At Helston Community College the well-being of individuals, groups of people and the wider community are of great importance to us, and this is reflected through our Co-operative values of equality, equity, caring for others, self-help and social responsibility. We take great pride in the quality of care and support that we provide, in the belief that this is a key foundation to achieving well and being fulfilled. There are a number of support mechanisms in place to enable students to be safe, secure, and happy. These include clear policies and procedures in place on Anti-Bullying, Online Safety, Child Protection and Safeguarding and a wide range of provision that includes our Thrive room.
Our fully trained and accredited Child Protection team at the College includes:
Mr Andrew Oates (Senior Assistant Head Teacher), who is the Designated Safeguarding Lead
Ms Paula Martin (Deputy Head Teacher) who is a Deputy DSL
Mrs Karen Harvey, who is a Deputy DSL
Mr Craig Finch, who is a Deputy DSL
The named Governor for child protection issues is Mr Chris Webb.
Our safeguarding and child protection policy can be found here and the link to the Cornwall Safeguarding Partnership is below.
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Safeguarding Children Partnership - (ciossafeguarding.org.uk)
Stay up to date and keep your child safe in today's digital world!
To children, online life is real life. NSPCC and O2 have joined forces to help parents explore and understand online life as kids know it. The Net Aware guide to the social networks your kids use. They have worked with over 500 parents and carers, and 1725 young people to review social networks and apps that children use. There is also a guide here to highlight the dangers a child's faces, for example cyberbullying, sexual predators, as well as strategies to help keep the whole family safe online.
New Online Support from Childline
Childline (NSPCC) have launched a new reporting facility for inappropriate images online. Under 18's can now report when an image or video of them has been shared online to get it removed from the Internet. The services is run by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWC). They can issue a ‘takedown notice’ for UK based sites so it won’t cover all images but it is a promising new resource and we are making our College community aware of it.
For more information please see the link to the Childline page HERE
Advice
Families can visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents to access advice and support on how to keep children safe from sexual abuse, both online and off. Articles provide guidance on topics as diverse as challenging harmful sexual attitudes and promoting positive behaviours; helping a child with autism negotiate life online; supporting a child who has been sexually abused, and dealing with a range of online issues such as sending nude selfies and viewing pornography. Users will find films, downloadable guides and useful links to support organisations.
Reporting
Families can also use this website to access the CEOP Safety Centre www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre where they can report abuse and exploitation direct to CEOP.
Various technologies are increasingly being used to communicate and support learning. Our policy and procedures ensure that guidance for safe use of these technologies, including the internet, is in place and fully implemented. The College has an e-Safety co-ordinator who leads the delivery of information sessions, raising awareness of both parents/carers and students to the variety of ways to stay safe online. Advice for parents is also made available through Parent Information Evenings and regular email updates.
Self-harm
Self-harm is an issue that can affect people of all ages and is a concern for some children of secondary school age. It happens when people deliberately hurt themselves when they are finding things difficult to cope with. If it is something that you or your child is experiencing, we would encourage you to share this with College so we can work together to provide support. Please read the attached leaflets for information and advice. For more detailed information, please see the College policy on Self-harm.
Prevent Strategy
The strategy involves thousands of people – police and intelligence officers, the emergency services, local authorities, businesses, voluntary and community organisations, governments and other partners – working in partnership across the UK and the world to protect the public.
The strategy has four key elements:
PEGI Ratings - what do they mean?
Follow the link - click here
Online counselling support and advice
www.kooth.com, offers young people, between the ages of 11 - 26-year-olds, in Cornwall access to a free counselling service. Online opening times: Monday - Friday 12pm - 10pm, Saturday - Sunday 4pm - 10pm.
Kooth can help with many types of concerns including:
They offer:
Parent Info is a collaboration between CEOP and Parent Zone it provides high-quality information to parents and carers about their children's wellbeing and resilience.