and locally. Lancashire Constabulary have a dedicated Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) at Police Headquarters, Hutton, Lancashire. Each force has a Victim ID Officer and there role within the force is to identify and safeguard victims of online child abuse. A victim is any child under 18 who has sent an indecent image of themselves, and once sent to another person the child is deemed to have lost control of that image. The first newsletter from the OCAIT is available to view or download here.
Guidance for Parents - Sexting
Sharing information online is now part of everyday life. Digital devices can capture, store and share personal information in an instant. We are all at risk of oversharing personal and private information but none more so than children. Children are at risk of sharing too much personal information with strangers and with other children. Most children use the internet to explore social and personal relationships safely, but it is all too easy to be put at risk.
More information about this topic is available to view or download here.
For more general guidance on staying safe online please follow this link to the Lancashire Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB)
For a helpful guide to safer use of 'smartphones' follow this link..
This section of our website holds parent information for these related subjects:
- Affected by Bereavement
- Educational Psychologist Service
- Extended Services at Parklands
- FIND Newsletter – for children with disabilities and their families
- Free School Meals Information
- Freedom of Information Act
- School Clothing Grant
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Issues
School help and advice can be given by the Head, Strategic Leadership Team, all teaching/non-teaching staff, peer mediation, Mrs Fairhurst and Ms Williams. Please do not keep any issues/problems you may have to yourself, we can find the right person to help you.
If you have any concerns in school (including issues of bullying), that you don’t feel you are able to share with your individual teachers, please use the Pupil Concerns box in the LRC. Drop a note into this box with a brief outline of your concern and your name so that we can follow it up with you.
The links included below are to sites with useful further information for those looking to find out more about aspects of this area. Childnet International, who run the chatdanger website, is not responsible for the content of the links below.
Telephone helplines for children
Childline – 0800 1111, a free 24 hour helpline for children in the UK, www.childline.org.uk
To report to police
The Virtual Global Taskforce, www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com receives reports online just click the ‘Report Abuse’ option on the home page and follow the instructions.
In the UK, to report suspicious behaviour online towards a child, you can report directly to the police at www.ceop.gov.uk
Childnet International www.childnet.com
Childline 08001111
NSPCC here text 88858 Tel 080880050000
Kidsmart http://www.kidsmar.org.uk
Digizen http://www.digizen.org
Other Internet safety Sites
Thinkuknow http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk
SafeKids http://www.safekids.com
Netsmartz http://www.netsmartz.org
Cybersmartkids http://www.cybersmartkids.com.au
WiseKids http://www.wisekids.org.uk
Wired Kids http://www.wiredkids.org
BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/help/safesurfing
Sites on Bullying
Beatbullying http://www.beatbullying.org
Cybermentors http://www.cybermentors.org
HAVOCA - help for adult victims of child abuse email friend@havoca.org
Bullying.org http://www.bullying.org
Kidscape http://www.kidscape.org.uk
Bullying Online http://www.bullying.co.uk
On bullying via mobile phone http://www.stoptextbully.com
Sexual abuse (incest) - support for women CIS'ters tel 02380338080 admin@cisters.org.uk
RAPE CRISIS tel 08088029999 info@rapecrisis.org.uk rapecrisis.org.uk
One in four - oneinfour.org.uk advocacy service, counselling service and information for people who have experienced sexual abuse
THE SURVIVORS TRUST thesurvivorstrust.org uk network of support organisations
TASC - trauma and abuse support centre - tasc@tasc-online.org.uk tasc-online.org.uk - uk web-based resource fort survivors of child sexual abuse and for anyone involved in supporting them
The International Centre: Researching child sexual exploitation, violence and trafficking
PACE - Parents against sexual exploitation - helpline for parents worried about a child Tel 01132403040
Survivors UK webchat can be accessed at www.survivorsuk.org help@survivorsuk.org
Sexual abuse - support for men. Mankind http://www.mankindcounselling.org.uk/ tel 01273911680
Sexual abuse - support for non-abusive parents and carers of children who have been sexually abused. Mosac tel 08009801958 enquiries@mosac.org.uk mosac.org.uk
Stonewall Educational Resources
Stonewall's Education For All campaign, launched in January 2005, helps tackle homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools and works with a wide coalition of groups. In addition Stonewall promotes new research on issues such as hate crime, lesbian health and homophobic bullying in schools.
Parklands actively promotes a positive and inclusive environment for everyone celebrating difference and diversity in everyday school life. As a school community we endeavor to promote the safety and wellbeing of all young people in our care. This includes lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils and those who experience homophobic bullying.
To find out more follow this link
Tips, advice, guides and resources to help keep your child safe online
As a parent or carer you play a key role in helping your child to stay safe online. The internet and online technologies are an important part of children’s lives at home and school, providing great opportunities for learning, communicating, playing and creating. As we know, these technologies create huge opportunities for us all, however, they can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, and present challenges to keeping your family safe online.
Negotiate General Online Safety Rules - examples might include:
How much time per night they are allowed on technology/the internet.
The age rating of websites they are allowed to visit.
Sharing and/or distributing personal details, images and videos.
How to treat people online and not post anything they wouldn’t say face-to-face.
Check the age rating of games – if the age rating is an 18 these games can include bad language, sexual content etc.
Set online gaming settings so your child can only talk to their friends – private chat not game chat.
Set the amount of time your child spends playing online games.
Help your child to use privacy settings and how to report issues
Check the privacy settings on any online accounts your child has.
Remind them to keep their personal information private.
Talk to your child about what to do if they see content or are contacted by someone that worries or upsets them. Make sure they know how to use tools to report abuse.
Make sure your child knows they can come to you if they’re upset by something they’ve seen online and make sure that you listen and don’t overreact - the important thing is that they have come to you for help and support.
If your child comes to you with an issue, stay calm and listen without judging them and don’t threaten to take away their devices.
Use parental controls
Internet Service Providers (ISPs), such as Sky, Virgin or BT, provide controls to help you filter or restrict content. Laptops, smartphones, tablets, game consoles and other devices that connect to the internet, have settings to activate parental controls.
Below are some useful resources to help ensure your child is safe on the internet.
Additional information about online safety can be found on the following websites:
https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/parents-and-carers - Resources on using technology such as laptops, phones smart speakers and games consoles
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/#advice - This has advice on how to stay safe online as a family
https://nationalonlinesafety.com/guides - This contains guides and tips an a number of online safety issues
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ - The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre has set up its own educational website that has been designed and written specifically for children, young people, teachers, parents and carers.
https://www.internetmatters.org/ - This website contains lots of information about staying safe online, with tips about games, social networking, mobile technology and more.
We cannot offer direct safeguarding support during the school holidays or at weekends - use the following contact details at these times:
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Police - Ring 101 or 999 as appropriate depending upon the urgency of the concern |
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YoungMinds Crisis Messenger - Free 24/7 mental health support - Text YM to 85258 email on youngminds.org.uk |
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Childline - Contact 24/7 about how you’re feeling no matter the issue. 1-2-1 chat online, on the phone, email. Games and Advice. Call free on 0800 1111 email https://www.childline.org.uk/ |
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Samaritans - Contact 24/7 about how you’re feeling. Call free on 116 123 or go to www.samaritans.org |
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NHS Chathealth - Totally anonymous and confidential health advice service - Mon-Fri 9-5 Blackburn & Darwen Text – 07507330509 Preston, Chorley, Lancashire Text - 07507330510 |
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Online abuse – Click CEOP - Are you worried about online abuse or online communication? |
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Kooth.com - Free, safe and anonymous online support for young people until 1pm |
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Mind – mental health support - www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus-and-your-wellbeing/ |