Safeguarding at Sandwell Academy

If you have any concerns about your child or any other child, then please contact either Miss Pincher, Mrs Povey, Mrs Adams or Miss Breen via the Academy reception or by emailing safeguarding@sandwellacademy.com.

If you have a safeguarding concern when the school is closed: Sandwell Safeguarding Team can be contacted on 0121 569 3100.

In an emergency please call 999.

Key Contacts

Designated Safeguarding Lead:
Anna Pincher: apincher@sandwellacademy.com

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead:
Michelle Povey: mpovey@sandwellacademy.com

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead:
Amy Adams: aadams@sandwellacademy.com

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead:
Rachael Breen: rbreen@sandwellacademy.com

• eSafety For Parents

  The government has recently announced new measures to keep children safe online at school and at home. At Sandwell Academy 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 Welfare Curriculum, assemblies and parent workshops.

  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 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:

  • parentinfo.org – online tool with information on how to keep children safe whilst using the internet.
  • Parents and carers | CEOP Education – information for concerns over children and where to report incidents.
  • Keep Children Safe Online: Information, advice, support - Internet Matters– expert information on how to keep your children safe online.
  • Child Safety Online Information – Government guidelines on using Social Media.
  • Partner with us | NSPCC – NSPCC online safety information.
  • Digital Eye Strain: What Is It, Symptoms, and How to Relieve Them - comprehensive resource on digital eyestrain

  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.
  • 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.

• Prevent Duty

  From 1st July 2015 schools 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

  Sandwell Academy 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 schools are expected to assess the risk of children being drawn into terrorism. Sandwell Academy has a clear policy in place for protecting children who may be vulnerable to radicalisation.

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

  Training – Sandwell Academy’s Designated Safeguarding Lead has undertaken Prevent awareness training to enable them to offer advice and support to other members of staff. All staff have attended 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.

  Education – Here Sandwell Academy, we have a robust RSHE curriculum which covers the prevent duty and how students will be aware of the agenda.

  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, teachers and school leaders 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 to visit the site and familiarise themselves with the information it provides.

• Operation Encompass

  The Academy has been given the opportunity to take part in a project that will run jointly between schools and West Midlands Police.

  Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools, prior to the start of the next school 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 our students; we believe this will be extremely beneficial for all those involved.