Safeguarding & E-Safety

Safeguarding

Willowfield School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all of our young people and expects all staff and visitors to actively share this commitment.

Safeguarding includes:

• Protecting young people from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and neglect
• Minimising any risks of harm to young people
• Ensuring that no young person’s health or development is impaired
• Young people’s individual needs are assessed at an early a point as possible to ensure prompt and effective intervention can take place
• Create an environment where every young person can reach their potential

Willowfield School works with a range of external agencies as needed to support the safety and welfare of our young people. This includes a statutory duty to work with social services teams from relevant local authorities and, where relevant, the police to ensure everyone is safe and properly cared for. We will ensure that concerns about our students are discussed in the first instance with their parent or carer unless we have reason to believe that this would be contrary to their welfare.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Laura Scott and our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Rebecca Linden, Tim Naylor, Emma Lubel, Lianne Harrison, Lionel Morgan, Mike Thomas, Raza Mir, Debbie Chapman Andrews, Tasrin Shanana and Ben Holbrook.

A copy of our full safeguarding policy can be found below, as well as some other useful links.

• DSL@willowfield-school.co.uk – although this is monitored regularly any immediate concerns about risk to a child should be reported to the police or via MASH, contact details below.
• Safeguarding policy
• KCSIE - Keeping children safe in education 2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
• Waltham Forest Child Protection Information - Child Protection: Help and advice for children and young people | London Borough of Waltham Forest
• Waltham Forest Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (to report a concern about a child directly to social services) – 020 8496 2310
• Waltham Forest Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub emergency out of hours number - 02084963000

E-safety

Computers and the internet have become an ever-increasing part of our lives and we want to prepare students to be safe and successful in the digital world we spend much of our time in. E-safety education is built into both the academic and pastoral curriculum. Students learn about the dangers of grooming, online security, and scams such as phishing. We support students in understanding how to use apps safely, to be critical of information and to avoid fake news. Through assemblies and form time activities we will educate students about the dangers of gaming addiction and gambling in computer games.

Students will be taught to use information technology in a responsible way through their lessons. As a precaution all internet access is filtered protecting students from accessing dangerous or graphic material. This is reviewed regularly to ensure our systems are up to date and we respond and take necessary precautions to any digital security threats.

We will also offer parental support to help you identify risks and take precautions that will help to keep your child safe online. At Willowfield we also have a designated online safety officer, Mr Holbrook – Assistant Headteacher, to ensure E-Safety stays a priority.

If you feel that your child is at risk online contact either your child’s achievement leader or Mr Holbrook as soon as possible.

Further information about how to keep your child safe online can be found below:

Information, Advice and Support to Keep Children Safe Online (internetmatters.org)

Keeping children safe online | NSPCC

https://www.childnet.com/

Snapchat My Ai Chatbot - Wayne Denner – an article on the use of AI on Snapchat, the issues it poses and how parents can guard against it.

Common online scams targeting teens | Internet Matters – an article on some of the ways students are targeted online and actions you can take to avoid your child being caught by them.

If you have reported harmful material to the social media service directly using their online tools, at least 48 hours ago, and it hasn’t been removed then please click the RHC button below. It can be used to submit reports on specific platforms, about the following 8 harms:

• Threats
• Impersonation
• Bullying & Harassment
• Self-harm or Suicide
• Online Abuse
• Violent Content
• Unwanted Sexual Advances
• Pornographic Content

It can used for the following social media platforms:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• TikTok
• Twitter
• YouTube
• YouTube Kids
• Pinterest
• Blogger
• LinkedIn
• Skype
• Google Search
• Bing
• Xbox Live
• Twitch
• Minecraft
• Roblox
• Yubo
• Tinder
• Hinge
• Pof
• Match
• OkCupid
• Ourtime
• Discord

Reporting to RHC

Reports can be made 24/7 through the online reporting forms and helpline practitioners will review and respond to reports within 72 hours between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday.

Reports can be made to RHC by anyone over the age of 13.

Please remember if you have any concerns to speak to a trusted adult and that you can speak to Mr Holbrook or your Achievement Leader.