Safeguarding
At Newlands, ensuring the safety of everyone in our community underpins everything that we do. We have an ethos that has safeguarding at its heart and every member of the school plays their part in supporting our incredibly strong culture of safeguarding including all staff, Governors, parents and visitors. We take the attitude ‘it could happen here’ and have a Speak Up campaign which is led by our Head Girls and Wellbeing Practitioner which allows us to create a safe space where students can discuss concerns. All staff are trained in safeguarding annually, and receive regular updates throughout the year.
“There is a rich and embedded culture of safeguarding…” External Audit January 2024.
If you are at all worried about your child, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the school and we will direct you to the most relevant member of staff to support you on 01628 625068.
Mental Health & Wellbeing
MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING
The summer holidays can be a time to relax, recharge and take a break. However, young people may struggle with the loss of structure and not seeing their friends every day. It’s important that young people look after their mental wellbeing during the break. The summer can also be a great time to develop good self-care habits, so that when term starts again, you have techniques you can turn to in stressful times. This toolkit contains activities, teaching materials and guidance to help support and boost mental wellbeing over the summer and beyond.
Anna Freud, a world-leading mental health charity for children and families has produced two toolkits - one for primary schools, one for secondary schools & FE settings - with resources to help support and boost mental wellbeing over the summer and beyond.
Please see the link below:
Self-care summer toolkit : Mentally Healthy Schools
Hub of Hope is a mental health support database. It is provided by national mental health charity, Chasing the Stigma, and brings local, national, peer, community, charity, private and NHS mental health support and services together in one place.
Mental Health Support Network provided by Chasing the Stigma | Hub of hope
FURTHER SUPPORT AND RESOURCES
These are all recommended by NHS Berkshire.
Helping Your Child with Fears and Worries: A Self-help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques – reading materials for parents and carers. Overcoming Your Child's Fears & Worries
CAMHS Resources website -designed for young people, carers and professionals. HOME | CAMHS Resources (camhs-resources.co.uk)
MoodJuice – an online resource designed to think about emotional problems and work towards solving them. It has information and advice for those experiencing troublesome thoughts, feelings and actions. Moodjuice - Oxfordshire Mind Guide (oxmindguide.org.uk)
YoungMinds are a mental health charity for children, young people, parents and carers. YoungMinds | Mental Health Charity For Children And Young People | YoungMinds
YoungMinds guide on supporting children and young people with anxiety. Supporting A Child With Anxiety | Tips and Advice | YoungMinds
Teenage Depression – a CBT guide for parents Teenage Depression - A CBT Guide For Parents | Overcoming
KOOTH – an online accredited mental wellbeing community for young people aged 10 to 25. Kooth offers free, safe and anonymous online support. Home - Kooth
Number 22 – a registered charity providing free and confidential counselling to adults and young people in Windsor, Maidenhead and Slough Number22 | Free Counselling in Windsor, Slough and Maidenhead
Accordion content
concerns Outside normal school hours
If you are made aware of a safeguarding concern out of hours, the following action must be taken:
If the pupil is in immediate danger call 999.
If the child is not in immediate danger, refer the pupil to the out of hours RBWM MASH Team (01344 786543) for further action.
Please report the incident to the DSL once school has reopened.
If you are concerned about online abuse you can report this to CEOP
Awareness and Safety Information
At Newlands, we continually promote the importance of Personal Safety. However, much of the learning comes through our PSHE programme, which is organised around three key themes (Relationships; Health and Well-being, and; Living in the Wider World) and is intrinsically linked with the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development (SMSC) and the promotion of British Values.
Below are some useful links and resources which will support you, as Parents, in reiterating the important messages we give to pupils regarding their Personal Safety. Please do not hesitate to contact us here at school, should you have any questions or concerns.
