At Highfields Primary Academy, the welfare of all our pupils is of great importance to us and we hope that parents are confident about their children’s health and safety whilst in our school.
We will always try to share any concerns we have with parents. However, there are times when we are legally obliged to share our concerns with other agencies, without first speaking to parents, or without the consent of parents.
The safety and protection of our pupils is our most important concern and we wish to reassure you that any sharing of information is done with the children’s best interest at heart.
If you have any concerns about the welfare or safety of any child in our school, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mr Williams. In his absence please speak to the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads Mrs Bradford, Miss Hepworth and Mrs Bonner
Mr Benjamin Williams – Designated Safeguarding Lead and Looked After Child (LAC) Lead
Mrs Sabrina Bradford– Deputy Safeguarding Lead
Miss Carrie Hepworth – Early Help Lead Practitioner and Deputy Safeguarding Lead
Mrs Bonner – Deputy Safeguarding Lead
Safeguarding and child protection policy can be found on our statutory information tab.
As a parent you may be worried about how extremism and radicalisation might affect your child. Here at Highfields Primary Academy we are taking this extremely seriously and have trained all staff in looking for signs.
Facebook and Social Media
There is often a lot of press about Facebook/Spcial media and issues around personal safety, privacy and identity theft.
Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities says that you need to be 13 years old to have a Facebook account. If a child under this age has an account then it has been obtained dishonestly (sometimes with an adult’s knowledge) and this is considered as fraud.
In the interest of child protection and safety within Safeguarding legislation, it is our duty to notify appropriate organisations if we become aware of any pupil of Highfields Primary Academy operating Facebook accounts. However, we are bound to inform you of an application (ClickCEOP) that can be added to accounts run by The Child Exploitation Online Protection Unit. This can be added to child or adult profiles. Through the application you can receive advice and support. Crucially, young people can report instances of suspected grooming and/or inappropriate behaviour directly from their profile to specially trained investigators.
To add this vital application and help keep young people safe, visit – www.facebook.com/ClickCEOP
If this is added or bookmarked to appear on their profile it is a constant source of help and reassurance for individuals plus a strong visual signal to others that they are in control on line.
You can also visit http://ceop.police.uk/ to access information about e-safety and you are able to contact the internet police immediately via this webiste regarding any e-safety issues.
Another big issue is Identity theft. Here are some simple steps/checks to help avoid being a victim of Identity theft.
- Do not use your true date of birth (change it slightly as your true friends will know your real date of birth) Banks and online organisations often use your DOB for security checks.
- Think about whether you really need your phone number in your profile for everyone to see.
- Can everyone see your pictures and copy/use them? Check your privacy settings. Do your pictures give away locations? Are you wearing a school jumper/work uniform?
- Check your privacy settings on your images as each album might need adjusting.
- Have you ‘checked in’ to places – letting people know you are away!
- Not all friends are actual friends. Limit what information they can access.
