Safeguarding
At the National Church of England Academy we have a clear and robust Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy which ensures that all students are kept as safe as possible in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024.
Copies of these documents can be found by using the links below:
Mr Llewellyn (Assistant Head Teacher - Behaviour and Attitudes) is the Academy Designated Safeguarding Lead and can be contacted at dllewellyn@nationalacademy.org.uk (0115 9635667 ext 3024)
Mr Tyson is the Academy Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead and can be contacted at styson@nationalacademy.org.uk. (0115 9635667)
The academy has several other DSL trained members of staff to assist with a cohort of over 1200 students and there is also a dedicated package of pastoral support which assists all students should they require any help. Our safeguarding programme includes:
- a full time academy counsellor which students can self refer into or via our Listening Referral system
- a counselling drop in service
- an academy chaplain which can offer mentoring sessions
- a dedicated attendance officer and educational welfare officer to assist with students at risk of missing education
- a clear safeguarding curriculum via Personal Development lessons which includes a variety of safeguarding topics including healthy relationships and e-safety
We also have a dedicated page of the academy website which offers support and links to external agencies for a variety of issues:
Tootoot
Further to the above, we have partnered with Tootoot since late 2016. Tootoot is a safe, secure and diverse web-based safeguarding tool, which allows our students to report incidents of bullying, problems in class or any issues in an anonymous, confidential and discrete manner. These individual cases are monitored, managed and resolved by staff within the academy.
Tootoot reduces the friction and stigma attached to the reporting of such incidents, and ultimately provides us with the tools required to track, monitor and resolve cases efficiently and significantly reduce bullying.
Protecting children online
The links below provide a range of useful resources and sources of information to support parents and carers to keep their children safe online. During this period of academy closure, lockdown and social distancing, we know that more and more people are communicating online, so this information is very useful to know:
- Thinkuknow – provides advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) on staying safe online
- Parent info – a collaboration between Parentzone and the NCA providing support and guidance for parents from leading experts and organisations
- Childnet – offers a toolkit to support parents and carers of children of any age to start discussions about their online life, to set boundaries around online behaviour and technology use, and to find out where to get more help and support
- Internet matters – provides age-specific online safety checklists, guides on how to set parental controls on a range of devices, and a host of practical tips to help children get the most out of their digital world
- London Grid for Learning – has support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online, including tips to keep primary aged children safe online
- Net-aware – has support for parents and carers from the NSPCC, including a guide to social networks, apps and games
- Let’s Talk About It- has advice for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation
- UK Safer Internet Centre- has tips, advice, guides and other resources to help keep children safe online, including parental controls offered by home internet providers and safety tools on social networks and other online services