Please click the link to download our Mental Health and Well-being Support Booklet
Safeguarding email 24/02/2021:
Dear Parents/Carers,
Please find below a link from the government regarding keeping your children safe.
Advice to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If you need any further support or advice please contact the safeguarding team using the email [email protected]. Alternatively you can call school during the day or use the SHARP system via our school website.
We look forward to seeing you all very soon!
Student Email 08/06/2020
Dear Everyone,
We hope you are well and you are looking after your health and well-being during this continued challenging time.
In this email, we have provided you with a reminder of our school ethos and the ways in which you can find help during this time for either yourselves or your friends.
Also, please click the below link called ‘Own It’. This is from the BBC and there are five videos about ‘The Five Ways to Wellbeing’. Please watch them and use the tips given to support your wellbeing.
https://www.bbc.com/ownit/curations/five-ways-wellbeing-collection
Remember:
Everyone Matters
Everyone Helps
Everyone Succeeds
We are a community and we want everyone to stay well, both physically and mentally, during this time.
If you need support please:
- Speak to your parents or a trusted adult
- Email [email protected]
- Use SHARP – but give a name if you need help or give the name of someone who needs help
- Email your Learning Leader or Pastoral Leader
- Call school and ask to speak to a safeguarding officer
- Search for and use kooth.com
- Use the mental health booklet attached for support
Remember don’t suffer in silence – speak to us! We really want to help.
We hope to see you all soon!
Thanks,
Rainford High Safeguarding Team
Parent Email 08/06/2020
Dear Everyone,
We hope you are well and you are looking after your health and well-being during this continued challenging time.
In this email, we have provided you with a reminder of our school ethos and the ways in which you can find help during this time, for either your child or other children.
Today we have also emailed your child a link from the BBC, which provides shorts clips about how to look after their well-being. Please encourage your child to watch these clips.
https://www.bbc.com/ownit/curations/five-ways-wellbeing-collection
Remember:
Everyone Matters
Everyone Helps
Everyone Succeeds
We are a community and we want everyone to stay well, both physically and mentally, during this time.
Please let us know if we can support your child.
Advice for our students:
If you need support please:
- Speak to your parents or a trusted adult
- Email [email protected]
- Use SHARP – but give a name if you need help or give the name of someone who needs help
- Email your Learning Leader or Pastoral Leader
- Call school and ask to speak to a safeguarding officer
- Search for and use kooth.com
- Use the mental health booklet attached for support
Remember don’t suffer in silence – speak to us! We really want to help.
We hope to see you all soon!
Thanks,
Rainford High Safeguarding Team
Parent Email 27/04/2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope you are well. This week we are sending you some resources regarding grooming.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/
We have recently had some concerns regarding some of our students being contacted by people online. These people have been from oversees and have tried to engage students in sending them inappropriate photos. The Police have been contacted.
Please can you speak to your children about the risks online and ensure you are monitoring their online activities.
If you have any queries or concerns, then please contact [email protected] or contact school on 01744 885914.
Kind regards,
Rainford High Safeguarding Team
Student Email 27/04/2020
Good morning everyone,
We hope you have had a nice weekend. As always, you have support from the Rainford pastoral team, so if you need any help please contact school.
Remember:
Everyone Matters
Everyone Helps
Everyone Succeeds
We are a community and we want everyone to stay well, both physically and mentally, during this time.
Please ensure you are keeping yourself safe online. Don’t talk to anybody you don’t know and never send any messages or photos to people that are inappropriate. Remember – if you wouldn’t send it to your parents then you shouldn’t send it to anyone else.
If you need support please use the below:
- Speak to your parents or a trusted adult
- Email [email protected]
- Use SHARP – but give a name if you need help or give the name of someone who needs help
- Email your Learning Leader or Pastoral Leader
- Call school and ask to speak to a safeguarding officer
- Search for and use com
- Use the mental health booklet attached for support
Remember don’t suffer in silence – speak to us! We really want to help.
Kind regards,
Rainford Pastoral Team
Parent Email – 13/04/2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
I am emailing you to remind you of the importance of monitoring your child’s online activities over this time period. As you will be aware from previous emails and possibly the news, there is an increased risk for young people during this time due to them spending more time online.
