Safeguarding Newsletter
ISSUE 15: March 2023
The Safeguarding Team
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Delyth Lynch
Deputy Head (Safeguarding)
Biology
07825 419190
Deputy DSL
David Walker
Deputy Head (Pastoral & Wellbeing) Physics 07717 765343
Deputy DSL
Ed Venables
Director of Admissions Economics
07766 168286
Assistant Deputy Head
Safeguarding & Head of Online Safety
Jess Goves P&R teacher 01344 751774
Deputy DSL
Tom Wayman
Assistant Head (Pupils)
English 07766 448086
Deputy DSL
Gaby Moretti Chambers
Operations Manager (Wellington Health & Fitness Club)
01344 444243
If you are concerned for a child’s welfare, health or safety or if you have concerns about the behaviour of any adult – parent, member of staff or member of the general public – please contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead or a Deputy immediately.
A note from the DSL
On the 7th February, we celebrated Safer Internet Day. Now in its 20th year, many of you will have seen certain aspects of the campaign on social media, with the theme this year being ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online.’ National days are sometimes met with an eye roll and a “not another awareness day”, especially by the ever-cynical teenager, however Safer Internet Day has had real world impacts that have affected millions of children and in 2022 they pushed #SaferInternetDay to the top of the twitter trending chart for that day. The safeguarding team has devoted most of this newsletter to online
safety so that we can really raise awareness in this area. We hear all too often that online safety is not just a matter for teachers to educate pupils but for parents to also take responsibility. We hope to be able to highlight some of the amazing resources that are out there for you and raise the importance of parental engagement in this hugely important area of safeguarding. The Assistant Deputy Head (Safeguarding) Jess Goves is leading brilliantly in this sphere and I am delighted to have co-written this edition of the newsletter with her; if you have read this far and are about to press the small cross in the right hand corner, please don’t – children today
are, whether we like it or not, living their lives online and through social media. We must be part of that journey with them, and we must understand what they have access to so that we can engage in meaningful conversations and provide the handrails for them to navigate the online landscape safely.
As a team we try to use data to help us to be proactive. When we analysed our safeguarding data
Year Group Issues
3rd Form Relationships and Friendships; child on child harm (bullying)
from Lent 2022, the main issues affecting year groups during February and March were as follows and we have highlighted how you might be able to help and be proactive safeguardians as well! Our ‘Staying Safe’ survey highlighted just how many of our students would speak to their parents about something which was bothering them at school – you are all an incredibly important cog in the safeguarding wheel.
What can you do?
Be there to listen. If you feel that your child wants to say something, ensure that you are present. Take what they say seriously and report any concerns about other student behaviour to the HM, tutor or a member of the safeguarding team (Tom Wayman is our lead on discipline).
If your son or daughter is talking about another student who is struggling, don’t just ignore it. Empower them to take action and help; be there for them as they think about the decisions they might make.
Do not be afraid of having a word with your child’s HM if you have serious concerns about another student. HMs can deal with disclosures sensitively and delicately. If you would rather speak to someone outside of the house, do please contact any member of the safeguarding team.
4th Form Sexting (or the sharing of ‘nudes’)
Speak openly about sexting. Talk gently to them about the law and ascertain their understanding – perhaps using a story which has been in the news which they may relate to. Encourage an open dialogue so that if they do find themselves with a problem or in danger, they will tell you and they will know that the response will be a supportive and kind one.
Upskill yourself with knowledge around this area so that you feel comfortable and can speak from a position of understanding. Watch the National Online Safety video (via your NOS login) available to all parents: ‘What parents need to know about sexting’.
5th Form Alcohol (and subsequent issues arising after drinking too much)
If you are hosting a party for your son or daughter do re-read the Second Master’s letter which contains guidance on how to go about ensuring that you are keeping your child – and others – safe from harm.
There is some excellent information for all parents about alcohol and how to navigate conversations about it on the Alcohol Education Trust webpage: https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/ They also have a page on parties:
https://alcoholeducationtrust.org/parent-area/teenage-parties/
6th Form Sexual harassment, sexual violence (outside of school at the weekend)
Have open conversations about the topic – it is relevant for boys and girls. Ask them about their sex and consent workshops and create opportunities to discuss potential areas of concern. There is an online talk for parents by Ella Simms (Colourful Peach) on the 18th May (7pm) and some useful guidance here:
https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/report/talking-to-your-childabout-online-sexual-harassment-a-guide-for-parents/
https://parents.actionforchildren.org.uk/stages-development/socialemotional-development/talking-sexual-harassment/
If you would like confidential advice, please do use the NSPCC helpline; it is excellent: 0800 136663.
