Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility at Harlow Fields School and College.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:

  • Protecting children from maltreatment.
  • Preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development.
  • Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
  • Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

Our aim is to provide a safe and secure environment for all our pupils, staff, volunteers and visitors.   We are committed to Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our children and young people.  We adhere to statutory guidance provided by Keeping Children Safe in Education including staff individual responsibilities in relation to their Prevent Duty. Staff involved in interviewing staff are trained in safer recruitment practices.  Our Child Protection and Safeguarding policy is available to you on our website under key information - policies.

We know that safeguarding breaches can happen anywhere, anytime.  It is with this in mind we ask that ALL concerns are reported immediately to one of our safeguarding team.

If you are worried about something you have seen or heard about a child, contact one of our Safeguarding Team immediately.   Our Safeguarding Team and contact details are shown below:

If your concern is immediate, please telephone rather than emailing.   Colleagues in school / college are to report to a member of the safeguarding team immediately.   After the concern is reported verbally, colleagues are then expected to report the details of their concern and any follow up actions on RecordMy.

Other useful contacts:

Online safety at Harlow Fields School and College

We are all aware that the online world develops and changes at great speed. It brings many benefits and many potential risks too.

Senso

This is the classroom management software with real-time monitoring used by the Safeguarding team at Harlow Fields School and College to maintain online safety.   This filtering and monitoring is reviewed on a regular basis to account for and combat new and emerging threats to safeguard all in our community.

If you have any questions about online safety, please contact our Designated Safeguarding Lead directly on Head@Harlowfields.essex.sch.uk

At Harlow Fields School and College, we understand the responsibility to educate all our pupils about engaging safely in the online world.  We work together in partnership with our parents and carers to ensure that our children have a consistent approach to understanding the benefits and possible risks associated with the online world. We know, teaching all our students appropriate behaviours and critical thinking skills to enable them to remain both safe and legal when using the Internet is essential. We focus on the teaching knowledge and appropriate behaviours that can help pupils to navigate the online world safely and confidently regardless of the device, platform or app. This is built into our curriculum with specific online safety lessons that is age and stage appropriate for our learners.

Some of the online risks could include:

  • Access to illegal, harmful or inappropriate images or other content
  • Loss of privacy / control of personal information
  • Grooming by those with whom they make contact on the internet
  • The sharing / distribution of personal images without an individual’s consent or knowledge
  • Inappropriate communication / contact with others, including strangers
  • Cyber bullying
  • Access to unsuitable video / internet games
  • An inability to evaluate the quality, accuracy and relevance of information on the internet
  • Plagiarism and copyright infringement
  • Illegal downloading of music or video files
  • Hacking, viruses and system security
  • The potential for excessive use which may impact on the social and emotional development and learning of the young person.

Further advice and support

Internet Matters | Online Gaming Advice

A link that explains the upsides and potential problems of online gaming.

Common Sense Media

A site that provides independent reviews aimed at parents and carers about apps and games for young people.

ThinkUKnow

ThinkUKnow is the educational resource arm of the nationwide Child Exploitation and Online Protection organisation and has a wide range of resources.

CEOP

A branch of the National Crime Agency that works to keep young people safe online - to be used only in cases where an offence has, or is likely, to occur.

We are constantly reviewing and monitoring the changes that happen with technology to ensure we keep up to date with what young people are accessing and using.  However, we do believe that the above list will aid safety of our young people regardless of the app or platform they may explore.

16.82 MB
314 KB