The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has commented on the increase in online crime, particularly where criminals are trying to exploit younger people on the internet as they know that young people are online much more. Please ensure you are checking their internet history, who they are talking to, their social media accounts and what hours/times of the day and night they are online. Please also ensure you have the appropriate parental restrictions on your internet (see the NSPCC/O2 link below for further advice).
Please remember that this isn’t an issue of trust, this is an issue of protection. The internet is a dangerous place if unmonitored. Protection matters the most.
Please see some useful resources from the ‘Child Exploitation and Online Protection command’ and ‘Think U Know’ (set up by the National Crime Agency), which are designed for parents and students.
Ages 11-13 – Please go through these with your children
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/11-13s/
Ages 14+ – Please go through these with your children
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/14-plus/
Please don’t underestimate the risk that your child/children are under on the internet and the lengths people will go to access them. Parents often want to trust their child on the internet but please remember that your child may not identify the risks that you would as a parent. Don’t take the risk.
If you need support with your internet restrictions and general tech support then please use the NSPCC advice line, which runs in collaboration with O2.
https://www.o2.co.uk/help/nspcc
Please see the attached user guide about social media Internet-Matters-Guide-Official-UK-Social-Media-Guidance– this is a useful short read.
If you have any queries please get in touch with the safeguarding team at [email protected].
Kind regards,
Rainford High Safeguarding Team
Student Email – 13/04/2020
Dear all,
We hope you have enjoyed Easter and not eaten too much chocolate. This email is giving you a safeguarding update for this week around online safety. We have also emailed your parents too.
Please be aware that the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, made comments last week on the increase of online crime. One of the increasing crime areas is online child exploitation, where criminals are trying to exploit children/teenagers who are online for a greater amount of time during this closure.
This means the risk to everyone on the internet is greater and therefore everyone needs to try to stay safe online.
Please ensure you follow the below steps:
- Ensure that your social media accounts are set to private
- Ensure that you only accept friend/follower requests off people you actually know (e.g. you know them from school, family or from your street etc.)
- Ensure that you do not talk to people you do not know
- Only go on the internet during to the day – not late at night
- Do not, under any circumstances, send people photos or videos of yourself which are personal, i.e. you might regret at a later date or that you wouldn’t want someone to pass around
- Do not give your personal details out to anybody
- Do not access material that you know is inappropriate for your age
- Block people who are hassling you
- Report posts that are inappropriate to the sites
If you have any concerns for yourself or other people then please use one of the below mechanisms for help:
- Speak to your parents or a trusted adult
- Use the SHARP system
- Email [email protected]
- Email your pastoral leader
- Ring school
- Contact Child line 0800 1111
Remember, if it is an emergency you should contact 999.
Please also use the attached guide Support Booklet Mental Health and Well-being for support in relation to mental health.
Remember Everyone Matters and Everyone Helps. We are a community and therefore we all have a responsibility to look out for each other.
Kind regards,
Rainford Safeguarding Team
Parent Email – 6/04/2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
During this challenging and unusual time, we want you to know that we are still here to provide you and your child with support. We know that it is the Easter holidays, but this of course looks different for us all. Therefore, if you or your child need support, then please use one or more of the below mechanisms:
- Contact school via phone and ask to be put through the onsite pastoral or safeguarding staff member. You may need to leave your name and contact details and someone will call you back
- Email the relevant pastoral or learning leader from the list below
- Consult the school website for resources on the wellbeing and safeguarding section
- If you or your child want to report a concern (possibly anonymously), then please use the SHARP system, which can be accessed from the bottom of the school website
- Consult the mental health booklet, which was sent out last week. This provides details on how to access support services.
| Year Team | Learning Leader | Pastoral Leader |
| Year 7 | Mr Harvey
| Mrs Greenhall
[email protected] |
| Year 8 | Mr Skerry
| Miss Lawrenson
|
| Year 9 | Mr O’Connor
| Miss Hill
|
| Year 10 | Mr Penfold
| Mrs McCartney
|
| Year 11 | Mr Stow
| Mrs Sheedy
|
If it is a safeguarding issue then you can also email [email protected].
A member of the safeguarding team is available daily.
Please remember to monitor your child’s online activities. During this closure, many of our students will be spending a significant amount of time on the internet. It is important that parents/carers monitor this carefully, so that we can protect them from the risks.