As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team if you would like some help or simply share your thoughts.
Stay safe,
In the Spotlight Online Safety Bill
Earlier this month, Jess attended the SACPA Digital Safeguarding conference, which was opened by the Rt Hon Nadine Dorries MP (left), Former Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Whilst in office she was responsible for bringing the Online Safety Bill to parliament in 2019, a Bill which she believes is crucial for the safety of children and young people (those aged 18 years and younger) who make up one in three of global internet users. As educators and parents, it is impossible for us to police young people’s internet usage, so it is incumbent on government to hold internet providers and websites to account when their platforms cause harm to children and young people. Dorries believes that, despite some of the Bill being ‘watered down’, the current scope will improve the safety of children and young people online.
The online safety bill is wide ranging, technical and complex – so what do we need to know? The Bill is currently in the House of Lords and, if passed, will become law later this year and will impact everyone in the UK. The aim of the Bill is to make the UK the safest place to be online by:
1. Making it more difficult for young people to access harmful content online.
2. Imposing new legal responsibilities on companies that provide online services, such as social media sites and search engines.
3. Providing adults with greater choice over the content they see when using social media.
The Bill doesn’t apply to all websites – it focuses on online services which host content posted by other people (e.g. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and search services (e.g. Google, Yahoo and Bing).
What protections will it provide for children and young people?
There are currently very few laws that regulate what content can be shared online. Online safety campaigners have long been concerned about the impact the unregulated internet is having on users, especially children. The Bill responds to this by creating a legal responsibility (a ‘duty of care’) for the operators of userto-user services to protect users under the age of 18 from harmful content. The Bill includes new requirements such as:
• Enforcing minimum age requirements – where platforms specify a minimum age for users, the Bill requires them to clearly explain how these are enforced.
• Publishing risk assessments – the Bill requires userto-user services to carry out risk assessments on the dangers posed to users. These must be published
and allow parents, guardians and the wider public to understand the potential risks posed by using the service.
• Protecting children from harmful content published on the service – this includes, for example, ensuring that potentially harmful content is not displayed to users under 18. This content will, however, continue to be available to adults.
• Properly applying the Terms and Conditions – many social media sites already have policies about what content should or shouldn’t be allowed. In practice, these are inconsistently enforced. The Bill requires that affected services properly apply these rules in order to protect users.
How will the Bill be enforced?
Ofcom, the UK’s existing communications regulator, will be responsible for making sure that platforms within scope comply with the new legal duties introduced by the Bill. Ofcom will be responsible, therefore, not only for content broadcast on TV and radio but also that online. They will have powers to obtain information from website operators on how they deal with online harms and to act if they fail to comply with their new duties. Ofcom will have power to investigate website operators and issue financial penalties to companies that do not comply with the new regulations (a maximum fine of either £18 million or 10% of the company’s global turnover – whichever is higher). Providers will face criminal consequences if they break the remit of the Bill’s regulations.
It is recognised that the Bill is a landmark step towards improving online safety for everyone. It has gone through a lot of changes since it was first introduced, but does the Bill go far enough? Some campaigners are concerned that the latest version of the Bill does not in addressing the volume of harmful content online. This is because many types of websites and potentially harmful content falls outside the scope of the Bill. There are others who think that the Bill goes too far in limiting what can be said online. As the Bill is not yet law, it may go through further revisions before approval. Whatever your thoughts, there is no doubt that the Bill will enforce a higher level of scrutiny into the online world and require website and social media developers to think carefully about protections for children and young people.
What’s Going On?
An insight into the world of safeguarding at Welly
The Lent Term is always a busy one for the safeguarding team; we are excited to share with you some of the things we have been getting up to!
SOMA SARA – speaking at Wellington
We are delighted to announce that Soma Sara will be coming to Wellington on the 25th September to deliver a Fireside talk. This will be open to parents and students, so do please make a note in your diaries.
What have the Values Champions been up to? An overview by Gemma Nicholas:
with others and look at the good practice happening in other sectors and to see how we might incorporate ideas into our own work.
Governor Oversight
After 7 years, our Safeguarding Governor - Felicity
Kirk - stepped down. Felicity has been a wonderful ‘critical friend’ to the team and has also ensured that safeguarding is considered by the Governors in their meetings and that the Board provides the necessary challenge and oversight of this important area. We are delighted that current serving Governor Ginny Rhodes, (CEO of the Circle Trust and a highly experienced DSL) will be the interim Safeguarding Governor whilst the Board appoints someone new to this incredibly important position.
