What is safeguarding and why is it so important?

Protecting children from maltreatment
Preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
Making sure 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

Designated Safeguarding Leads

Mrs Thompson-Boyle Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mr Kelly KS3 Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mrs Underwood KS3 Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mr Bourne KS4 Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Miss McMahon KS4 Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Miss Barnes KS5 Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

During school hours/term time, please contact our Safeguarding and Family Liaison Officer, Miss Ahmed or Mrs Ryan with questions or concerns. For urgent queries outside of school hours or term time, please contact the Oldham Social Care team on 0161 770 7777 or the police on 101 or 999 where there is a risk to life.

Types of Abuse and things to look out for

Neglect

Neglect the most common type of abuse and is the persistent failure (of a parent or carer) to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to seriously impair their health or development, including: failing to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter; failing to protect a child from physical harm or danger; failing to protect a child from emotional harm; failing to make sure a child has proper supervision; failing to get medical care or treatment for a child; failing to meet or respond to a child’s basic emotional needs.

Things to look out for

Severe and persistent illnesses and infections
Consistently inappropriate clothing or shoes
Persistently smelly or dirty
Signs of malnutrition
Numerous accidents
Poor medical and dental care
Being hungry, stealing or hiding food
Missing school

Physical

This means causing physical harm to a child, including: hitting; shaking or throwing; burning or scalding; poisoning; drowning or suffocating; fabricating the symptoms of, or deliberately inducing, illness.

Things to look out for

Bruises, cuts, scratches, scars
Fractures
Bite marks
Burns or scalds
Suspicious illnesses
Vomiting, drowsiness or seizures
Breathing problems

Sexual

Sexual abuse is forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, including: physical contact, for example kissing, touching or rape; non-contact abuse, for example involving a child in looking at or producing sexual images; ‘upskirting’ (taking a photo under someone’s clothes without them knowing, to humiliate, distress or alarm them, or for sexual gratification); encouraging sexually inappropriate behaviour; grooming in preparation for child abuse…

Things to look out for

Difficulty sitting
Marks and bruises
Poor personal hygiene
Needing the toilet a lot
Pregnancy
Fear or avoidance of a particular person
Sexually inappropriate behaviour
Dropping hints or mentioning ‘secrets’

Emotional

Emotional abuse is persistent emotional maltreatment, severely affecting a child’s emotional development, including: making a child feel worthless, unloved or inadequate; silencing or ‘making fun’ of what a child says; placing extreme limits on what a child can do; imposing inappropriate age or developmental expectations; exploiting or corrupting; serious bullying (including cyber-bullying); exposing a child to ill-treatment

Things to look out for

Behaviour, language or knowledge you wouldn’t expect for their age
Struggling to control their emotions
Seeming isolated from their parents or carers
Negative interactions with parents or carers
Lacking social skills or friends
Low self-esteem or self-confidence
Trying to make people dislike them
Not caring how they act or what happens to them
Issues with language development

Child on Child abuse: children can abuse other children too online or in the real world

Bullying includes cyberbullying and prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying – for example, bullying because of a child’s gender identity or sexuality
Abuse in intimate personal relationships – like domestic abuse, this can be physical, emotional, sexual or financial
Physical abuse could be, for example, hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, hair pulling
Sexual violence could be rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault
Sexual harassment includes sexual comments and jokes and online sexual harassment
Causing someone to engage in sexual activity without consent could mean things like forcing someone to strip, touch themselves sexually, or to engage in sexual activity with a third party
• Sharing nude and semi-nude images or videos is also known as sexting or youth-produced sexual imagery
Upskirting is where someone takes a photo under another person’s clothes without their permission, for sexual gratification, or to cause the victim humiliation, distress or alarm
Initiation or hazing-type violence and rituals could include activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating someone into a group
Online peer-on-peer abuse may include:
Abusive, threatening, harassing or misogynistic messages on social media or when gaming
Sharing nude or semi-nude images and/or videos, especially around chat groups
Sharing of abusive images and pornography, to those who don’t want to receive such content