We have provided you with a link to the BBC website, which focuses on helping young people stay safe on the internet. Please can you read this and discuss this with your child. If you need any support please contact us.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/help-me-out-staying-safe-online
If you have any concerns, please contact school.
Kind regards,
Rainford High Safeguarding Team
Student Email – 6/04/2020:
Dear all,
We hope you are all well. We are emailing to let you know that even though it is the Easter holidays, we are still here to support you.
If you need someone to talk to or need any support, then please use the below mechanisms:
- Contact school via phone and ask to be put through to the onsite pastoral or safeguarding staff member. You may need to leave your name and contact details and someone will call you back
- Email the relevant pastoral or learning leader from the list below
- Consult the school website for resources on the wellbeing and safeguarding section, including the mental health booklet that has been made for this time period (this was sent out last week and is attached to this email)
- If you or your child want to report a concern (possibly anonymously), then please use SHARP system, which can be accessed from the bottom of the school website
- Use the online BOSS or Kooth online counselling services.
You might not be on school site at the moment, but you certainly haven’t been forgotten!!
We are here if you need us!
Kind regards,
Rainford High Pastoral Team
Parent Safeguarding Email: 1/04/2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
We are emailing to provide you with some safeguarding information to support you during this challenging and unusual time. We are missing having a full working school – the school is simply too quiet without everyone. The themes we are looking at today are:
- Online Safety – Roblox
- Mental Health Support
- Criminal Exploitation
We appreciate that not all of this will apply to everyone, but if you could take some time to read it through we would appreciate it as the knowledge is essential.
Online Safety:
Following our previous email about online safety, it has come to light that there are some concerning games accessible to children on a site call Roblox. Roblox is a website, which has a suite of games available for children to play on and message people on. We are aware that this website is popular with primary school and younger secondary school students. It is an ongoing craze. Students can access games, play online with friends and strangers and they can create games as well as purchase Robux (this is the currency of the game that can be purchased using real money).
It has been brought to our attention that some of the games on the website are of a sexual nature, where students can select a character, have graphic sex with other characters and chat to other users. This game is an uploaded game, which has been created by users. One of these games is called consent. It is highly concerning that someone has uploaded a sex simulation game for young children to play and therefore it highlights the types of users that are on there with children. Both adults and children can play this game.
There are other games involving suicide games, such as jumping off a cliff and breaking as many bones and tearing as many ligaments as possible, and horror shooting games.
As we have said, users can create and upload games onto this site and young children and adults can both join.
Please can you check the below:
- Check if your child plays on this website
- Check the games they are playing on
- Check their private messages to see who they have been talking to and what is being discussed
- Check if they have been giving any Robux to other people and if so, why?
- Check that your bank details or apple ID details etc. are not linked to this as there have been cases where children have spent hundreds of pounds buying in game add ons
- Check their account settings and check that their date of birth is correct, so that game filters are applied
- Check that they aren’t talking to strangers on other accounts, such as Tik Tok (which is a popular social media account where children are posting videos)
- Check how long they on the website for? Restrict their time as long periods of playing is unhealthy
Please be mindful that there are games on this that are worrying. This game website exists to make profit and therefore they want money from your child. As always, there are risks all over the internet and it is important that you discuss these risks with your child and monitor their usage.
Please remind them to not give away their personal information and not to talk to strangers. If you haven’t already, set up parental restrictions on your internet and ensure you are able to monitor what your child is doing. Spot check their devices randomly and regularly.
Many parents want to trust their children and therefore don’t monitor this regularly. You can’t take the risk – PROTECTION has to come before TRUST. To protect your child you must know what they are doing online. You wouldn’t let your child walk into a crowd of thousands of unknown children and adults and leave them to talk and play unmonitored, so you must not leave then unmonitored on the internet.
For further information on keeping your child safe on the internet, please consult the below:
You can also click the below links for further information.
During this time of home learning, if you are using other websites other than those recommended by school, please always only use online support from a reputable organisation/individual who can provide evidence that they are safe and can be trusted to have access to children. Support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online includes:
- Internet matters – for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online
- London Grid for Learning – for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online
- Net-aware – for support for parents and careers from the NSPCC
- Parent info – for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online
- Thinkuknow – for advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online
- UK Safer Internet Centre – advice for parents and carers
Mental Health:
During this time of closure, we want to continue as much support as we can with mental health and well-being. Please find attached a booklet, which outlines support on offer during this time.
