Safeguarding and Pastoral Care
“Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as: protecting children from maltreatment whether that is within or outside the home, including online; preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes and providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge.“
KCSIE (Keeping Children Safe In Education) - 2024
Nishkam Commitment to Safeguarding & Child Protection
We have a duty to ‘safeguard and promote the welfare of children’. If you have any concerns about the health and safety of a child at this school or feel that something may be troubling them, you should share this information with an appropriate member of the school staff straight away. Our pastoral team are always here to help with any concerns you might have.
Do not worry that you may be reporting a matter which seems small – we really value open and honest communication and as part of our family, we are always here for you.
However, if you think the matter is very serious and may be related to a child protection issue, e.g. physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect, you must talk to the safeguarding team below as soon as possible. If you are unable to contact them, you can ask staff in the school office to locate them and ask that they speak to you urgently about a confidential urgent matter.
Any allegations or a disclosure involving a member of staff, a child’s foster carer or a volunteer in the school must be reported directly to the Principal, unless it involves the Principal in which case it should be reported directly to the chair of the Governing Body, Ms S Kang.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Safeguarding Contacts in School
Mrs E Butler Assistant Principal – Pastoral & Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Mrs B Sembi Faith & Family Lead & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Mr J Mahon Key Stage 3 Lead & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Mrs K Bhatti Pupil Achievement Manager & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Mrs Y Sidhu Key Stage 4 Lead & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Miss S Robinson Pastoral Support Worker & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Safeguarding and Welfare Team Poster
Please click here for the NHSB Safeguarding Policy.
Communication with Parents
Our school will always discuss concerns with parents/carers and consent for any referrals should be sought unless to do so would:
- Place the child at risk of significant harm or further risk of significant harm.
- Place a vulnerable adult at risk of harm.
- Compromise any enquiries that need to be undertaken by children’s social care or the police.
The school will endeavour to ensure that parents have an understanding of the responsibilities placed on the school and staff for safeguarding children.
In the best interests of safeguarding children there may be occasions when the school has to consult with other agencies without a parent or carer’s prior knowledge. Our first concern and responsibility is the child’s welfare and we have a duty to protect children first and always. Such consultation may result in a formal referral which could prompt visits from social care and/or the police. We fully understand that this can be a very distressing set of circumstances. Our school will follow the procedures required by the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board.
Support for Students & Families
We can all find ourselves in need of support at different times in our life. We are very proud to be Pathfinder’s School and our dedicated Pathfinder’s workers are here to help. If you would like to book a meeting with them, please get in touch with the pastoral team via enquiries or by ringing reception.
We work with a range of different external providers who come into school to support our students. Please find them listed below:
Evolve Health and Wellbeing Mentor – full time mentor available in school
Think for the Future Behaviour and Resilience Mentoring – weekly sessions with targeted groups
Birmingham Plus School Nursing – fortnightly service to support students with health concerns
Nicole from Her Path to Purpose – weekly mentoring service for girls
Aston Villa Foundation – weekly mentoring service for year 11 students
Action for Children – support for students that are young carers
Change Therapy – weekly wellbeing support for our sixth form students
Please also find links in the subheadings below should you need any further support.
How to make a referral
Anyone can make a referral to Children’s Services if they are concerned about the safety of a child. You do not need parental consent if you feel a child is in danger. To make a referral, make sure you have the correct local authority – you can do this by checking the postcode of the area.
Links to our local authority safeguarding referral pages are below:
Birmingham: https://www.birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk/contact
Sandwell: https://www.sandwellcsp.org.uk/key-safeguarding-issues/report-a-concern/
Walsall: https://forms.walsall.gov.uk/Electronic-Multi-Agency-Referral-Form
If a child is at immediate risk of significant harm always call 999 in the first instance
Early Help
Early help is a really important part of both our own, and the national Safeguarding offer. We can help you access early help as a Pathfinders School but we always need your consent to do this.