The first parental podcast
Following ideas which were generated at the Parent’s Forum in October, we are delighted that our first podcast will be posted on the Safeguarding webpage shortly. We hope that these short bursts of information will enable you to keep in touch with our work as well as provide information to help you on a variety of different topics. The episodes this term will be:
“This half term has seen the VC team expand as we welcomed Lana and Logan from the WH&FC. They will be a fantastic addition to the team, and this will help us work across departments and widening relationships across College. We have been encouraged to see some lovely values nominations and examples of courage, which has been the value of the half term. 8 new staff have been inducted and the VCs will be involved in the VBA element of interview process in the coming weeks as we enter a busy period of recruitment.”
A safer recruitment update
Delyth spent a week with the Lucy Faithful Foundation completing the trainer course for safer recruitment. Having successfully passed the assessment, Delyth is now an accredited trainer and qualified to deliver this training to our staff. Knowing the organisation well, this means that she will be able to tailor the course relevantly addressing the specific vulnerabilities that working in a boarding school presents. Following the Bichard Report in 2004, it is a requirement for at least one member of an interview panel in a school to have safer recruitment training.
External work
The team remains totally focussed on the students at Wellington. Sometimes, however, we do get asked to share our expertise across the UK. In January, Dave Walker and Delyth both spoke at the Keynote Education Safeguarding Conference in London. Jess and Delyth were invited to be part of some DfE roundtable consultation discussions about online safety and multiagency information sharing. Opportunities like these are important for the team; it gives us the chance to work
• Episode 1: Who are we and what do we do? (Join the safeguarding team for coffee as they talk about their role in the school and the specific responsibility within the team.)
• Episode 2: Relational Aggression (Dave Walker and Tom Wayman talk about what this is and how parents can help)
The link to the safeguarding webpage is here.
Working with Naima Charlier (Director of EDI)
It is the culture that exists within any school that underpins the safeguarding environment. The safeguarding team are working closely with Naima as there is a significant overlap between safeguarding and EDI. Recently a SWOT analysis on ‘culture’ was undertaken and plans around staff training have been proposed which look at short, medium and long-term goals. The particular areas of interest from EDI and safeguarding are trust, fear, openness and psychological safety and how we ensure that everyone in our community – students, parents and staff – feel a genuine sense of belonging.
Lets and Events
We have been working with our Events team this term to ensure that any event that the College holds are risk assessed appropriately and that any third party organisation who works with children and who uses our facilities also supply us with their safeguarding policy and procedures. This is in line with KCSIE 2022, para 167.
Our office re-decoration
For the first time, members of the pastoral and safeguarding teams are going to be housed in the same place! Behind the iconic rainbow door, staff and students can now find Dave Walker and Jenny Griggs (Head of Student Emotional Health and Wellbeing), Delyth and Jess. Gemma Nicholas (PA to Dave and Jenny) and Ilona Varey (PA to Delyth and Jess) will also be based there. We are hugely grateful to the works department who have painted and walls and allowed us to have a new carpet!
Safeguarding walks
The team is focussing their walks on academic departments this term. Each member of the team has 3 departments that they will visit to highlight good practice, ensure that relevant policies and documentation are up to date and visible and to also ensure that there are no safeguarding concerns in that area of the College. As part of the annual house inspection process, safeguarding is also inspected. Jess and Delyth visit all houses looking at specific aspects of safeguarding and pupils also answer some safeguarding questions as part of the student survey.
Safeguarding mugs to all new staff
The safeguarding team have been giving out highly prized mugs for the last few years. We have taken the decision to give them to all new members of staff and they will be presented with them when they have their safeguarding 1-2-1 induction. The idea behind the mugs is to help staff remember that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and to never lose sight of putting children at the centre of every decision that they make.
“Safeguarding slyboots”
This term the pastoral team have been thinking about how to reduced bias in decision making and have implemented a set of ‘devil’s advocate’ questions which are used in meetings. For each meeting a member of the team is nominated as the ‘safeguarding slyboots’ and it is their role to challenge statements made within the meetings and any decisions made. Questions include:
• How do you know that? Where did you get the information from?
• Is that an assumption or a fact? Is that first-hand knowledge or second hand?
• What do the family know? Why? Are we happy with their current level of knowledge?
• Does anyone hold any particular beliefs or feelings around this subject area? Take a moment to think about whether that might be influencing what you are thinking or saying.
• What if we did the opposite of what we are doing now?
Slowing down decision making in this way engages the part of the brain which is less prone to cognitive biases and therefore choices and directions of travel are more likely to be informed and non-judgmental.
Head of Year Talks
The team have been visiting Head of Year assemblies to feed back the ‘results of the ‘Staying Safe’ survey. Presentations have been tailored to each year group and it is hoped that the students understand that we take their answers seriously and that the survey is anonymous. There have already been some changes made as a result of some of the suggestions which students proposed.
