Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. Safeguarding means:

• Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
• Preventing harm to children's health or development
• Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care.

What does Safeguarding cover?

Safeguarding covers numerous topics, many of which are interconnected, including:

• Bullying
• Children Missing from Education
• Peer-on-peer abuse
• Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation
• Domestic violence
• Sexual abuse and harassment
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Self-harm
• Neglect
• Prevent (Preventing Violent Extremism)
• Substance Misuse
• Violence Against Women and Girls (including FGM)
• Online Safety

Who is responsible for Safeguarding?

Everyone has a responsibility to keep children and young people safe.

All organisations that come into contact with children should have specific safeguarding policies and procedures in place. This includes voluntary and community organisations, faith groups, private sector providers, as well as schools, hospitals and sports clubs.

Safeguarding at Fortismere

Fortismere takes its safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Our current policy, is available to view in the Policies section of our website. Students are able to talk to any member of staff about concerns they may have. Below is a poster which shows our students who the Safeguarding and Child Protection Team at school are and where they are located. Students and parents are also able to email:                                           safetalk@fortismere.org.uk 

 

On this page we have assembled some information that may be of help. At the bottom of this page you will find updating information from Parent Zone and CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) on a wide range of issues. We also have a page on Online Safety and staying safe online which is useful for both parents/carers and students.

In response to the concerns raised on the Everyone’s Invited website, and after the murder of Sarah Everard, we have reviewed both our formal and pastoral curriculum to ensure that our students are educated in an age appropriate way that raises awareness of issues and challenges behaviours.

The staff and governing body of Fortismere are clear that we will not tolerate any form of sexual harassment and sexual violence. We will not allow our students to believe that sexual abuse of any kind is an inevitable feature of growing up, or of society itself.

We will continue to listen to the experiences of our students and staff to support us in creating a culture of equality and tolerance; one where we are all equipped to challenge harassment of any kind.

MULTI-AGENCY WORKING

The school works closely with Haringey Local Authority to provide a coordinated response to promote children’s welfare and protect them from harm.  This includes involvement in Early Help and multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) plans and meetings.

Haringey have recently published a guide for families and young people Information on a Child and Family Assessment on assessments that may take place if your child is referred to MASH (the multi-agency safeguarding hub). This can sound daunting but the guide explains the simple processes involved and the types of information gathered and by whom.  The guide also has links to the Early Help support that is available to families in Haringey to ensure young people’s needs are met.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SAFEGUARDING

If you have any questions please feel free to contact safetalk@fortismere.org.uk

 

As a response to recent media coverage around rises in incidents of self-harm we wanted to recommend to our parents some useful websites on this specific issue.  We think that ‘Mind’ and ‘selfharmuk’  and Young Minds provide really useful information:

Mind

selfharmuk

Young Minds

The following is a presentation which was given to parents in 2020:

How to support your child: Self Harm

There are also some useful articles in the RSS Feed below - simply scroll through and click on the relevant topics (particularly in the Health & Wellbeing section from page 3).

Presentation from Richard Moore

Richard Moore from the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust gave an informative presentation to a large audience of parents/carers on the topic of student mental health. The slides from his presentation can be found here.

More information about Richard and his experience can be found on his website: www.dickmoore.org

Wellbeing Evening for Parents/Carers: Communicating with Teens

We held an event for parents/carers hosted by Alison Havey and Deana Puccio, writers of the book ‘Sex, Likes & Social Media: Talking To Our Teens In The Digital Age’.  They have provided an information sheet which signposts to other resources which you may find useful.

Young Minds

Young Minds is a very useful website for young people and parents. It offers advice and ways to get further support.

The school provides a range of information on this topic, starting with the Raising Awareness and Prevention project workshops for Year 10s.  The RAP workshops have been carefully designed to equip teenage girls and boys between the ages of 13-18 with the tools to avoid becoming a victim of rape and sexual assault. These presentations are not about physical self-defence, sex and relationship education nor about intimidating teenagers but are about empowering them with the common sense skills to be able to take care of themselves and each other. The RAP Project focuses on real life cases, laws, statistics and guidelines. Consent, online pornography and social media are also addressed. 

Click here for more information.

As part of our Sexual Relationships Education programme, we work with Safer London who have produced this leaflet highlighting issues around Child Sexual Exploitation.

The following link supports students in understanding the issue of consent:

http://www.consentiseverything.com/

These organisations offer further information and advice:

Rape Crisis: https://rapecrisis.org.uk/

Citizens Advice: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/gender-violence/rape-and-sexual-assault/

NHS:  https://www.nhs.uk/livewell/sexualhealth/pages/sexualassault.aspx

 Guidance for schools from the DFE:  Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence policy

 The Lighthouse

This Haringey page on Sexual Health gives information and sources of support for all young people under the age of 25: https://www.haringey.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/health/public-health/sexual-health/im-young-person-25-and-under-looking

We have all seen articles in the media about the risk to young people of radicalisation, extremism and how, in rare cases, that can lead to involvement in terrorism. We work closely with a range of agencies to keep abreast of the latest information and guidance on this complex issue. You may find these websites useful if you have any concerns or questions:

http://www.preventtragedies.co.uk/

http://educateagainsthate.com/

Haringey's Leaflet on Radicalisation and Extremism

Government Advice for Schools Carrying Out their Prevent Duty

Home Office Briefing on how Social Media is used to Encourage Travel to Iraq and Syria

Here are some general documents that you may find helpful:

Youth help sheet

DfE Guidance on Keeping Children Safe in Education

Government Guidance for Professionals on What To Do if You're Worried a Child is being Abused

Government Guidance on Working Together to Safeguard Children

Young People's Version of Government Guidance on Working Together to Safeguard Children

Online safety for 11-18 year olds from CEOP This site offers advice on socialising online, online safety, getting support and sexual content online. CEOP is part of the National Crime Agency and is a trusted website for getting useful information and advice.

 

This is a link to a wide range of articles on various topics for parents/carers and students. Simply scroll down and click on any of the articles that interest you. The list is always being updated by Parent Zone and CEOP.

https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/

This is a link to a PDF document on Young Person’s Guide to Working Together to Safeguard Children by the Office of the Children’s Rights Director.

Young Person’s guide to Safeguarding 

The school provides a range of information in PRE lessons on drugs and alcohol and the dangers associated with both. We are fortunate to have counsellors from Insight Platform (a drugs and alcohol charity) work with our students.  Insight hold parent sessions giving information on local drug trends and how to speak to your children about drugs and alcohol. The following links will hopefully support understanding on drugs and alcohol for both parents and students:

Insight Information Session 26th Jan 2023

Insight Parent Information Session 2021

https://www.talktofrank.com/

https://mentoruk.org.uk/information-and-advice/parents-and-carers/

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/drug-addiction-getting-help/#where-to-get-help-for-drugs