If you have any safeguarding concerns relating to a child that attends The Ripley Academy, please email

safeguarding@ripleyacademy.org

The Ripley Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, which includes;

• Protecting children from maltreatment.
• Preventing impairment of children’s 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

All concerns are dealt with by staff trained to the same level as that of the ‘Designated Safeguarding Lead’. All other staff receive annual basic awareness training.

Home Visits Procedure

Should you have any concerns about your child or a child who attends The Ripley Academy please do not hesitate to contact any one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads.

Cause for Concern

All staff are asked to report any causes for concern to the staff trained to deal with such instances.   Concerns will be shared with parents/carers as early as possible as there are often reasonable explanations for the concern.

If you wish to report a safeguarding concern about a member of staff, please contact the Safeguarding Governor Mr Chris Howe through the Clerk to Governors parkmanj@jfcs.org.uk

Attendance

Absence and lateness is closely monitored by the Student Support Team. Reasons are sought for all absences. Concerns around attendance may be referred to the Designated Safeguarding Lead Officer. Parents/carers will be notified of attendance concerns at the earliest possible point.

Support for Families via Multi Agency Working

The Ripley Academy works collaboratively with external agencies to ensure that children are safeguarded and welfare is promoted. We actively work with families to secure positive outcomes for both children and families.

Current Key Themes 

Whilst any cause for concern is dealt with appropriately, current key themes that staff are trained to deal with include –

1. Sexism and Misogyny – How to talk to boys about misogyny, What is misogyny? Guidance for parents and carers | Internet Matters, How dad deals with misogyny teen boys consume | Internet Matters, What can I do to protect my child, Gareth Southgate rails against the rise of ‘callous toxic’ role models for young men
2. Domestic Abuse / Violence – ‘Stopping domestic abuse together’
3. Mental and Emotional Health – Young Minds and Compass: Changing Lives support for children and their parents
4. Self-Harm – Support for children and guidance for their parents
5. Child Sexual Exploitation – ‘Think about it Letter‘ and ‘Think about it Leaflet‘.
6. Prevent – Protecting students from the risk of radicalisation and countering extremism.
7. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – Spotting the signs for early intervention.
8. Online Safety – Internet matters online world guide to parents. Online safety tips for parents (Y7-Y8). Online safety tips for parents (Y9-Y11)
9. Department for Education – Support for parents and carers to keep children safe
   1. 1. Keep your child safe online

          

      2. What harms might my child experience online
      3. Child sexual abuse
      4. Criminal exploitation and county lines, violence and gangs
      5. Radicalising content
      6. Consensual and non-consensual sharing of nude and semi-nude images and/or videos (also known as sexting or youth produced sexual imagery)
      7. Cyberbullying
      8. Age-inappropriate content and parental controls
      9. Apps to help children stay safe online
      10. Mental health

Early Help

Our Early Help Offer

Early Help means taking action to support a child, young person or their family early in the life of a problem, as soon as it emerges. It can be required at any stage in a child’s life from pre-birth to adulthood, and applies to any problem or need that the family cannot deal with or meet on their own. The process is entirely voluntary and informed consent is mandatory, so families do not have to engage and if they do, they can choose what information they want to share. Children, young people and families that are most in need of support, receive support through a multi-agency service response which is identified through an Early Help Assessment (EHA). The emphasis of the assessment is on targeting Early Help resources for those children, young people and families that most need support. Children and families should not feel stigmatised by the EHA and they can ask for an EHA to be initiated.

At the Ripley Academy we recognise that each child, young person and family member is an individual, each family is unique in its make-up and reaching decisions about levels of need and the best intervention requires discussion, reflection and professional judgement. We believe in working collaboratively and respectfully with our families (or with young people on their own where it is age appropriate) at all times in order to support them to address their needs at the lowest possible level and at the earliest possible time.

We hold regular safeguarding meetings where vulnerable pupils are discussed and arrangements made for how they can be best supported. We ensure that any appointed person undertaking the role of Early Help has received the appropriate Safeguarding training in Early Help, they report to the Schools Leadership Team, and receive supervisory support. As a school we maintain regular general contact with other agencies, where appropriate, especially Children’s Social Care and the Local Authority Early Help Transition Team.

When there has been a safeguarding concern raised your child and family may need advice or support from a number of different people and organisations. Perhaps you need support from a health visitor or GP, a Teacher, Head of Year or pastoral support. Integrated working helps to give a voice to the child and family and means that all the people working with you will involve you in the decisions made about what support should be put into place. This means that those coming into contact with children (such as Teachers, the Police, Health Visitors, Childcare Practitioners and Volunteers) have a responsibility towards taking a committed and coordinated approach in identifying emerging needs at the earliest opportunity so that children are kept safe and achieve good outcomes. This is information should be read in conjunction with

Who is responsible for completing an Early Help Assessment?