Annual Safeguarding Audit
Each year, Bracknell Forest Safeguarding Schools requires us to undertake an annual audit of all of our policies and procedures. Our results are then reviewed. We received our report back at the beginning of February. It was very complementary about our work with only one action point listed – we had omitted to include a date! There is no room for complacency, however; the team will continue to strive for the highest standards and a mid-year review of the safeguarding annual development plan highlighted that we are on track to achieve our aims for the year.
Student Culture Champions
On Wednesday afternoon Chloe Whitelaw has been running a student group who are looking at culture within houses. Their focus throughout the Michaelmas term was bystander apathy. At the end of term they produced an excellent newsletter on the topic which was shared with all students and staff and this term they are running College assembly around this theme as well.
What’s Going On in Safeguarding in the UK?
The Children’s Society Slang Dictionary
This dictionary will support parents and teachers to better understand the language that young people use and to help support them. Even if you feel that the dictionary might not be relevant to your child, they will be exposed to the words online and particularly in chatrooms. How many did you know? The link is here and this page also has a useful Emoji dictionary as well.
National Pupil Safeguarding Review
In September 2022, Endurio (in partnership with The Key) launched the Pupil Safeguarding Survey. This was the first time a national survey has been undertaken and it was designed for schools so that they could see whether their policies and practices were working and which areas needed more attention or a robust review. The first report was published in February. It was a great opportunity to check our own survey results against national statistics. If you are interested in reading the national report, you can obtain a copy via this link here.
Children’s Commissioner Report – ‘A Lot of it is just abuse’ – Young People and Pornography
In January, the long awaited report from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner on pornography was published. The report draws together research from focus groups with teenagers aged 13-19 and a survey of 1000 young people aged 16-21. Ian Morris, our Head of Wellbeing, has paid close attention to it and has incorporated some of the findings and the highly useful information sheet into the 4th form wellbeing lesson on pornography. You can download the report from here. At the end of February The Guardian published a very interesting podcast on online misogyny and the link to pornography. You can listen here.
Andrew Tate
Tate was arrested at the end of December as part of investigation into human trafficking, rape and organised crime. In early January schools were concerned that his increased media profile could make his influence stronger than ever. Wellington sent out information about how to speak to the students about this important issue and are highly aware of the influence that he may have on boys and young men. Many commentators believe that Tate is grooming young men and those young people who are desperate for some sort of connection or who feel that they don’t quite ‘belong’ are particularly vulnerable. This is an area that we will continue to monitor.
If you would like to start a conversation around this with your child, The Day has some excellent resources and material. You can find them here
The BBC documentary, ‘The dangerous rise of Andrew Tate’ can be watched here.
What’s been on TV which is linked to safeguarding?
Each week, the safeguarding team sends out an email to staff which highlights a particular area of safeguarding including some questions to answer or scenarios to think
about. There is also a ‘watch, listen and read’ section. The following TV programmes have all been listed over the last few months; watching a programme like the ones below can also be a good starting point for a conversation with your child about a specific topic as well.
Theme Programme
Online Safety – trading of nudes
Panorama – “The Secret World of Trading Nudes”
Online sexual harassment BBC documentary – “Emily Atack – Asking for it?”
Cyberbullying BBC documentary – “Jesy Nelson – Odd One Out”
Domestic Violence and abuse BBC 3 – “Abused by my Girlfriend”
Neurodiversity
Mental Health
Children Missing Education –documentary which follows 3 students who are struggling to get to school following lockdowns
The Social – “How We’re Wired”
My Life - “Marvellous Messy Minds”
Panorama – “Why Kids Miss School”
Child protection – where failures happen BBC Wales documentary – “Logan Mwangi – a boy betrayed”
If you have seen or listened to something which you would like to share with the safeguarding team, please do email Delyth (dal@wellingtoncollege.org.uk)
Parent Lanyards
As you know, we welcome parents on site and we are very unique in that we also allow parents to come into the V&A café to meet their children and other members of staff. In order to do this, we do require that if you are coming into the V&A you wear your PARENT LANYARD. This will enable the staff to identify who you are. Please do not be offended if a member of staff asks you to wear your lanyard – we need to be sure that everyone who is on site should be here and we want to keep your children safe!
