At EST Education, we promise to promote and protect your health, safety and welfare and to help you to protect your rights :)
It is really important for you to know where to get help if you are worried or unhappy about something. We will always listen and we will do our best to support you. Nothing you tell us will shock us or make us feel differently about you and remember, lots of young people go through difficult times so anything you tell us will not be something we haven’t heard before.
Safeguarding means children should be protected from harm. Harm is sometimes called abuse.
When someone hurts you it can be called abuse. Some examples of abuse are shown on this page but If you are ever unsure of anything, you can speak to a member of staff or contact Childline on 0800 1111 or go to www.childline.org.uk
Sometimes, abusers will ask you to keep what happened a secret or give you presents to make you stay quiet. This is because they know that they have done something they shouldn’t have – it is not your fault. You must always tell someone and we will help it to stop.
What happens next?
When you tell a member of staff that something has happened you did not like, or something that made you feel scared or sad, we will check with you to find out more about what happened. We may ask questions to make sure we understand fully what you have told us. We will always believe you and we will always listen. If we can support you in school then we will. Sometimes, the problem needs extra support from other services and staff may need to contact the police or children’s services. There are lots of agencies who are experts in looking after children and keeping them safe, so this is nothing to worry about and staff will support you and explain everything and we will never, ever let you face it alone.
Your Designated Safeguarding Lead is Esther Turner
Your Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is Katrina Thompson
Childline offers free, confidential advice and support whatever you are worried about and whenever you need help. You can call them on 0800 1111 or go to www.childline.org.uk
Our Senior Designated Person for Child Protection is Esther Turner but if you need to talk, you can talk to any member of staff and if you feel unable to talk, you can always write it down instead.
Grooming is when someone offers to buy you gifts in exchange for jobs, money or sex. The person will pretend to be a friend and initially will try to gain your trust and make you feel special. This quickly leads to them making demands and forcing you to do things you may not want to do.
Physical abuse is where someone hits you, hurts you, injures you or causes any physical harm to you. Physical abuse is often easier to identify but not always as victims will sometimes cover up bruises or marks on their body to avoid their abuser getting in to trouble (particularly if the abuser is a relative or family member.)
Emotional abuse is where someone repeatedly says or does something that makes you feel bad about yourself, in order for them to feel more powerful or more in control. Emotional abuse can also be where someone intentionally ignores you or doesn’t listen to what you need or care about what you want. Emotional abuse can be one of the hardest forms of abuse to recognise.
Neglect is if someone doesn’t take proper care of you so you feel abandoned, lonely or scared. You might not be able to eat or wash regularly, or you might not be able to come to school every day or on time.
Online abuse Bullying, online grooming and sharing images without permission are all forms of abuse. EST Education has an e-safety policy, which is there to protect you. If you are unhappy with any comments or photographs you have seen on your computer or mobile then you can also contact www.ceopeducation.co.uk as well as any adults in school.
Sexual abuse is when someone touches you in a way that you don’t like for example touching your private parts or making you touch their private parts. This can also be if someone makes you look at things which makes you feel ashamed or embarrassed, such as indecent photographs or images online. Your body belongs to you and not to anyone else and grown ups know the laws around sexual abuse of children.