Our Senior Designated Safeguarding Lead will triage all requests for early help and direct the appropriate member of the Safeguarding team to complete the application.

We will offer advice and support on matters around the Early Help Assessment, working with families to help identify what kind of support would be helpful and what other agencies may need to be involved to help work through current concerns.

This will involve meeting with members of the household and your child to ensure the assessment is thorough and detailed. The process will be shared with you and the findings discussed and decisions on how we move forward once the assessment is complete. Possible outcomes are that the situation has been resolved within the family and the assessment will be closed or a Team Around the Family (TAF) is called to work through all of the concerns and identify actions that will be monitored through 6 weekly TAF meetings.

What is an Early Help Assessment (EHA)?

• An EHA is an initial assessment and planning tool that facilitates and coordinates multi-agency support. It assesses the situation of the child or young person and their family and helps to identify the needs of both the children and the adults in the family.
• It enables families and agencies to efficiently identify the strengths and emerging needs of children and young people at risk of poor outcomes; it reduces duplication of assessment and improves involvement between agencies.
• The assessment may take up to 45 days to complete depending on the information that is needing to be gathered.

As part of the detailed Early Help Assessment we will look at the following areas for each unborn baby/child/young person and their family:

• What are the child’s wishes and feelings?
• What are the harms or risks (past and present) that we are worried about in respect of an unborn baby/child/young person?
• Are there any concerns or risks external to the family, such as in the extended family, peer group, community, and school or on-line?
• What has happened to this child/young person? What trauma may have impacted on them?
• What are we worried is going to happen to the unborn baby/child/young person in the future if nothing changes?
• What are the parents/ carers understanding of the situation and to what extent have they engaged with the services?
• What are the child/young person’s and family’s strengths? Could these be built upon, utilised?
• What support and interventions have been offered previously?
• Did these make a difference? If not, why not?
• What support and interventions can your agency offer this unborn baby/child/young person and family? Could this address the needs or is support required from another agency or other local facilities?
• What support is needed and how will this address the needs? What’s working and what’s not?

Why do I need an Early Help Assessment? 

The intended benefits for young people and families are:

• Enhanced life chances as a result of the well documented benefits of Early Help in preventing issues later in life.
• You may have experience significant change in circumstances, trauma.
• An all age integrated service providing continuous support across age groups and for the whole family.
• Co-ordinated support resulting in maximised opportunities and outcomes for children, young people and families.
• Information may be shared across agencies to ensure the right support is in place at the right time for families.

Signs that a child or young person may benefit from Early Help include:

• Displaying disruptive or anti-social behaviour.
• There are on-going safeguarding concerns.
• Being bullied or bullying others.
• Having poor attendance at school.
• Being involved in, or at risk of, offending.
• Having poor general health.
• Having anxiety, depression or other mental health issues.
• Misusing drugs or alcohol.
• Having a particularly challenging relationship with parents or appearing to be unusually independent from their parents.
• Experiencing difficulties at home, such as domestic abuse, parental substance abuse or parental mental health problems.

(Department for Education (DfE), 2018).

Some groups of children may be more likely to need early help than their peers. These include children who:

• Have been excluded from school.
• Have special educational needs.
• Are disabled.
• Are in care.
• Are leaving or preparing to leave care.
• Are young carers.
• Are young parents (or about to become young parents).
• Are experiencing housing issues.

What makes a good Early Help assessment?

• The Early Help Assessment must be completed with the family.
• It will help you to understand the views, needs, strengths and difficulties of the individual members and how they work together as a family.
• Make sure it included the whole family – children, young people, parents and carers should all contribute to the assessment and their voices should be evident throughout.
• Identify and detail the needs of all family members.
• Focus on all the family members’ strengths too.
• Empower the family to consider their own wider support network.
• Be realistic about what can and cannot be positively changed.
• Be honest and transparent. Make sure it is completed in a timely manner.
• All practitioners who are supporting the family when the assessment is undertaken should contribute.

The school is using the recommended Early Help Assessments and available tools for families living at a Derbyshire address. You may find the following links helpful:

Support for families and early help

Early help – Derbyshire County Council

Synergy – Enquiry (derbyshire.gov.uk)

Safeguarding Out of Hours Contact Information