Keeping Children Safe in Education
Safeguarding is the policies and practices that schools and Governing Bodies employ to keep children safe and promote their well-being. This means everything from security of the buildings, to the safe recruitment of staff and everything in between.
Child Protection is a term used to describe the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.
Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play in safeguarding children. School is particularly important as they are in a position to identify concerns early and provide help for children, to prevent concerns from escalating. Schools and their staff form part of the wider safeguarding system for children. This system is described in statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children. Schools and colleges work with social care, the police, health services and other services to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Co-op Academy Walkden works with ‘The Bridge Partnership’ and Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership. Safeguarding Partnerships are responsible for making sure that children and young people in Salford are safe.
All reports or enquiries concerning the welfare or safety of a child must go straight to the Bridge Partnership on 0161 603 4500 as the first port of call. Bridge Partnership is available Monday to Friday from 8:30am – 4:30pm.
If you need to speak to someone outside of these times, please contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 0161 794 8888. This applies to reports from the public, council staff, partners and outside agencies. The email address is worriedaboutachild@salford.gov.uk
If a child is in immediate danger of being harmed or is home alone, call the police on 999.
For Salford guidance and advice about keeping children safe, please click here.
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE 2023) government document can be found here: Keeping children safe in education 2023
How to keep your child safe
We recognise that you may feel worried and concerned about your child and understand that it might be difficult to talk about it. Please be assured we’re here to help, always.
We are committed to providing a safe environment for our students. We offer a wide range of support in school should you require it.
Should you have concerns about a child during the period of time whilst our school is closed, here are some helpful resources.
Mental Health & Wellbeing Support
Introduction At Co-op Academy Walkden, we aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for our whole school community (children, staff, parents and carers), and recognise how important mental health and emotional wellbeing is to our lives in just the same way as physical health.
School staff are often the key professionals when it comes to identifying and supporting children and young people’s mental wellbeing and are ideally placed to respond to the early signs of mental health difficulties in children and young people.
What to do if you need help
There are many sources of help available to help you take care of your emotional health and wellbeing.
In school you can speak to:
- Head of Year
- Progress Leader
- Learning Support Team
- Safeguarding Team
- Mental Health Team
Alternatively, any teacher or other member of staff.
Other avenues for your support:
- Take a look at our school website for more support information
- Speak to your parent/carer or another trusted member of your family Useful websites you can seek help from:
- Young Minds - Fighting for young people’s Mental Health
- Mind - Mental Health Information for young people aged 11-18
- NHS - Children’s Mental Health: Every Mind Matters
- Childline or call 0800 11 11
- Kidscape - Help with Bullying or call 020 7730 3300
Self-Harm
The term ‘self harm’ means doing anything on purpose that causes harm to yourself. This can include; cutting, burning, overdosing or swallowing something dangerous or anything that causes harm to your body on purpose. At least 10% of adolescents report having self-harmed. Self harm is something that people do to help manage their emotions, what is sometimes called a ‘coping strategy’. Young people can self harm for a number of reasons. The most common is to help them cope with their feelings in response to situations such as; depression, low self-esteem, drug or alcohol abuse, bullying, family problems, abuse (physical, emotional or sexual) plus many more.
How can you help? The most constructive way to deal with self harm is to stay calm, try not to be alarmed or show your fears. There are many things that can help: it may be that the individual needs structured therapy from a mental health professional, or that the compassionate support of family and friends is enough to aid their recovery.
Find out more at: www.harmless.org.uk – a national voluntary organisation for people who self harm, their friends, families and professionals