Safeguarding
Introduction
The Ridgeway School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
- Protecting children and young people from maltreatment.
- Preventing the impairment of their health or development.
- Ensuring that they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
- Enabling them to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully.
The school has a whole-school safeguarding policy and associated procedures in place to ensure that safeguarding and child protection issues are dealt with efficiently and appropriately. All staff, including our support staff, visitors, and volunteers, are made aware of our procedures, and parents/carers are welcome to read the policy.
Sometimes, we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will always ensure that our concerns about our students are discussed with their parents/carers first, unless there is reason to believe that this is not in the student’s best interests.
The Ridgeway Safeguarding Team
If you have a concern about a child, particularly if you think they may be suffering harm or are at risk of suffering harm, it is your responsibility to share the information promptly with:
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Miss D Blackler
- 01793 846126
- blacklerd@ridgewayschool.com
Safeguarding Deputies
Miss G Moody
- 01793 846100
- moodyg@ridgewayschool.com
Miss P Keep
- 01793 846100
- keepp@ridgewayschool.com
Mr M Pentelow
- 01793 846100
- pentelowm@ridgewayschool.com
Single Point of Contact for Concerns Regarding Radicalisation and Extremism
Miss D Blackler
- 01793 846126
- blacklerd@ridgewayschool.com
Further Information
Good mental health is essential for the wellbeing of all learners. You may find the information found on the Young Minds website useful.
CAMHS Resources also contains a wealth of useful materials aimed at young people, carers and professionals that are available to help support mental health and wellbeing.
Anna Freud NCCF provides information about how young people can learn to look after their own mental health.
https://www.annafreud.org/on-my-mind/self-care/
Child sexual exploitation can happen anywhere. You may find the information through the Pace UK website of interest, as we seek to protect the young people in our collective care.
Swindon CCG has started to commission Kooth, an online counselling and emotional wellbeing support service for children and young people that is available free at the point of use. As an early intervention solution, Kooth helps to reduce waiting times for young people seeking help while removing the stigma associated with accessing mental health support.
Please see below a link to a recent article from Swindon Link and a link to the Kooth website itself. This is a valuable resource for parents and professionals where they may be involved in a discussion regarding the provision of counselling.
Read Article
This resource is designed to offer advice on how parents can safeguard their children's mental health and promote their wellbeing and is available as a document and short video presentation.
The link to both resources is here:
Child Mental Health & Wellbeing- 10 Top Tips for Parents
Whisper
Whisper is an anonymous reporting tool brought to you by the South West Grid for Learning. It can be added to school websites to help anonymously capture issues reported by students either online or by text message. To report an issue, click the button below.
Safeguarding Documents
