Safeguarding
Harris Academy Chafford Hundred is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for children, staff and visitors and promoting a climate where children and adults will feel confident about sharing any concerns they may have about their own safety or the well-being of others.
The academy is committed to the vital contribution of all governors, staff and support staff make to safeguarding children a priority. We aim to ensure that child protection concerns and referrals are handled sensitively, professionally and in ways that support the specific needs of the individual child.
Through providing a caring, safe and stimulating environment which promotes the social, physical and moral development of all our students, we aim to foster an atmosphere of trust, respect and security.
Parents and members of the local community can contact the Safeguarding Team via the Academy telephone number or by email on safeguarding@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk. Students can contact the Safeguarding Team by email on safeguarding@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk or speak to a member of staff displayed on the poster below. The poster is displayed in every classroom, office and in corridors around the Academy. This is to ensure that every member of the Academy community can report and discuss matters with trained staff.
Members of the public are also able to make direct referrals to Social Care. Please find below details of
Children’s Services in our local area.
Thurrock MASH Team: 01375 652802 / 01375 372468 (out of hours)
Thurrock MASH:thurrockmash@thurrock.gov.uk
Key contact details
The Academy’s Designated Safeguarding Officer and Prevent Lead is Mrs Sarah Downey
Email: s.downey@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Telephone: 01375 484580
The Academy’s Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead and Family Liaison Officer is Mrs Nicki Tree
Email: n.tree@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Telephone: 01375 484580
The Governor responsible for Child Protection is a Mr Phillipe Udrzal
The Local Authority’s Children and Young Person Officer is PC Natalie Malone 42074369
Email: Thurrock.CYP@essex.police.uk
Telephone: 100 ext 364100
The Thurrock LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) dealing with allegations against members of staff is Carole Fuller
Email: LADO@thurrock.gov.uk
Telephone: 01375 652921
For safeguarding concerns about an adult, contact the person mentioned in the diagram below, depending on who the concern is about.
| If the allegations is about: | You must report to: |
| Assistant Director, Nicky Graham | Rebecca Hickey Harris Federation Secondary Director |
| A staff member in the Academy | Assistant Director, Nicky Graham |
| A student in the Academy | Sarah Downey Assistant Principal and Designated Safeguarding Lead |
The Pastoral Team
At Harris Academy Chafford Hundred we have Designated Child Protection / Prevent Duty Lead and Safeguarding Officers who you can contact if you have any questions or concerns relating to either child protection or safeguarding.
Every member of HACH staff has completed their child protection training in September 2023 and all have completed the Home Office - Prevent awareness course for all staff excluding those who started after and they completed the training as soon as they started.
The Pastoral links for each year group are:
Year 7
Mr Mason t.mason@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Year 8
Miss Jay s.jay@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Year 9
Mr Balogun t.balogun@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Year 10
Mrs Jassal s.jassal@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Year 11
Mr Sanni f.sanni@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Year 12/13
Ms Goode v.goode@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Mrs Enever k.enever@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
Medical, health and safety and attendance officers
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The Health and Safety Officer is Mr B Jones b.jones@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
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The Attendance Officer is Ms J Gardner j.gardner@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
You can also email us at info@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk.
Key Staff Training
| Staff
| Role | | Accreditation/training |
| Sarah Downey | Assistant Principal – Designated Safeguarding Lead | s.downey@harrischaffordhundred.org.uk
| Safeguarding training for Designated Safeguarding Leads
Workshop to Raise Awareness for Prevent (WRAP)
Safer recruitment training
Online sexual harassment: how to stay safe online.
Contextual Safeguarding Training – Safeguarding Against Harm Outside the Family Home
Gangs, Exploitation and Serious Youth Violence Training
Challenging Myths and Changing Attitudes About Sexual Violence
Youth Mental Health First Aider |
| Nicki Tree | Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead and Family Liaison Officer | Safeguarding training for Designated Safeguarding Leads
Workshop to Raise Awareness for Prevent (WRAP)
Positive Handling Training
Working with separated children and refugee children
Inter-Agency Child Protection training
Contextual Safeguarding Training – Safeguarding Against Harm Outside the Family Home
Talking about War and Conflict with Children
Youth Mental Health First Aider
| |
| Jamie Maxted | Vice Principal | Safeguarding training for Designated Safeguarding Leads
Safer recruitment training
Prevent awareness course – Home Office
| |
| Francis Sanni | Assistant Principal | Safeguarding training for Designated Safeguarding Leads
Safer recruitment training
Prevent awareness course – Home Office
Positive Handling Training
| |
| Matt Niner | Assistant Principal | Safeguarding training for Designated Safeguarding Leads
Safer recruitment training
Prevent awareness course – Home Office
Mental Health Lead training
|
Mental Health and Wellbeing
We know the last few years have been challenging for our young people We thought it would be useful to signpost additional support that is available for those who need it.
Useful Websites
NSPCC: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/
Childline: https://www.childline.org.uk/
Self harm: https://www.selfharm.co.uk/
CAMHS: https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
Kooth: https://www.kooth.com/
Thurrock local safeguarding childcare partnership: https://www.thurrocklscp.org.uk/
Families can listen to these podcasts produced to help parents and carers understand mental health problems in young people
https://www.annafreud.org/parents-and-carers/child-in-mind/
Harris Academy Chafford Hundred and the Prevent Duty
The academy has a designated, accredited Prevent Duty Lead. The Prevent duty has two specific strategic objectives to safeguard our students against radicalisation, extremism and any actions or beliefs that are contrary to British Values and our academy ethos.
1. Respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it.
2. Prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support.
HACH opposes all form of extremism. We define ‘extremism’ as vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.
This E-Learning training on Prevent offers an introduction to the Prevent duty, and explains how it aims to safeguard vulnerable people from being radicalised to supporting terrorism or becoming terrorists themselves.
Harris Academy Chafford Hundred and “Channel”
The academy will work closely with the counter-terrorism referral programme “Channel”. Channel is a multi-agency approach to identify and provide support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism.
The programme uses a multi-agency approach to protect vulnerable people by:
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identifying individuals at risk
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assessing the nature and extent of that risk
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developing the most appropriate support plan for the individuals concerned.
Visiting speakers to the academy
Harris Academy Chafford Hundred utilises the expertise of a wide range of guest speakers, lecturers, authors and visitors to enrich and augment the curriculum and learning opportunities of our students.
However, the safeguarding of our students is at the forefront of everything we do. To ensure that guests and visitors’ information is in line with our own values and ethos the academy completes a rigorous process of checks. By completing these checks, the academy is confident that we are protecting our students from extremist views such as radicalisation and homophobia while enjoying the wide benefits of external speakers.
All visitors to the academy are expected to follow the Visitors' Code of Conduct.
Radicalisation and extremism
The academy believes and actively supports the view that all students should be protected from radicalisation and extremism. Download a Parent’s Guide to Extremism and Radicalisation.
ParentInfo
Parent Info is a regularly updated feed of expert information, advice and sources of support for parents on a whole range of parenting themes - the emphasis being on helping parents and carers develop their children's resilience to the risks and pressures they face in today's world.
E-safety
The online world is a wonderful place for young people to explore, with unprecedented opportunities for learning and creativity. But just like the real world there are risks and dangers they should be aware of, and which we can act to protect them from. Although the academy teaches students e-safety as part of the curriculum, it is vital that parents are aware of the risks too, and what they can do to develop a culture of e-safety in the home.
This page has some helpful resources for parents that will enable you to help your child stay safe online. If you have any concerns about your child's e-safety, there is always someone at the academy who is available to talk to you. Simply call the school and ask for our Safeguarding Officer, Sarah Downey, or speak to any member of staff. Our e-safety policy can be found below.
Monitoring online activity
We monitor students' use of the internet by using filters and monitoring systems (Securus). Securus is monitoring software that can monitor a wide range of devices. It monitors against an inbuilt library of keywords and phrases organised into categories with each one given a default severity rating.
The library is developed in partnership with a number of charities and specialist organisations within law enforcement and child protection. The programme monitors both online and offline material and recognises inappropriate or harmful content, words and phrases.
A screen shot (known as a ‘capture’) plus other details is taken of every incident triggered, showing what was displayed at the time, who was involved and when the incident took place. This information is shared with the DSL and Head of Academy, allowing Academy staff to implement further actions or interventions as required.
Think You Know
The Think You Know website is created by the police for parents of children at secondary school. It contains useful information about:
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what children are doing online
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how to talk to children about what they are doing online
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what risks your child might face
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what tools are there to help them stay safe.
Think You Know have also produced a Parents Guide to E-Safety and also the following booklets to provide parents/carers with helpful information on how to explore and monitor their children’s apps.
Sexting
The term ‘sexting’ describes the use of technology to share intimate images of yourself. It’s a word-mix of sex and texting. The content can vary, from text messages to images of partial nudity to sexual images or videos. For more information and guidance for parents and children visit the Childnet website.
Other useful resources
List of helpful online resources produced by Childnet
www.childnet.com– Visit the ‘Know It All’ Section for an interactive guide about online safety
www.getsafeonline.org – Free up-to-date security advice
www.cybermentors.org.uk – Online support for children
www.ceop.police.uk – Website of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/professionals-online-safety-helpline - resources for professionals working in the area of safeguarding with children and young people, but could be of interest to parents too
What is a 'money mule'?
More young people across the UK are being approached by criminals who want to use their bank accounts or pin numbers for criminal purposes. This is called being a ‘money mule’. A ‘mule account’ is used to hide money that comes from illegal activities. The young person may be asked to transfer money, allow access to their account or open up a new one. Sometimes criminals will try and force young people to become mules or they might offer financial incentives such as cash or mobile phone credit.
We need your support to help educate young people around this issue. Has your child been approached or asked for their bank account to be used? Check any bank statements. Is there money going in and out that cannot be accounted for? Ask questions if you are unsure about anything.
Bank accounts are private and must only be used by the account holder. Any misuse could not only be criminal but could cause serious credit issues for the account holder. Police are working in partnership with many schools across London to combat this issue. If you have any concerns, speak to your Safer Schools Police Officer (see below) and/or Action Fraud (www.actionfraud.police.uk) on 0300 123 2040.
Drugs networks ('County lines')
The National Crime Agency, the UK body charged with fighting organised crime, is very concerned that crime gangs are taking over drug networks using telephone hotlines (called 'county lines') and recruiting vulnerable people, often children, to act as couriers and to sell drugs. Please see our information sheet about 'county lines' and 'cuckooing' the practice whereby professional drug dealers take over the property of a vulnerable person and use it as a place from which to run their drugs business. Below you will see some web links to various campaigns and research on county lines.
https://www.fearless.org/en/campaigns/county-lines
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-is-county-lines
https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/crime-threats/drug-trafficking/county-lines
