Safeguarding
‘All adults in school have a responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.’
Safeguarding children is a priority for the academy. We have clear aims, policies and procedures to keep children safe.
Our Child Protection Policy complies with the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Child Protection Procedures, and can be found on our school website.
The procedures place a statutory duty on Shirebrook Academy and adults in school to safeguard and promote the welfare of children with due consideration to equality.
Our systems are designed to:
- Prevent unsuitable people working with children and young people
- Promote safe practice and challenge poor and unsafe practice
- Identify instances in which there are grounds for concern about a child’s welfare and give adults in school the route for them to take the appropriate action
The systems contribute to partnership working between all those involved with providing services for children which includes our community police officer, school nurse and social care.
The recruitment of staff to the academy is carried out with due regard to the statutory documentation from the DFE ‘Keeping children safe in education' (2015)
Lindsay Ward is the Designated Person for safeguarding and child protection. If you cannot speak to Lindsay, please speak to Emily Ibbotson, Damian O’Reilly, Lindsey Burgin or any member of the Academy Leadership Team.
Every Child Matters at Shirebrook and all adults have responsibility for safeguarding.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
At Shirebrook Academy, we focus on creating a positive learning environment where our students feel happy and are able to grow as learners and individuals; this is at the heart of all that we do.
Within our curriculum we focus on developing positive relationships, resilience and inclusivity and we teach our students to recognise risk; being responsible towards others and how to make positive choices.
We all have times when we experience low mental wellbeing, where we feel stressed, upset or find it difficult to cope. Experiencing these emotions is part of human nature and it is our duty, to provide our students with the mechanisms to recognise their feelings and develop strategies to support their wellbeing.
At Shirebrook Academy we want to give our young people the tools to develop positive mental health strategies by providing the necessary support to build and develop emotional resilience and to maintain good emotional health.
We want our students to enjoy learning and to feel safe and happy. We want all of our students to have positive mental and emotional health; to possess the skills and confidence to cope with change; the ability to think through and solve problems and ultimately achieve their ambitions.
We recognise that, at times, students require additional support with their wellbeing and mental health. Staff have received Trauma Informed schools and Emotion Coaching CPDL to help support students in their classrooms. Additional support is also provided by the Pastoral, Safeguarding, Behaviour and Inclusion teams via one-to-one work, emotional regulation and ELSA programmes.
We provide school- led Early Help to support families and work with external agencies such as Social Care, CAMHs, Build Sound Minds, COMPASS Changing Lives, Elm Foundation and the School Nurse in order to provide additional help for those students struggling with their mental and emotional health.
Additionally, every Thursday we have two MIND counsellors based at Shirebrook Academy to provide support for those students who need one-to-one professional guidance.
Our Pastoral, Safeguarding, Behaviour and Inclusion Teams are here to work with parents/carers and help provide support and guidance. The contact list below is also a good starting point for students and parents/carers to refer to and access.
The ACET Trust and Shirebrook Academy are committed to supporting good emotional wellbeing in order to allow every young person to have the best possible experience and outcomes throughout their school journey.
Emotional Health Information for Young People and their Families
YoungMinds: https://youngminds.org.uk Parents Helpline0808 802 5544 (Monday to Friday 9.30am – 4pm)
Childline: https://childline.org.uk Tel: 0800 1111 (24hr)
Samaritans: https://samaritans.org.uk - Helpline (24 hr): 116 123 Email: jo@samaritans.org (24 hours)
NHS Moodzone - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/
The Children’s Society - https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/resources/back-to-school
Derby & Derbyshire Emotional Health & Wellbeing: www.derbyandderbyshireemotionalhealthandwellbeing.uk
COMPASS Changing Lives Compass Changing Lives - Compass (compass-uk.org) (01332) 3165569
Suicide and Self Harm
National Self Harm Network - https://nshn.co.uk Email:info@nshn.co.uk
Harmless - http://www.harmless.org.uk/
Papyrus - https://papyrus-uk.org/
Counselling
Build Sound Minds Derbyshire and Derby City: Email: BuildSoundMindsDD@actionforchildren.org.uk Tel: 01246 277422
KOOTH – Online counselling just for young people: https://www.kooth.com
Available Monday – Friday 12pm – 10pm Saturday & Sunday 6pm – 10pm