Safeguarding
Staff and Governors at Belmont are aware that many children are the victims of different kinds of abuse and that they can be subjected to social factors that have an adverse impact upon their lives – including domestic violence, substance misuse, bullying, mental health and radicalisation. We also acknowledge that safeguarding incidents could happen anywhere and staff should be alert to possible concerns arising.
Staff understand their statutory duty report any concerns immediately. All staff receive updates and regular training. All staff have read and understood the 'Keeping Children Safe in Education , 2023. Please click the button below to find out more information:
Keeping Children Safe In Education
Keeping Children Safe in Education sets out the legal duties that school staff must follow to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18 in schools and colleges.
Through our curriculum we teach children to stay safe and happy. We encourage the understanding that any problem or worry that they may have is valid, and to share their worries, big or small with their trusted adult; at home; school or with ChildLine (0800 1111).
For all of our policies related to Safeguarding, please click the policies link on the right. If you would like more information regarding safeguarding in Harrow click the following link: https://www.harrowscb.co.uk/.
To report safeguarding concerns, you can speak to any of the contacts below or call the Harrow Children Services Golden Number: 020 8901 2690. Harrow Children Services’ Golden Number is available to everyone, and gives people one number to call for information or advice on services for children, young people and their families.
Key contacts
- Designated Safeguarding Lead - Letitia McKenzie Deputy Head
- Designated Safeguarding Online/Filtering Lead - Poonam Aggarwall, Headteacher
- Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead -Poonam Aggarwall, Headteacher
- Designated Safeguarding Lead for pupil's with SEND and 5 and 6 - Alex Revens
- Designated Safeguarding Lead for EYFS, Years KS1 and Years 3 and 4- Trishna Patel
- Safeguarding Team - Jackie Pusey (BPM)
- Designated Safeguarding Lead for Be Active - James O'Donovan
- Safeguarding Governor - Katherine Woodcock
- Chair of Governors - Manji Kara
The London Grid For Learning website have some fantastic free online resource for parents:
Prevent Strategy
Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. Many of the things we do in school to help pupils become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy.
Find out more in our leaflet below or by clicking the following link: The Prevent duty Departmental advice for schools and childcare providers.
Anti-bullying
Keeping safe from bullying is an integral part of our PSHE curriculum. Through our Exploration curriculum pupils learn how to behave towards each other promoting the British values of tolerance and mutual respect.
Daisy Chain - Animated Film narrated by Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet narrates this beautiful anti-bullying tale that follows Buttercup Bree and her tale of magical Daisy Chains. Visit http://www.ilovedaisychain.com for more info.
NSPCC Pants campaign, keeping your child safe
Talk PANTS helps children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell someone they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried.
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/
Keeping Children Safe When Using School Based Technologies
Keeping Children Safe When Using School Based Technologies
Internet Filters Within School
Belmont School use a filtering solution called Webscreen 3.0 which is provided through our internet subscription to the London Grid for Learning, it is managed through a technology called Netsweeper which categories inappropriate sites based on the content within the website as well as lists provided by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
Webscreen 3.0 constantly scans the school’s internet traffic and categorises harmful materials. It prevents harmful material before it is displayed to the user in the form of a block screen warning.
This enables the users to safely use the internet and provide logs for the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) of what has been viewed, whose device and account information for monitoring purposes.
In the event of harmful/inappropriate content being accessed, the block screen reminds users of the school’s acceptable use policy and informs them that their search will be recorded.
WebScreen 3.0 forms the mission of ensuring that we are keeping children safe online in school.
Computing Safeguarding Software (All school managed devices)
Belmont School use an eSafety solution called BeeSafe. This is a software developed by Beebug which the school subscribe to that provides monitoring of staff and student workstations whether on-site or off-site using cloud-based technology.
Beebug’s BeeSafe constantly monitors users keyboard input as well as screen output to detect harmful keywords typed or seen on the screen this includes swearing, sexual content and words linked with extremism and/or terrorism.
If harmful content is detected a screenshot (or capture) is taken with the user’s computer name, IP address, username, and timestamp. Captures are sent to Beebug’s team to review and remove any false positives before any inappropriately deemed content is sent to the schools designated safeguarding lead and computing technician for review each week.
Please click the following links to help you to know how you can keep your children safe online:
Website: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/look-say-sing-play/
Website: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
Website: https://www.bbc.com/ownit
Website: https://www.childnet.com/resources
Screen Monitoring (All school student managed laptops)
Belmont School subscribes to a cloud-based monitoring system named Senso.Cloud.
This software allows Staff members to monitor Student laptops from the Teacher's workstation by mirroring their screens, taking screenshots and block/locking student screens.
The main purpose of Senso is to allow Staff to see student devices when they are out of sight of Teachers, allowing them to monitor for any Safeguarding issues. But the software also provides benefits to learning too.
Internet Safety at Home
At Belmont School, we acknowledge the increasing prevalence of mobile and smart technology among our students. While we recognise the educational benefits of these devices, we are also aware of the potential risks they pose. We wish to outline the safe use of mobile and smart technology whilst off our premises.
We understand that many students have unrestricted access to the Internet via mobile networks (e.g EE, Three, Vodafone’s 3G/4G/5G service), which can lead to issues such as harassment, bullying, and inappropriate content sharing.
Parents and guardians are responsible for ensuring that their child's mobile device is equipped with safety features and parental controls to mitigate potential risks.
We strongly recommend that parents work with their mobile service providers to enable these features as well as search for apps that work with their child’s mobile device which allow them to remotely monitor and mitigate any potential issues.
To maintain a focused learning atmosphere on-site, we have a strict no-mobile-phone policy, except for Year 6 students who may bring their phones onto site, however, are collected by Class Teachers in the morning and returned at the end of the school day.
Children who bring their phones onto site is a safeguarding risk and will be managed accordingly to our Behaviour for Success policy.
Students are expected and encouraged to report any incidents involving the misuse of mobile phone or Internet safety issues such as seeing inappropriate content, or cyber-bullying to the attention of the school. The school emphasises the importance of this during PSHE and Computing lessons.
Keeping children safe online - Undressed
The LGFL have produced resources that will support your child/ren being safe and understanding the risks and pressure they could face when communicating with people (including family and friends) online.
The following video must be shared with children to develop their understanding of how to keep themselves safe:
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Adverse childhood experiences can cast a lasting shadow over the lives of children and young people, that is why it is crucial they receive early help and support."
Imran Hussain, Director of Policy and Campaigns, Action for Children
Adverse childhood experiences such as abuse or neglect can have long-lasting effects on people’s lives. Young people may struggle to develop socially and academically as a direct result; they are at increased risk of physical and mental health problems both at the time and years later.
But poor outcomes are not inevitable and early intervention can make a difference.
At Belmont School, all staff receiving training to support those who have suffered abuse to ensure that all pupils make progress inline with their peers socially and academically.
Here are some videos that you can watch and some that you can watch with your children to support their resilience and develop techniques to support their mental health:
Video for parents: Supporting Resilience
Video for children: Wellbeing for Children: Healthy Habits
Video for children: Wellbeing for Children: Resilience
Video for children: 10 Ways to Build and Develop Resilience
Video for children: "The Hugging Tree": a child story about resilience