Safeguarding & eSafety

From 1st July 2015 educational establishments are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 in the exercise of their functions to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This duty is known as the Prevent Duty.

More information on The Prevent Duty

Q3 Academy Great Barr is committed to fulfilling this duty and to carrying out the four main actions responsibly, namely: risk assessment, working in partnership, staff training and IT policies.

Risk assessment – The statutory guidance makes it clear that the Academy is expected to assess the risk of children being drawn into terrorism. Q3 Academy Great Barr has a clear policy in place for protecting children who may be vulnerable to radicalisation. This is not a distinct policy for the ‘Prevent Duty’ but is included within our Safeguarding/Child Protection policy.

Partnerships – The Trust works with partner agencies to seek advice, support and guidance to draw on multi-agency expertise.

Training – The Designated Safeguarding Lead has undertaken Prevent awareness training to enable them to offer advice and support to other members of staff. All staff undertake training on how to identify factors that can make students vulnerable to radicalisation.

IT – The Academy ensures that students are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet within the Academy. The Academy uses Web and Email filtering appliances as well as Screen Monitoring software to identify any potential risks or safeguarding issues which are checked on a regular basis.

The Educate Against Hate website, which is the collaboration between the Department for Education, the Home Office, the NSPCC, Internet Matters, Childnet, ParentZone, UK Internet Safety Centre and many other organisations, brings together the best advice, support and resources available for parents, carers, and Academy staff who want to learn how to protect young people from extremism and radicalisation. The information and advice available on Educate Against Hate is an invaluable resource and we encourage all parents/carers to visit the site and familiarise themselves with the information it provides.

Educate Against Hate – http://www.educateagainsthate.com/

The Academy has been given the opportunity to take part in a project that will be run jointly with West Midlands Police. Operation Encompass is a system of reporting to the Academy, prior to the start of the next working day, when a child or young person has been exposed to, or involved in, any domestic incident.

The Academy participates in a project run jointly with West Midlands Police. Operation Encompass is a system of reporting to the Academy, prior to the start of the next working day, when a child or young person has been exposed to, or involved in, any domestic incident.

Operation Encompass will ensure that a member of the Academy staff, known as a Key Adult, is trained to allow them to liaise with the local authority and to use the information that has been shared, in confidence, while ensuring that the Academy is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have been involved in, or exposed to, a domestic abuse incident.

We are keen to offer the best support possible to all of our students and we believe this will be extremely beneficial

for all those involved.

You may find these handy guides useful for checking your privacy settings across a range of social media platforms.

What is social media?

Social media is the term given to websites, online tools and applications that allow users to interact, often by sharing information, images, video, opinions, knowledge and interest. Social media involves the building of communities or networks, encouraging participation and engagement.

Common social media formats include: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Live.me, LinkedIn, Bebo, blogs, podcasts, YouTube and Flickr. Social media is changing all the time and new channels are always appearing – so this list is not exhaustive.

Social media also includes video and gaming apps and software that allows online communication, posting of comments and sharing of videos – either pre-recorded and uploaded or live streaming (for example, but not limited to, Musical.ly and Roblox).

Staying safe on social media

Staying safe online and on social media is taught in the Academy, which includes:

• • What to post;
  • What not to post;
  • Online dangers and how children can be coerced or “groomed”;
  • Privacy settings and how to regularly check them.

All of this is detailed in the Academy’s ICT policy.

The Academy hopes that by sharing this guidance with parents, carers, and students we can:

• • Encourage and educate students to stay safe online;
  • Protect students and staff from cyberbullying;
  • Make parents and carers aware of how they can protect their children when they are online;
  • Encourage parents and carers to support this policy.

