Worries and Concerns – A Pupil’ s Guide

“What do I do if I just want to talk to someone?”

All people have occasional worries or problems which can affect both themselves and others. In a boarding school, such matters can often be dealt with by talking to friends or to any member of staff, or by telephoning home.Your Housemaster/Housemistress, yourTutor, your House Parent, the Chaplains, the School Doctor or the Health Centre staff, the Director of Pastoral Care, the Deputy Head and the Head are available and will always be ready to listen.

If you wish to contact someone who is not involved in the day-to-day running of the school, you are welcome to speak to the School’ s Independent Listener who has agreed to be an independent advisor to any pupil in difficulty. Details can be found in the Boarding House notice boards.

It is important to realise that you may choose the people with whom you would like to speak.Your choice may depend on the circumstances and your feelings at the time and you do not have to tell anyone else what you are doing.

These are some of the situations in which you may not be able to manage without help: • if you feel you are unable to cope because of problems with work or for social reasons; • if you feel you are being discriminated against on grounds of race, or for any other reason; • if someone has hurt, abused or harassed you or has made suggestions – sexual or otherwise – that you feel are inappropriate; • if you are being bullied or treated unkindly or unfairly by another pupil; • if you feel you have been treated unreasonably by a member of staff; • if you think you are being badly taught.

The School’ s pastoral and counselling system is there to support you through your time at Downside and to deal with most matters of concern.

In some circumstances you may wish to make a formal complaint in writing, especially if an informal complaint has not been satisfactorily resolved.Whether you deal with a problem by yourself, or seek advice, or make a formal complaint, is a matter for you to decide.

Please refer to the Worries and Concerns notice that is in your Boarding House and in the Pupil Handbook.

If you feel that your concern has not been dealt with, you should raise the matter formally with your Housemaster/Housemistress, or if appropriate, with the Director of Pastoral Care or the Deputy Head.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) will inform the Head of all cases of actual or suspected abuse. The only exception to this would be if the Head were implicated in the concerns, in which case the Chair of Governors would be informed. Any concerns relating to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) should be referred to the Head.

PUPILS’ CONFIDENTIALITY

1. A conversation in which pupils make a safeguarding disclosure of a child protection nature, about themselves or someone else, to any member of staff, including the schools designated safeguarding lead (DSL) or the deputy designated safeguarding leads (DDSLs), will be kept private to those who need to know about the matter: these persons may include the social services, the police, parents or other responsible persons.The DSL will tell the pupil involved to whom they will have to refer the matter, and will try to achieve the pupil’ s agreement.

2. A conversation of a health and medical nature with a

School nurse or doctor in the Health Centre will be kept confidential to the persons involved, unless in the opinion of the nurse or doctor the safety of children means the matter must be referred to the School’ s

DSL. In these cases, the nurse will tell the pupil concerned that such a referral will be made.

3. If a priest feels that a matter brought up under the seal of confession suggests that they or another child is a risk of harm, he will suggest that the pupil should discuss the matter with him or another member of staff outside the seal of confession. In none of the situations above is confidentiality binding on the pupil who gives the confidence, though discretion is always important; a pupil may speak to another person about anything that happens in any of the situations above, especially if they feel they have been unfairly treated.

In all situations regarding sensitive pupil matters, staff must respect the confidentiality of anything said to them by a pupil, and only speak of the matter to the proper persons responsible for the pupil, i.e. the Head of Nursing Care, the pupil’ s tutor, Housemaster/Housemistress, the Director of Pastoral Care, the Deputy Head, or the Head. It is essential that, when information should be passed on to another person for the good of a pupil, it is passed on.

Confidentiality of pupils ’ records: Pupils

’ medical records are confidential to them and the Health Centre staff, and are not shown to other persons, apart from those who have to check that the records are being properly kept (i.e. the School doctors).