You can also get lots of help within the local area due to their early help offer. Please see the links below:
https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50224/birmingham_children_s_partnership
Mental Health
It is vital that we all look after our mental health in the same way that we do with our physical health. There are lots of places that you can reach out to if you need further advice or support, these include:
Kooth
'Kooth' is an online mental health support platform for all Birmingham children and young people aged 11 – 25. It is a great place to start: https://www.kooth.com/
Forward Thinking Birmingham
The city’s mental health partnership for 0 -25 year olds: https://forwardthinkingbirmingham.nhs.uk/
Pause Hubs
Pause is a drop in service located in the centre of town where you can go for support: https://forwardthinkingbirmingham.nhs.uk/pause
Papyrus
Is a UK charity dedicated to the prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people: https://www.papyrus-uk.org/
The Waiting Room
The waiting room is a one stop directory for health and wellbeing services across Birmingham and Solihull. It is an extremely helpful place to start: https://the-waitingroom.org/
Mind
Their Helpline provides emotional and wellbeing advice and information, to people experiencing mental health difficulties, their families, professionals and the wider public.
Our Helpline is accessible 9am – 11pm, every day by calling 0121 262 3555 (Freephone 0800 915 9292)
Samaritans
If you need someone to talk to, you can call or email them at any time: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
Curriculum
Child safety issues and child protection will be addressed through the curriculum where appropriate, especially through PSHE, Computing and E-Safety, Citizenship, Sex and Relations Education (SRE) and British values.
We use a variety of resources and approaches to teach the children how to keep themselves safe, build their resilience and manage risks.
The curriculum, and in particular the personal, social and health education development strand of the curriculum, includes an emphasis on relationships (relationships and sex education), building confidence and resilience in pupils and in developing preventative strategies to ensure their own protection and that of others. Opportunities are provided for pupils to develop the skills and strategies they need to stay safe from abuse, including age appropriate discussions about healthy relationships, their bodies and being able to say no to requests that they do not want to carry out. Clear advice and guidance is built into the curriculum to ensure that pupils understand that there is a range of contacts they can turn to for advice and support and that they know where and how to report abuse.
Online Safety
Children and young people spend lots of time on the internet. They may go online to research information for homework or to play games, chat with friends and make new ones. The internet holds a massive amount of useful information and can also be a really good way of learning about new things and keeping in contact with friends and family. It can also be a very dangerous place so it is important that children are protected and monitored when they are online.
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) has lots of information about how to keep your children safe online and parental controls. The link to the website is below.
Please see below a number of apps/social media and websites which summarises the content available for young pupils regarding E-safety:
Child Exploitation and Online Protection safety-centre
The website below is aimed at parents to help understand internet social media, apps and gaming
The website below has advise regarding gaming ratings and what they mean:
Parentinfo.org pegi games ratings explained
Popular apps with an overview of the app and age restrictions
Social media/sites/apps
| Age restriction |
||
|---|---|---|
 |
Instagram is a picture and video sharing app. Users can post content and use hashtags to share experiences, thoughts or memories with an online community. You can follow your friends, family, celebrities and even companies on Instagram. Instagram allows live streaming. | 13+ |
 |
YouTube allows you to watch, create and comment on videos. You can create your own YouTube account, create a music playlist, and even create your own channel, which means you will have a public profile. YouTube allows live streaming. | 13+ |
 |
Snapchat is an app that lets you send a photo, short video or message to your contacts. The 'snap' appears on screen for up to 10 seconds before disappearing, or there is an option to have no time limit. There's also a feature called Snapchat Story that lets you share snaps in a sequence for up to 24 hours. | 13+ |
 |
Minecraft is a game that lets you build and create a virtual world using building blocks. Other activities include using the multiplayer function to explore the worlds created by other users and to combat, chat and play with them. |
7+ |
 |
Facebook is a social network which lets you create a page about yourself. You can add friends, write on people's pages, share photos and videos including live videos. Facebook Messenger allows you to instant message in group chats or one to one. Facebook allows live streaming. | 13+ |
Reference: https://www.net-aware.org.uk/
Operation Encompass
Nishkam High School is part of Operation Encompass which is a national scheme that operates jointly between schools and police forces.
Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools, prior to the start of the next school day, when a child or young person has experienced domestic abuse.