As always, support is available from your child’s pastoral leaders and safeguarding officers. If they need support from school, they can either email one of the below pastoral leaders, email the safeguarding officers, use the SHARP system (on the bottom of our school website) or call school. Alternatively, they can access support from the booklet attached, such using the online counselling service Kooth.
Pastoral:
Year 7 – Mrs Greenall – [email protected]
Year 8 – Miss Lawrenson [email protected]
Year 9 – Miss Hill – [email protected]
Year 10 – Mrs McCartney – [email protected]
Year 11 – Mrs Sheedy – [email protected]
Remember to encourage healthy eating, daily exercise and social interaction.
Criminal Exploitation and Child Protection:
What is criminal exploitation?
Children as young as 7 are being put in danger by criminals who are taking advantage of how innocent and inexperienced these young people are. Any child can be exploited, no matter their background.
Criminal exploitation is also known as ‘county lines’ and is when gangs and organised crime networks groom and exploit children to sell drugs. Often these children are made to travel across counties, and they use dedicated mobile phone ‘lines’ to supply drugs.
What are the signs of criminal exploitation and county lines?
- Returning home late, staying out all night or going missing
- Being found in areas away from home
- Increasing drug use, or being found to have large amounts of drugs on them
- Being secretive about who they are talking to and where they are going
- Unexplained absences from school, college, training or work
- Unexplained money, phone(s), clothes or jewellery
- Increasingly disruptive or aggressive behaviour
- Using sexual, drug-related or violent language you wouldn’t expect them to know
- Coming home with injuries or looking particularly dishevelled
- Having hotel cards or keys to unknown places.
What should you do if you have a concern?
- If you are concerned about your child’s immediate safety call the police on 999
- If you have concerns about your child which are not immediate, please contact your Local Children’s Services Safeguarding team, see contact details for different Local Authorities below, or the NSPCC’s helpline on 0808 800 5000
- If your child wants to talk to someone they can call ChildLine: 0800 1111 or Get Connected: 0808 808 4994 (text 80849).
Further Information:
The following links provide up to date information about Child Criminal Exploitation.
You may have heard of the Eyes Open campaign through local radio announcements and further information can be found at the website:
NSPCC information, support and guidance regarding Child Criminal Exploitation:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/gangs-criminal-exploitation/
The Children’s Society website has advice and guidance regarding Child Exploitation:
The Safer St Helens website has useful information regarding Child Exploitation:
http://safer.sthelens.gov.uk/pages/child-exploitation/
Local Authority Safeguarding Unit Contact Details:
St Helens: Main – 01744 676767 Out of hours: 08450500148
Knowsley: Main – 0151 4432600 Out of Hours: 0151 4432600
Lancashire: Main 03001236720 or 03001236722
Wigan: Main 01516062008 Out of Hours: 01942828300
Warrington: Main 01925 443322 Out of Hours: 01925 444400
Liverpool: 24 Hour: 0151 2333700
Sefton: Main 03451400845 Out of Hours: 0151 9343555
Kind regards,
Rainford High Safeguarding Team
Student Email – Wednesday 1st April 2020
Good morning everyone,
We hope everyone is keeping well! I am emailing you all today to outline the support available for mental health and well-being. We know that this is a challenging and unusual time, where some of you will be going through particularly difficult times with family members and friends who may not be well. The lack of routine and being at home may also be confusing you.
We want you to know that we are here for you and there is support available for you to access, if needed, to support your mental health and well-being.
Please find attached to this email a booklet, which outlines the mental health support on offer locally, including an online counselling service called Kooth.
As always, support is available from your pastoral leaders and safeguarding officers. If you need support from school, you can either email me, email one of the below pastoral leaders, email the safeguarding officers, use the SHARP system (on the bottom of our school website) or call school.
Pastoral:
Year 7 – Mrs Greenall – [email protected]
Year 8 – Miss Lawrenson [email protected]
Year 9 – Miss Hill – [email protected]
Year 10 – Mrs McCartney – [email protected]
Year 11 – Mrs Sheedy – [email protected]
The school corridors are too quiet without you! We miss you all and we can’t wait to get back to school.
