Safeguarding
Safeguarding
Our children have a right to be safe.
Underwood West Academy is passionate about and committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All staff, parents, carers and visitors have a responsibility to ensure our children are safe. There are three people in charge of keeping our children safe at Underwood West Academy. If you have any safeguarding concerns about a child who attends Underwood West Academy, then these are the people you can contact. They will know who to contact for the best advise and help and are experienced in using the appropriate degree of confidentiality. You can contact them either in person or by telephoning the school on 01270 260580.
Mrs Laura Jones
Principal
Mrs A Starkey Mr T Foster Miss C Haynes Mrs A Stockton
As a Level One Unicef Rights respecting School, our children have the right to:
Article 12 You have the right to give your opinion, and for adults to listen and take it seriously.
Article 19 You have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, in body or mind.
Article 27 You have the right to food, clothing, a safe place to live and to have your basic needs met. You should not be disadvantaged so that you can't do many of the things other kids can do.
Article 33 You have the right to protection from harmful drugs and from the drug trade.
Article 34 You have the right to be free from sexual abuse.
Article 35 No one is allowed to kidnap or sell you.
Article 36 You have the right to protection from any kind of exploitation (being taken advantage of).
Article 37 No one is allowed to punish you in a cruel or harmful way
Article 39 You have the right to help if you've been hurt, neglected or badly treated.
If you need any further advice or help, then you can contact the following services:
Cheshire East Consultation Service
Tel: 0300 123 5012
Childline
Tel: 0800 1111
NSPCC
Tel: 0808 800 5000
Safer Recruiting
Underwood West Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare and safety of children and expect all staff to share this commitment. Any candidate applying for employment at our school will undergo rigorous checks to ensure our children are safe at all times. Checks continue to be carried out on staff and volunteers throughout their employment with Underwood West Academy.
Key members of our staffing team are trained in safer recruitment. There is always at least one trained member of staff involved in the shortlisting, selection process and interview stage. Our recruitment procedures are very robust and essential checks are made throughout the selection process. As part of our recruitment and selection procedures we:
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Following a domestic incident, the Police make contact with the school via telephone and communicate relevant information to nominated, fully-trained school staff. This ensures that we are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe, supported and listened to.
Each school has a member of staff called a key adult who is trained to liaise with the police, when required, whilst ensuring support is available to the child. Our Key Staff are Mrs Jones (Principal), Miss Ollier (Vice Principal and Safeguarding lead) and Miss Haynes (Assistant Safeguarding lead).
We are committed to working in partnership with local relevant organisations to safeguard and protect children across Cheshire and provide the best possible care and support for our pupils.
You can find out more about Operation Encompass by reading the the following site :http://www.operationencompass.org/
Prevent
As part of Underwood West Academy's safeguarding and child protection duties, we are fully behind the Government’s PREVENT strategy.
From July 1st 2015 all schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” This duty is known as the PREVENT Duty For Schools.
At Underwood West Academy, we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values and enabling our pupils to challenge extremist views.
The statutory guidance refers to the importance of PREVENT awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. All our teaching staff have received training on what Prevent is about and how to deal with any issues they may see inside or outside school.
Where can I go to get support to help keep my child safe online?
There is a lot of support available to keep your child safe online. Below are some useful links to help parents and carers:
- Thinkyouknow (advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online)
- Internet matters (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Parent info (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- LGfL (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Net-aware (support for parents and careers from the NSPCC)
Also, please see our E-Safety page in the Parents section of our website for lots of great support, guides and a reporting tool.
If you as a parent or pupil have any concerns please email teachers@underwoodwest.cheshire.sch.uk
Fearless.org is an anonymous site where you can report a crime or incident without being identified.
You do not have to give your name or any personal details and your IP or email address cannot be traced.
Hopefully this will give you the confidence to report a crime/incident without any fears you may have.
Please click here to open the link to the anonymous incident form
Please see below recommendations of resources and tips to support parents during the current COVID-19 outbreak.
- During the lockdown families are spending much more time together and in these uncertain times emotions can run high and arguments happen more often. Tips for Coping with Family Conflict:
https://www.barnardos.org.uk/blog/coping-family-conflict-during-lockdown
- The Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has collated a valuable online library full of resources which can support professionals, parents, carers and children during the Covid-19 outbreak. Highlights include a family focused COVID-19 Self Care Kit.
- NSPCC Learning also has an extensive library of resources which can help parents, carers and professionals to support children’s mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 outbreak.
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/news/2020/april/supporting-children-young-people-mental-health
- Professionals, parents and young people can be directed to the Young Addaction Pan Cheshire social media pages for daily updates, resources, tips and support
https://www.facebook.com/Pan-Cheshire-Missing-and-Child-Exploitation-Service-1039465136264241
https://twitter.com/PanCheshireMFH
Protect children from domestic abuse
The government’s stay at home instruction does not apply if a person needs to leave their home as a result of domestic abuse. Refuges have remained open throughout the lockdown period to provide safe accommodation for victims and their children.
Contact them on the National Domestic Abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247
For help with parental conflict and relationship abuse:
- Co-Parent Hub - information for separated parents and advice to help you and your ex-partner to be good co-parents