Alcohol, Smoking, Drugs (including County Lines) and Knife Crime
https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/crime-threats/drug-trafficking/county-lines www.knifefree.co.uk
www.fearless.org (Report crime to Crimestoppers)
Mental Health and Wellbeing
https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/support-for-parents/children-s-mental-health/
Healthy Eating and Exercise
https://www.nhs.uk/change4life
Sex and Relationships
https://parentinfo.org/article/lgbtq-glossary-for-parents
https://parentinfo.org/article/talking-to-your-teenager-about-consent-0
https://parentinfo.org/article/why-you-should-talk-openly-with-children-about-sex-and-relationships
General Support
An essential part of the online planning process will be ensuring children who are being asked to work online have very clear reporting routes in place so they can raise any concerns whilst online. As well as reporting routes back to the school or college this should also signpost children to age appropriate practical support from the likes of:
www.childline.org.uk - Childline for support - (Telephone: 0800 1111)
www.samaritans.org (Telephone: 116 123)
UK Safer Internet Centre - to report and remove harmful online content
CEOP - for advice on making a report about online abuse
Cyberbullying advice for Young People
Cyberbullying advice for Parents and Carers
Please see below the latest online safety news and resources from Childnet
In this week's newsletter we have created guidance about some of the apps and games that young people may be using to stay in touch with each other and to play online. We are also sharing our newly revamped Film Competition, which provides families with an interesting and creative way of engaging in online safety education for a chance to win some great prizes. If you are a school or teacher, make sure that you send on this information to parents and carers in your school community!
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Online Safety
E-Safety describes a school’s approach to protect and educate pupils and staff in their use of technology and to have the mechanisms in place to intervene and support where appropriate. Our approach to E-Safety is continually evolving, in response to society’s changing use of technology and the internet.
Content: ensuring that girls are not exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful material; for example pornography, fake news, racist or radical and extremist views;
Contact: ensuring that girls are not being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users; for example commercial advertising as well as adults posing as children or young adults;
Conduct: supporting girls in ensuring that their personal online behaviour does not increase the likelihood of harm, or causes harm to others; for example making, sending and receiving explicit images, or online bullying.
The Governing Body and Headteacher have overall responsibility for ensuring that Newlands has effective E-Safety policies and procedures in place, with the day-to-day management of this delegated to the E-Safety Officer. However, it is good practice to view E-Safety as being a shared responsibility between Governors, Staff, Students and Parents.
Newlands will endeavour to ensure that you, as parents, have access to current information. This will support you in acquiring the skills and knowledge required to ensure the safety of your daughters outside the school environment. A list of useful website links and resources can be found below. These will be reviewed and regularly updated.
Pupils are permitted access to the school network and IT equipment after they and a parent/carer have signed our Acceptable Use Agreement. The rules set out in this agreement are in place to support everyone to stay safe online.
Please do not hesitate to contact the school, should you wish to discuss E-Safety further.
The E-Safety Officer for the school is Mr A. Morbey, Deputy Headteacher
Leaflets for Parent/Carers:
- Supporting Young People On-line
- Facebook Safety Checklist
- Instagram Safety Checklist
- Snapchat Safety Checklist
- Twitter Safety Checklist
Websites
- CEOP Safety Centre
- Eliminating Child Sexual Abuse Online – Internet Watch Foundation (iwf.org.uk)
- In-Game Help And Support – Cybersmile
- Stop Homophobic, Transphobic, Racial, Religious & Disability Hate Crime - True Vision (report-it.org.uk)
- http://www.education.gov.uk/ukccis/ - UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS)
- http://ceop.police.uk/ - Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)
- ttp://www.saferinternet.org.uk/ - UK Safer Internet Centre
- ttp://www.childnet.com/ - Childnet International
- http://www.swgfl.org.uk/ - SWGfL (South West Grid for Learning)
- ttp://www.theparentzone.co.uk/ - Parentzone;
- http://www.digizen.org/glossary/
- https://www.getsafeonline.org/
- https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
- https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/parent-and-carer-toolkit
- https://nationalonlinesafety.com/resources/wake-up-wednesday/
- https://www.esafety-adviser.com/parentengagement/
- https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/digital-parenting/resources-category - Digital Parenting (Vodafone)
Student Welfare
At Newlands, we place great value on the well-being of our pupils. Students are supported with any emotional, mental health, disability and health related issues that they may encounter at school. Our staff are experienced and take a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach, to ensure that pupils get the best help and advice possible.
Form Tutors
Students have contact with their Form Tutors weekly; they are a good point of contact for any questions or issues, and will do their best to resolve a problem or signpost further help. Pupils have regular Academic and Personal Mentoring meetings with their tutors, ensuring their pastoral needs are met. This is also an opportunity to refer students elsewhere if additional support is required.
Heads of Year
The Heads of Year take on the role of overseeing the welfare of each year group, so that their development is supported at every level. They can help with academic concerns, emotional worries, friendship issues and general well-being.