As a school we have ensured that members of our safeguarding team, known as Key Adults, have been trained in the Operation Encompass procedures allowing us to then use the information that has been shared, in confidence, to support the child/ren in our care.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 identifies children who experience domestic abuse as victims of domestic abuse in their own right.
On 24 May 2024 Royal Assent was granted to The Victims and Prisoners Act. The Act placed Operation Encompass into Law.
This places a statutory obligation on police forces to share Operation Encompass notifications with schools/educational settings.
We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and through Operation Encompass we will be able to provide the best possible support to our children.
Further details regarding Operation Encompass can be found below:
Prevent
As a school, are required to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This is called the Prevent duty.
We do lots of work around this within our curriculum and monitor pupils’ use of IT facilities around school via our filtering and monitoring provider, Senso.
A very helpful resource for parents is the Educate Against Hate website which can be found below:
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
In April 2014 every school in England received new safeguarding guidelines and detailed information on identifying and responding to Female Genital Mutilation. FGM is a procedure carried out on young girls between the ages of infancy and 15 years of age.
Female Genital Mutilation is classified as a form of Child Abuse in the UK. It therefore makes the procedure of it a serious Child Protection issue. It is illegal for anyone to perform FGM in the UK or to arrange for a child to be transported to another country for the procedure. The maximum sentence for carrying out FGM or helping it to take place is 14 years in prison.
There is lots of information and support available online for parents/carers concerned about this subject or if you know someone who is at risk:
- Contact the Police if you think that a girl or young woman is in danger of FGM and is still in the UK.
- Contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (020 7008 1500) if she’s already been taken abroad.
The NSPCC has detailed advice on how to spot the signs, symptoms and effects of FGM and provides support for people who are concerned about a child or who have been affected themselves. The link to the website is below.
Useful Websites and Resources
As a high quality, faith-based school, our approach models the ideal environment for raising children – where they are a part of a caring community. Children’s spiritual, emotional, physical and mental development will be supported by trained and experienced staff.
Support for Faith Practitioners
We will support and encourage the practice of faith. Specific provisions will exist which allow pupils of all backgrounds to practice their own faith. This will include specific provisions for initiated, practicing Sikhs (Amritdhari Sikhs) as well as ensuring appropriate provisions for practitioners of other faiths.
Child Protection and Wellbeing
A safe and secure environment is of paramount importance. You can be assured of your child’s well-being by the practices we adopt at the Nishkam School. All our staff are fully trained in child safety and child protection practices, as well as First-Aid for children.
We operate a secure entrance system with video-linked intercom; only parents and staff are permitted to enter. All visitors are met at the door by a member of staff and escorted into the School if appropriate. All visitors must present a form of identity.
Child Protection and Safeguarding Children
Our first concern at all times is the safety and well-being of the children in our care. By law, we are required to follow recommended procedures for the reporting of suspected child abuse. Where a child’s personal safety is concerned we may have to consult outside agencies such as Social Services as a legal responsibility before we speak to a parent.
Keeping in Contact
Your child’s welfare is most important to us and it is essential that we are able to contact you at any time during school hours. Please provide the school with two or three up to date telephone numbers and please inform us if you change your mobile phone number.
Complaints and Concerns
We want every child to be happy and receive the best education and pastoral care possible. We hope that any concerns that arise can be resolved with your child’s class teacher, however if you would prefer a discussion with the Head Teacher, then please arrange this through the school office. In the unlikely event of a concern is not resolved satisfactory, parents can write to the Chair of Governors at the school. The Governors’ formal complaints policy is available from the school office.
Child Exploitation and Online Protection
Nishkam Schools Trust is committed to ensure that every child and every adult connected with our schools understands that sexual harassment, online sexual abuse and sexual violence are unacceptable.
We take most seriously our responsibility to educate our children in these matters using our 'faith inspired, virtues led' approach and, at the same time, to ensure that everyone knows how to report any of these issues should they encounter them.
We are therefore promoting the use of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection website that provides simple guidance on how to make a report and gives age-appropriate information about keeping yourself or a child you know safer from online child sexual abuse.