Advice for parents/carers

We want parents and carers to support the work we do around staying safe online and preventing cyberbullying. Things to consider:

• • Monitor your child’s social media presence, including their privacy settings, what they post and comment on as well as the responses they receive.
  • Make sure your child does not share inappropriate details, images or videos of themselves or others.
  • Check your child’s privacy settings and supervise or restrict their use of social media if necessary.
  • Encourage your child to use a profile name that is not their full name (where this meets with the social media platform’s rules).
  • It is strongly recommended that you do not share photos of or information about children other than your own on without the permission of the other child’s parents/carers.
  • If you share photos of your own children, be mindful that sharing personal details such as a child’s full name, the Academy’s name, and class name alongside their photo can identify their child’s whereabouts to others.
  • Please do not make allegations or complaints about the Academy on social media.
  • Make sure your own comments, images or videos relating to the Academy, its students or staff are fair, accurate and have the permission of all those who feature in them.
  • Make sure you are secure with your own privacy settings when sharing photos of your child or children.

Advice for students

We want students to say safe when using social media.

• • Don’t share private information (such as your address or full name) with people you don’t know.
  • Don’t share anything that puts you or someone else in danger.
  • Check your privacy settings – do you know who can see what you’re sharing?
  • Remember, once you’ve shared something online you no longer have control over it.
  • Don’t bully, harass or deliberately upset others.
  • Don’t share anything that negatively affects the reputation of the Academy.
  • If you are worried about something you have seen on social media, speak to your parent, carer, or any member of staff at the Academy.

Cyberbullying

The Academy takes allegations of cyberbullying seriously and encourages students to report any concerns to a parent or carer, Learning Consultant, member of staff, or the Head of School.

The Academy recognises that staff members can also be the victims of cyberbullying.

How the Academy will deal with complaints about social media

• • If parents or students see inappropriate content about the Academy, its staff or students that could bring the Academy into disrepute, they should bring this to the attention of the Head of School.
  • The Academy will, whenever possible, remove inappropriate content posted on Academy-administered social media sites.
  • Parents or carers who have a concern about how social media is being used by a student, member of staff or another parent/carer should get in touch with the Academy.
  • The Academy will decide if and how best to investigate any concerns. Parents/carers should avoid raising further complaints or making allegations using social media while this happens.
  • Action may be taken against any student found to be engaging in inappropriate behaviour online.
  • If a parent or carer makes claims about or allegations against the Academy, its staff or students on social media, they may be asked to remove comments that are abusive or inappropriate. In extreme cases, the Academy may seek legal advice

The government has recently announced new measures to keep children safe online. At Q3 Academy Great Barr we have appropriate filters and monitoring systems in place, so that no student can access harmful content via the Academy’s IT systems and concerns can be spotted quickly. We also teach our students about safeguarding, including online, through our PSHE and Tutor Time programmes.

Please see below for links to some great online resources for parents and carers about online safety. They provide helpful support and information on understanding the risks and benefits of social media and advice on how to prevent risks becoming problems.

For example the UK’s Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCISS) has produced a new guide for parents on social media. It contains practical tips about the use of safety and privacy features on apps, cloud services and games, and some conversation prompts to help families start talking about online safety.

• • • • http://parentinfo.org/ – online tool with information on how to keep children safe whilst using the internet
      • https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents – information for concerns over children and where to report incidents
      • http://www.internetmatters.org – expert information on how to keep your children safe online
      • Child Safety Online Information – Government guidelines on using Social Media
      • Online Safety – NSPCC online safety information
      • Online Safety Guidance for Parents

Information for internet use at home:

• • Be aware of what is on the internet and what your child could be exposed to – not just inappropriate content but scam and ‘phishing’ sites
  • Ironically, don’t give your child a list of do’s and don’ts – they’ll probably ask ‘why not’ and then try to find out! Children are more likely to respond more positively if you encourage them to be ‘smart’ or ‘cool’ on the Internet
  • Set rules for use – including what to go on and the length of time – over 10 hours per day are spent online for teenagers
  • Don’t forget, it’s not just computers, mobiles phones and tablets have more and more internet facilities on them.
  • Keep your machine safe with anti-virus software
  • Consider parental controls to restrict/monitor internet access
  • Don’t be afraid of confrontation if you find any wrong-doing – but don’t overreact. Sometimes it is just an innocent mistake.

