Safeguarding & Online Safety

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Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:

  • protecting children from maltreatment
  • preventing the 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

Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play in safeguarding children.

All staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn.

At Thomas Walling we follow the updated guidance in the Department for Education document Keeping Children Safe in Education. All staff receive updated safeguarding training every year.

Key staff are trained to the standard of Designated Safeguarding Lead. The Academy has one overarching Designated Safeguarding Lead and five Deputy Designated Leads to support both pupils and staff in keeping the children and young people safe.

Online Safeguarding

In today’s connected world the wealth of information and opportunities that technology offers is immense. However, there is a darker side to this digital environment that leaves individuals vulnerable to all kinds of accidental or intentional harm.

Online safety means being aware of remote learning, information security, and cyber-crime. The issues within online safety are now categorised into four areas of risk:

Content

Being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful content, such as pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, anti-semitism, radicalisation and extremism.

Contact

Being subjected to harmful online interaction such as  peer-to-peer pressure, commercial advertising, and adults posing as children (or young adults) with the intention of grooming or exploiting children for sexual, criminal, financial or other purposes.

Conduct

Personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm. For example, making, sending and/or receiving explicit images -including consensual and non-consensual sharing of nude and semi-nude images or pornography -  and online bullying.

Commerce

Risks such as online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing and or financial scams.

Whilst recognising all this, children and young people cannot be held back from all the positive benefits offered by information technology that has become an essential part of their everyday world. At school we will support them and educate them to remain and keep themselves safe online.