01925 853 500 contactus@birchwoodhigh.org Home Our School Parents Curriculum Careers Students College Online Access Contact Us Safeguarding at Birchwood Community High School Birchwood Community High School is committed to the welfare and protection of all students in our care. As a school we recognise that safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility irrespective of the role they undertake and expect all staff, volunteers and visitors to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent and effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support children, families and staff at school.  If you are concerned that a child/ young person, is at risk of or experiencing abuse or neglect, or you yourself are a victim of abuse, you should report it straight away so that appropriate action can be taken to prevent harm. Child abuse includes physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and neglect. You can read more about the signs of child abuse. (NSPCC) All safeguarding concerns should be reported to a member of our safeguarding team: Ms Amanda Crompton – Pastoral Manager Mr Chris Burrows – Deputy Headteacher Ms Emma Mills – Headteacher Or alternatively, contact Children’s Social Care on 01925 443 400. If you are concerned that a child/young person is in immediate danger of significant harm, please contact the Police immediately. Birchwood Community High School’s Safeguarding policy can be found here. Early Help at Birchwood Community High School The purpose of early help is to identify issues early and prevent them from deteriorating by offering families support at the right time. Any professional working with your family, such as those based in schools, health services, and in voluntary sector organisations, can offer early help services as soon as they can see that advice, support and/or intervention may be needed. Early help works best when it’s offered to the whole family and when services are delivered jointly by professionals. Early Help Assessments (EHA) are how professionals identify and assess your family’s needs. We complete the assessment with your family and a range of different organisations, such as schools and health services. This is so the support given meets the needs of the whole family. An Early Help Assessment means everyone can make sure the support is working and making a difference to your family Mrs Jo Butler is responsible for the Early Help offer at Birchwood Community High School and can be contacted on 01925 853500 ext. 301 Prevent Duty As part of the school’s safeguarding measures, we also ensure our students are not exposed to inappropriate political or controversial messages. Through our pursuit to develop exemplary citizens, we promote fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.  In line with this, we ensure all expressed views and actions contrary to these values are challenged.    We believe that children should be given the opportunity to explore diversity and understand Britain as a multi- cultural society; everyone should be treated with respect whatever their race, gender, sexuality, religious belief, special need, or disability. As part of our commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government’s Prevent Strategy. Prevent is one of the four elements of CONTEST, which is the government’s counter-terrorism strategy. It aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism, provide practical help to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism and give appropriate advice and support. The named Lead’s at Birchwood Community High School are Amanda Crompton and Chris Burrows, who can be contacted on 01925 853500 if you are concerned about a child/young person. Prevent contact details: Stephen Gillham – Warrington single point of contact (SPOC) at the LA for Prevent 01925 442216  sgillham@warrington.gov.uk Counter Terrorism Case Officer for Prevent in the North West can be contacted on: prevent@merseyside.police.uk Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/reporting-abuse/dedicated-helplines/protecting-children-from-radicalisation/ Online safety issues The internet is a fantastic place for children to learn, create and have fun, but they may occasionally have to deal with a variety of sometimes challenging issues. See advice on a range of online issues that your child may face to help them enjoy the digital world safely and smartly. Advice by age Whatever their age, we can help you to find out more about what they might be doing online and give you practical advice on the steps you can take as a parent to keep them safe in their digital world.  Parental Controls Give your child a safe space to explore their curiosity online. These step by step guides will help you to set up the right controls and privacy settings on the networks, gadgets, apps, and sites they use to give them a safer online experience.  Are you worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating with you online? Report it to a CEOP child protection advisor here: https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/ You’ll find additional help and advice about online safety at: https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/ https://www.childnet.com/young-people https://www.getsafeonline.org/ http://www.nspcc.org.uk/onlinesafety Child Criminal Exploitation – County Lines County lines is a form of criminal exploitation where urban gangs persuade, coerce or force children and young people to store drugs and money and/or transport them to suburban areas, market towns and coastal towns (Home Office, 2018). It can happen in any part of the UK and is against the law and a form of child abuse. Children and young people may be criminally exploited in multiple ways. Other forms of criminal exploitation include child sexual exploitation, trafficking, gang and knife crime. County lines gangs are highly organised criminal networks that use sophisticated, frequently evolving techniques to groom young people and evade capture by the police. Further information can be found at: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and-neglect/county-lines Child Sexual Exploitation Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a type of child sexual abuse. It occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into sexual activity (Department for Education, 2017; NIdirect, 2021; Scottish Government, 2018; Wales Safeguarding Procedures Project Board, 2020a). Children and young people in sexually exploitative situations and relationships are persuaded or forced to perform sexual activities or have sexual activities performed on them in return for gifts, drugs, money or affection. CSE can take place in person, online, or using a combination of both. Further information can be found at: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/child-sexual-exploitation/ Peer on Peer Sexual Abuse Peer-on-peer sexual abuse is sexual abuse that happens between children of a similar age or stage of development. It can happen between any number of children, and can affect any age group (Department for Education (DfE), 2021a). It can be harmful to the children who display it as well as those who experience it. Further information can be found at: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and-neglect/peer-on-peer-sexual-abuse Safeguarding Information and guidance specifically for children/Young people can be accessed at: https://www.warrington.gov.uk/children-and-young-people Our School Welcome from the Headteacher Our Vision Our Staff Our Governors Ofsted Report British Values Equal Opportunities School Direct Joining Birchwood Prospectus The School Day Term Dates & Calendar Safeguarding Complaints School Direct Facilities Hire Get in touch Address: Brock Road, Birchwood, Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 7PT 01925 853500 contactus@birchwoodhigh.org Protecting your data and Privacy Privacy Policy Opt-Out Cookie Policy About us Welcome from the headteacher Vision Governors Ofsted Report Social media FollowFollow Website by Design for Education We use cookies to optimise our website and our service. Read more Accept all Functional only View preferences