Safeguarding
At Bridgewater High School the safeguarding of all our pupils is the highest priority. We are committed to providing a secure environment for pupils where children feel safe and are kept safe. As a school we recognise that safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility irrespective of the role they undertake and expect all staff, volunteers and visitors to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent and effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support children, families and staff at school. Safeguarding concerns may include ‘Children missing from Education’, drug and alcohol use, youth violence, bullying, mental health.
At Bridgewater High School we ensure our practice adheres to ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education, 2022’, statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment. For further information click here.
Safeguarding Team
Mrs N Rowland-Nash – Safeguarding Officer
Upper school ext. 316
Lower school ext. 207
Mr D Morrison – DSL – Lower School
Lower school ext. 207
Mr M Malam – DSL – Upper School
Upper school ext. 306
The DSLs and Safeguarding Officer are the lead persons for school staff, pupils, parents/carers and partner agencies, who may have concerns about an individual child’s safety or well-being.
Child Protection
All adults working at Bridgewater (including visitors, volunteers and contractors) have a responsibility to report concerns where they believe a child may be at immediate risk of harm or neglect to the DSL, Safeguarding Officer or to the Headteacher. All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to appropriately. This information will be dealt with as confidentially as possible and made known to only those staff who need to know.
Whilst school deal with child protection concerns sensitively and with care, we have a legal responsibility to report such allegations to Social Services and/or the police and we follow the procedures set out by Warrington Children Safeguarding Partnership.
Click here to access our Child Protection Policy for the full procedural framework on our duties.
Role of the Governing Body
Bridgewater High School has a Safeguarding Committee and safeguarding children is a collective responsibility for the whole of the Governing Body.
Rebecca Turner is the Designated Safeguarding Governor.
If you are worried about a child’s safety and welfare, please do not hesitate to contact the named DSLs or Safeguarding Officer or contact Warrington MASH on 01925 444140.
Additional guidance and resources about how to keep your child safe
www.nspcc.org.uk
www.barnardos.org.uk
www.childline.org.uk
Prevent Duty
On 1 July 2015 the Prevent Duty (Section 26) of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act, 2015, came in to force. This duty places the responsibility on Local Authorities and Schools to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. Bridgewater High School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils. As a school we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is of paramount importance. All staff are expected to uphold and promote the fundamental principles of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We believe that children should be given the opportunity to explore diversity and understand Britain as a multi- cultural society; everyone should be treated with respect whatever their race, gender, sexuality, religious belief, special need or disability. As part of our commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government’s Prevent Strategy. The named Lead at Bridgewater High School is Mr D. Morrison ext 207.
As a member of TCAT, Bridgewater High School has a Prevent Risk Assessment, and has adopted the TCAT Prevent Statement.
TCAT PREVENT Statement BHS
TCAT PREVENT Risk Assessment BHS
PREVENT contact details:
Stephen Gillham – Warrington single point of contact (SPOC) at the LA for Prevent 01925 442216 sgillham@warrington.gov.uk
DC Andy McIntyre- Counter Terrorism Case Officer for Prevent in the North West Office 01606 36 5239 Mobile 0777 551 6940 andrewmcintyre@cheshire.pnn.police.uk
Operation Encompass
At Bridgewater High School we participate in a Police-led initiative called Operation Encompass, a scheme which will ensure that we can better support any child where a domestic incident has been reported to Police from their home.
Following a domestic incident, the Police will contact us and communicate relevant information to a member of staff called a key adult who is trained to liaise with the police. At Bridgewater High School this is Mrs Allen and Mr Malam. This will ensure that we are made aware early enough to support pupils in a way that means they feel safe, supported, and listen to.
You can find out more about Operation Encompass via the following site: http://www.operationencompass.org/
If you would like to speak to someone further about the initiative, or require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Allen or Mr Malam.
We are committed to working in partnership with local relevant organisations to provide the best possible care and support for all our pupils.
Esafety
Bridgewater High School recognises that technology plays an important role in the education of our pupils and that esafety is a key aspect of our duty to keep children safe. Pupils are educated in esafety within ICT lessons right from the start of Year 7 (see our CEOP letter under Letters Home on our website for further details). We also have a pupil ambassador team for online safety and a working party, including governor representation, who meet each half-term to monitor esafety issues and provision of support across the school.
For further information, visit the Digital Well-being section of our website which features up-to-date advice regarding the latest online trends provided by our own pupils alongside guidance documents from National Online Safety.
Click here to view our Online Safety Policy.
Early Help
Additional resources for parents providing useful and impartial information
Talking to your child about online sexual harassment – A guide for parents
www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre (Child Exploitation and online Protection Centre)
www.nspcc.org.uk (online safety for parents)
www.thinkuknow.co.uk
My Life Warrington
Parent / Carer Guidance to Safeguarding – Click here for our own guide to safeguarding.