I haven’t had a patrol call now in 2 weeks! Nobody in standards or catch-up club – it is too quiet!
Keep safe and get in touch if you need our support.
Remember to keep in touch with friends and family, exercise daily, keep busy with school work and eat healthily.
Thanks,
Mr Kenyon
Assistant Principal
Parent Update 2: Online safety – Tuesday 25th March 2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
Thank you for your queries relating to online safety, it has been great to see people getting in touch requesting further advice on this. If you would like further advice and guidance on how to set up parental restrictions then please go to:
https://www.o2.co.uk/help/nspcc
This is a helpline run by the NSPCC, in collaboration with O2, to provide you with all of the advice you need via online resources or a helpline.
If you have any further queries, please get in touch via [email protected]
Kind regards,
Rainford High
Student Safeguarding Note: 25/03/2020
Good evening everyone,
I hope the online learning is working well and you have been able to access the materials you need. If you have any problems, please contact either your classroom teachers (if the issue is with a particular subject) or your Learning Leader/Pastoral Leader if there are any other issues.
We are emailing you today to remind you of the support that is on offer for you during this unusual and challenging time. As always, everyone matters, everyone helps and everyone succeeds. As a community, we all need to be supporting each other and keeping safe.
Examples of support:
1) You can email your pastoral leader or learning leader
2) You can email a member of the safeguarding team
3) You can access support through our website by looking at the safeguarding page, where you can also find the emails for the safeguarding officers https://rainford.org.uk/about-us/safeguarding/
4) You can use SHARP to inform us of any concerns
5) You can access support through the BOSS counselling website https://www.boss-sthelens.co.uk/app/online_counselling
6) You can access resources on the NSPCC and Childline 0800 1111
Remember to exercise, drink plenty of water, have plenty of sleep and have regular breaks from working!
If you have any concerns for a friend then please use the support above to get them help.
Due to the current restrictions from the government, you will be spending a lot of time indoors. This will result in you spending more time online both for work and in your spare time. Please remember to be safe online – don’t talk to anyone you don’t know and have regular breaks from it. Please speak to people by calling them as well as messaging them (it is much better to hear someone’s voice rather than just read a screen).
We will send out weekly safeguarding notices to help you.
If you need any support then please get in touch.
Kind regards,
Rainford High Pastoral Team
Parent Update 1: Online safety – Monday 24th March 2020
Dears Parents/Carers,
Following the closure of the school and the government restrictions on people being out of their homes, we must remind you of some of the risks that your children face online. Over the coming weeks, your child will spend more time online and this poses risks.
Please ask yourself the below questions:
- Do you know what your child is doing on their phone/devices/games consoles?
- Do you randomly check these devices?
- Do you know who they are talking to over messages or who is trying to talk to them?
- Do you know who they are calling?
- What social media accounts do they have?
- Do you know who they talk to online?
- Who do they play with on the Xbox/play station etc.
These are just a few questions that every parent needs to ask themselves.
At Rainford, the safeguarding team deals with a variety of concerns, but some have included issues relating to mobile phones and parents not being aware of what their children are doing on them.
These issues include:
- Sending inappropriate messages
- Arguing with friends and sending nasty messages
- Talking to people online that they don’t know
- Accessing inappropriate content on the internet
- Secret social media accounts
- Inappropriate photos of themselves or others
These are the challenges that every school and parents face throughout country. Parents never think their child would become involved in this – please never assume that.
Children are vulnerable and may not realise the risks they are placing themselves under and the consequences of what they are doing online. With children being off school for a long period of time the risks are greater as they are spending more time online. They are exposed to other online users who we would not want talking to your children.
Advice:
- Speak to your child about the risks involved in being online
- Try to limit their time online by asking your children to do other activities, such as read
- Check their devices randomly and often – you need to make sure you are up to speed in their world
- Update school and the Police with any concerns that may help other parents
- Place suitable parental restrictions on the internet usage and limit the Wi-Fi at night
- Engage with your child about mobile phones/devices
This information is the first in a series of safeguarding emails that will be sent over the coming weeks. We want to support you in safeguarding your children.
If you have any queries of concerns please contact:
[email protected] or email [email protected]
Kind regards,
Rainford High Safeguarding Team