At Q3 Academy Great Barr, we aim to provide students with a safe learning environment to create foundations in which they can develop their knowledge and skills in using ICT systems to become perceptive and safe users.

If you discover harmful or inappropriate content, then please report it here:

According to statistics for 2014:

• • 7 in 10 admitted that they had been victims of cyberbullying;
  • 1 in 4 experience this on a daily basis;
  • Girls used to be more likely to be bullied than boys, but now boys are just as likely as girls to be subjected to online bullying;
  • 75% of those surveyed use social media – over half of those with Facebook profiles had experienced cyberbullying there;
  • Only 15% of parents think their children are safe online;
  • Over half surveyed used the internet in their own room;
  • 3 out of 4 children over the age of 12 have a mobile phone;
  • 1 in 4 children ignore age restriction on sites, whether to gain access or to create profiles;
  • Be aware of what is on the internet and what you could be exposed to – not just inappropriate content but scam and ‘phishing’ sites – 1 in 25 teenagers have received online sexual solicitations with the offender seeking to make contact with them offline.

For parents and carers:

• • Ironically, don’t give your child a list of do’s and don’ts – they’ll probably ask ‘why not’ and then try to find out! Children are more likely to respond more positively if you encourage them to be ‘smart’ or ‘Cool’ on the Internet;

  • Set rules for use – including what to go on and the length of time – over 10 hours per day are spent online for teenagers;

  • Don’t forget, it’s not just computers, mobiles phones and tablets have more and more internet facilities on them;

  • Keep your machine safe with anti-virus software;

  • Consider parental controls to restrict/monitor internet access;

  • Don’t be afraid of confrontation if you find any wrong-doing – but don’t overreact. Sometimes it is just an innocent mistake.

Reporting Incidents

eSafety is really important to us, both inside and outside of the Academy as it affects practically everything we do in our everyday lives. Of course, it is difficult for us to control anything outside of the Academy. However, we aspire to provide a safe environment within the Academy and should any eSafety concerns arise that could affect the Academy life of a student, we will do all we can to provide a solution.

Remember:

• • If you come across material that you don’t like on the internet, the easiest thing to do is to leave the website;

• • If you are a victim of cyberbullying, see any incidents of cyberbullying, or suspect that it is happening, then tell a parent, carer or member of staff immediately.

For advice on staying safe online , the following links may be of some help:

• • thinkuknow.co.uk
  • kidsmart.org.uk
  • saferinternet.org.uk
  • childline.org.uk

CEOP – www.ceop.police.uk

CEOP – the child exploitation and online protection agency – is an online service aimed to protect children from harm, offline and online. If you feel someone has acted inappropriately towards you or a person you know, you can report it to CEOP below. The CEOP centre is staffed by specialist police and investigative officers who will follow up your report.

Don’t post personal information online such as address, telephone number.

Staying Safe Online

eSafety can be defined to three areas:

Content – being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful material. This is the type of site as well as things like excessive commercialism;

Contact – being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users;

Conduct – personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm.

Tips to stay safe online:

• • • • Think carefully before posting comments, images or videos online – even if you remove it, it could have been copied;
      • Check your privacy settings on social media sites;
      • Do you know who you are talking to? Many people online impersonate;
      • Don’t speak to people that you don’t know;
      • Don’t arrange to meet strangers;
      • If you are the victim of abusive texts, emails, photos etc., then tell a parent/carer/member of staff;
      • If you see something that you don’t feel comfortable with, either leave the website or tell a parent/carer/member of staff;
      • Know what is spam and what is real.

CEOP – the child exploitation and online protection agency – is an online service aimed to protect children from harm, offline and online. If you feel someone has acted inappropriately towards you or a person you know, you can report it to CEOP below. The CEOP centre is staffed by specialist police and investigative officers who will follow up your report.

The Academy has invested in a subscription for Parents/Carers to access eSafety training as it is so important that Parents/Carers carefully monitor their child’s internet access and device usage. 

If you are a Parent/Carer, then set up your account here for access to a library of helpful videos, information, and courses.