Student Focus Centre
All Newlands pupils are able to access support and guidance through the Student Focus Centre (SFC). The Student Focus Centre promotes positive mental and emotional well-being to help everyone develop into confident and ambitious young people. Anyone visiting the SFC will have access to a confidential and non-judgemental space, offering practical Solution Focus support and signposting to specialist advice and services if required. During the current lockdown, the SFC will continue to support pupils whilst working remotely from home, via Teams or a telephone call. If a pupil would like to speak to a member of the SFC, they should email Wellbeing@newlandsgirls.co.uk and one of the team will get in touch.
Counselling
Newlands works closely with Number 22 Counselling Service in Marlow Road. A qualified counsellor from Number 22 runs regular groups, which offer pupils a safe and confidential space to discuss any issue that is worrying them and in turn, help one another.
Our volunteer counsellor provides one to one support for up to a maximum of 10 sessions.
Learning Mentors
Our Learning Mentors work with students from Years 7-11. Heads of Year refer students to the Learning Mentor who will carry out an initial assessment to identify the area of need and then assist pupils individually, in groups or in the classroom, helping with issues such as organisation, homework and revision strategies.
Sixth Form Learning Mentor
The Sixth Form Learning Mentor works with Year 12 and 13 students, helping them to develop both their academic and interpersonal skills. The role involves both group and individual mentoring, which is designed to strengthen independent learning, as well as raising the aspirations of students by encouraging their progression into Higher Education, training or employment.
Safeguarding
- Newlands is committed to ensuring the welfare of our students and require all staff, volunteers and visitors to share this commitment. All Safeguarding and Child Protection issues are taken very seriously.
- We work closely with relevant support services, including those agencies involved in safeguarding children who may be experiencing or at risk of significant harm. We also strive to identify quickly any families who may benefit from Early Help intervention.
- The school will not tolerate any discriminatory, rude, aggressive or threatening behaviour towards any staff, students or members of our wider community.
- Newlands promotes a caring, safe and positive school environment
Further Help and Guidance
Helping children and young people to manage anxiety
10 Top Tips Parent Resource - This resource is designed to offer practical advice on how parents can safeguard their mental health and promote their wellbeing.
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Kooth - Free, safe and anonymous online support for young people |
https://www.kooth.com/index.html
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Mind - provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. |
0300 123 3393 |
86463 |
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Bullybusters - anti bullying project, can provide helpful tips so you can try and stop the bullying from happening.
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https://www.bullybusters.org.uk/kids/
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0800 169 6928 |
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Heads Together - a mental health initiative, which combines a campaign to tackle stigma and change the conversation on mental health with fundraising for a series of innovative new mental health services. |
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SHOUT to 85258 |
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Muslim Youth Helpline - provides pioneering faith and culturally sensitive services to Muslim youth in the UK. |
0808 808 2008 07860 022811
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Young Minds – making sure all young people get the best mental health support and have the resilience to overcome life’s challenges. |
0808 802 5544 |
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Winston’s Wish –Supporting children and young people after the death of a parent or sibling. |
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0808 802 0021 |
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Papyrus – Prevention of suicide in young people |
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0800 068 4141 |
07860 039967 |
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Beat – helping people of all ages to overcome eating disorders. |
https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/
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0808 801 0677 0808 801 0711 0808 801 0811 |
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NACOA – Support for the children of alcoholics. |
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0800 358 3456 |
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Mermaids - Reduce isolation and loneliness for gender variant and transgender children, young people and their families. |
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0844 334 0550
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National Self Harm Network – A forum to support individuals who self-harm and their families to reduce emotional distress and improve their quality of life
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Childline – National support for children and young people on a wide range of topics. |
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0800 1111 |
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Berkshire CAMHs - – (Self-referral) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) provides support, advice, guidance and treatment for children and young people with severe or moderate mental health difficulties.
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0300 365 1234 |
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AnDY Clinic - assesses and treat young people for anxiety and depression disorders. Cannot self-refer; needs to be through CAMHS.
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https://research.reading.ac.uk/andy/
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Number 22 – 01628 636661 counselling for adults and young people. Clients can refer themselves or be referred by doctors, mental health teams, social workers and teachers.
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01628 636661 |
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Samaritans - You can get in touch about anything that’s troubling you, no matter how large or small the issue feels. |
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116 123 |
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Students Against Depression - offering advice, information and guidance to those affected by low mood, depression and suicidal thinking. |
https://www.studentsagainstdepression.org/
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local authority safeguarding inspections