e-guarding - a guide for parents
“As online technologies and services become more embedded in people’s day-to-day activities and habits, it is increasingly hard, and increasingly less meaningful, to draw a distinction between online and offline life.” Ofcom Online Nation 2022
National Support for Parents
Both the UK Safer Internet Centre and Childnet offer a raft of resources to guide parents in online safety. Find their websites below:
UK Safer Internet Centre: Parents and Carers - UK Safer Internet Centre
Childnet: Parents & carers | Childnet
The SWGfl (South Western Grid for Learning) continues to offer a range of useful resources for parents about online safety and advice. Their parent page is here. In September they also launched a new podcast series about online social media use. You can listen here
Social Media
In response to the Online Safety Bill and high-profile cases such as Molly Russell, social media platforms have had to up their game when it comes to protecting children and young people on their platforms. Below are links to what some of the most popular social media platforms are doing to increase safety of young people and allow parents greater supervision of what their child/ ren are doing online.
TikTok: TikTok have recently introduced ‘Family pairing’, which allows parents and teens to customize their safety settings based on individual needs. Family Pairing enhances their suite of safety tools and is part of their continued work toward providing parents better ability to guide their teen’s online experience while allowing time to educate about online safety and digital citizenship. To find out more about TikTok’s safety tools read here: TikTok introduces Family Pairing | TikTok Newsroom
Instagram: Instagram have introduced Family Center, a new place for parents and guardians to access supervision tools and resources from leading experts. Supervision tools are available on Instagram today, and will begin rolling out in VR in May. Read more here: Introducing Family Center and Parental Supervision Tools on Instagram and in VR
Ofcom and recent studies into children’s media lives make clear that the online and offline experiences of children are becoming increasingly ‘blurred’ or ‘integrated’. An average teenager is likely to see no real difference between talking to friends over WhatsApp and talking to them at school. The internet touches nearly every aspect of people’s lives: working, socialising, entertainment, shopping, finding out information, accessing services and engaging as a consumer and a citizen. As a school we recognise how important it is to partner with our parent body when it comes to keeping young people safe and this is particularly crucial when it comes to their online lives. This section of the newsletter will highlight the latest advice and resources available to parents. I have written previously about our subscription to the National Online Safety platform. At the time of writing, we currently have 56 parents enrolled on the platform and we would love to see far more of you engage with this plentiful resource. To enrol use the following link: https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/ wellington-college
Snapchat: Snapchat have introduced a new in-app tool called Family Centre, which will help parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, and who they have been communicating with, without revealing any of the substance of those conversations. News & Press Releases | Snapchat News
Recommended parent guide - In recent months Twitter has been awash with educators worldwide debating the use of ChatGPT and Google Bard (as well as other AI solutions). Love them or hate them, these chatbots are just the start of advanced machine-learning technology and will be a part of our future, and our children’s future, for generations to come. The opportunities that these AI solutions bring can’t be underestimated, so it’s important that we, as trusted adults, understand how they work, what they can be used for and what potential risks they could spawn. NOS have created a guide to help understand exactly what AI solutions are all about which you can find at the end of this newsletter.
Introducing... ICT teacher and member of the Online Safety Team, Chelsey Cole
Chelsey teaches ICT at Wellington and assists Jess Goves with the teaching and strategy of online safety at Wellington. She is part of the Online Safety Team.
Chelsey – what’s your story?
After moving from country to country throughout my schooling, I finally settled in Newcastle, to complete my degree in 2012, studying Software Application Development and then getting a BSc in Computer Science. In 2018, I studied for my teaching qualification and came to Wellington in 2019.
Tell us a little about your role and why online safety education is so important.
Online safety is an area that is constantly changing with new apps and trends taking place, what feels like every week. Being online is part of the majority of student’s everyday life, and there are times they might get it wrong. However, with education covering what is acceptable, who they can speak to if they need help and then discussing with peers, the discussion broadens to include everyone. I believe that engaging students in discussions, allow them to tell us what they are concerned about or wish to know more about and the concerns they have regarding behaviour online, which is a key area for safeguarding whilst keeping the conversation open. Safeguarding is key to ensuring the well-being of children and with a lot of time being spent online they need the tools and knowledge about what is acceptable and what they can do if they need support.
What has been your biggest learning so far in the role?
Keeping up to date on all the new trends and apps available. With something new trending constantly, trying to relate it to the students means understanding these new trends which is not always easy!
What do you enjoy doing when you are not working? I love to go for walks, I am still discovering new areas even though I have been here for almost 4 years! I am currently training for a charity walk of 15.2 miles which takes place overnight in May. During the holidays I try and travel to new countries, trying my best not to revisit the same place twice unless I am visiting family. When I am not travelling and walking, I love to read.
Tell us one thing that no one at Wellington knows about you! I have lived all over the world and have been in schools in Germany, Cornwall, Scotland, America and finally the North East.
