Safeguarding (students)

If you are a child or young person under 18 years old, this area of the website is for you.

 

Safeguarding children is all about organisations working together to keep you and other children and young people safe from abuse and neglect, and making sure that nothing stops you from growing up free from fear to reach your full potential.

 

The information in this zone will help you if:

  • You are being badly treated or abused by someone and don’t know where to get help
  • You know another child or young person (maybe a friend or a brother or sister, or cousin) who is being badly treated or abused
  • You just need some advice or someone to talk to

 

Remember your Year Team is available for you to talk to, they are located in the Pastoral Office, Block A. If you feel more comfortable you can email your Year Team and explain your concerns.

 

Safeguarding Team

Chat Sexual Health Service

Chat Sexual Health Service helps young people with all kinds of things, including relationships worries and consent. The service is confidential and easy to use, just send a text to the number below. 

Chat Sexual Health Dorset - Sexual Health Dorset

Lets Chat Sexual Health (vimeo.com)

For a checklist on Healthy Relationships, please click here.

Mental Wellbeing

Emotional wellbeing is just as important as physical health. At any one time you may move from feeling healthy to feelingunwell. Many children move along this spectrum at different times.

Talking about Mental Health - Advice for Parents and Carers

Anxiety

If you are experiencing anxiety, stress, worry or low mood. Try the coping with overwhelming emotions guide.

Anxiety Parent and Carer Guidance

If you are experiencing exam stress, try ChildLine’s ‘beat exam stress’ guide.

Other useful links for help and advice:

Kooth - https://www.kooth.com/

You can chat to the counsellor online, get support and read articles written by other young people.

Dorset Mind Your Head (Dorset Mind) - https://dorsetmindyourhead.co.uk/

https://moodmeterapp.com/

https://mindgarden-tech.co.uk/

https://www.stayalive.app/

 

CHAT - Aged 11-19 and living in Dorset

School Nurses are available to help with all kinds of things. Just text #ChatHealthNHS on 07480 635511 and they will reply.

Young Minds - https://youngminds.org.uk/  

Eating disorders

Eating disorders are serious illnesses. You can learn about the sings to look for in yourself or someone else on BEAT Eating disorders. The national helpline encourages people to get help quickly. You can contact them online or by phone 365 days a year.


The Beat Youthline is open to anyone under 18.
Youthline: 0808 801 0711
Email: fyp@beateatingdisorders.org.uk

Self Harm

There are many different ways in which young people self-harm, but all forms of self-harm are used as a way of managing difficult or distressing feelings or experiences. Self-harm can be a way of coping for lots of different people in society – young or old, so it’s not just young people who self-harm.

If you are struggling with difficult thoughts, feelings or experiences and using self-harm as a way of dealing with them, there is a strong possibility that you are not the only one in your class or circle of friends.

Self-harm is way of coping with difficult and distressing feelings.  It can include anything that you do that causes you an injury or harms you in some way.  Sometimes it might be called self-injury.

For confidential help and advice call:

https://papyrus-uk.org/help-advice/

HopeLineUK 0800 068 41 41

This helpline is run by Papyrus, a national charity set up to prevent suicide amongst young people and young adults

Bereavement

Winston's Wish offer grief support for young people:

https://www.winstonswish.org/supporting-you/grief-support-young-people/

Chat online between 3-8pm weekdays by clicking on 'Chat with us'.

Call for free on 08088 020 021 between 8am-8pm, weekdays.

If it's urgent, text WW to 85258 to speak with someone.

Dorset Open Door:

Call: 01305 361 361 or email dhc.dorsetopendoor@nhs.net 

Mosiac:

https://mosaicfamilysupport.org/

Dorset based charity supporting bereaved children and young people and their families.

Call: 01258 837071

Cruse Bereavement Support:

Call the helpline on 0808 808 1677

https://www.cruse.org.uk/get-support/https://www.cruse.org.uk/get-support/

Useful services & helplines 

If you think that you would like to talk to someone about your self-harm and what else might be going on in your life that you are finding difficult, there are lots of different people who can help.

HELP LINES 

Childline – Free and confidential helpline for children and young people 
Tel: 0800 11 11

You can call our experienced counsellors whenever you need to on 0808 800 5000. They’re used to dealing with the effects of self-harm and your call can be made anonymously.

HopeLineUK – a specialist helpline staffed by trained professionals who give non-judgemental support, practical advice and information to:

  • Children, teenagers and young people up to the age of 35 who are worried about themselves
  • Anyone who is concerned about a young person

Tel: 0800 068 41 41

Samaritans – https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you/contact-us?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItu2I2Oiw3wIVrL3tCh256g4EEAAYASAAEgKYD_D_BwE

OCD

OCD Youth aims to support anyone under 25 affected by OCD.

Email: youthhelpline@ocdaction.org.uk

Website: https://ocdyouth.org/

Bullying/ Peer on Peer Abuse

No-one has the right to make you feel bad or unsafe, and no-one deserves to be bullied.

Bullying is anything that others do to you Several Times on Purpose and which makes you feel upset, scared, or hurt.

Peer on peer abuse covers many different areas such as cyberbullying, physical abuse, sexting, hazing type violence/rituals. This is when one child abuses another.

Bullying and peer on peer abuse can happen in and out of school, and teachers and other adults who work with children and young people have a duty to take action to look after you – this includes both your emotional health and physical safety.

Please don’t suffer in silence – try to find someone you trust who you can talk to about it – a friend or a trusted adult can only really know how things are for you, and then help you work out what you want to happen, if you talk to them.

If you aren’t ready to talk to someone you know, you can always call Childline 24 hrs a day 7 days a week on 0800 1111

Click here for more information

Your Year Team is available for you to talk to, they are located in the Pastoral Office, Block A. If you feel more comfortable you can email your Year Team and explain your concerns.

Staying Safe Online - Think Before You Send

If you share an image of yourself online by photo, text or video, via your phone, tablet or computer always think first,

“Would I be ok with anyone and everyone seeing this?”

Any image of yourself that you send, can and might be shared by the person you sent it to. Once you press send, it is no longer in your control.

If you share a ‘nude’ or ‘underwear shot’ even with someone you trust, you are not able to control who they forward it to or where they save it. It can be sent on to anyone or posted anywhere on the internet. It could end up on social networking sites or even porn sites.

You should never feel pressured to send an image of yourself to anyone. Think about why someone would want you to do this. Once they have your image, they have it forever and could even use it against you.

Did you know?

Being involved in sending explicit pictures, where the person in the picture is under the age of 18, can be a criminal offence. This could lead to you getting into trouble with the police, affect your chances of getting a job and even limit the countries that you can travel to.

If someone is forcing you to send an inappropriate image of yourself, you should report him or her to the Police by calling 101.

Download ChildLine’s free Zipit app for loads of great comebacks if someone is trying to get you to send them a sexual image.

Before you share a photo of yourself always:

“Think before you send” Do not send anything you would not want your parents, teachers, friends or future employers to see!

Useful Links for Online Safety:

Net Aware: https://www.net-aware.org.uk/

Think U Know: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

CEOP: https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centr

Childline: https://www.childline.org.uk/ 

LGBT+

The Spaced Youth Project supports young people who are or may be LGBT+

https://www.spaceyouthproject.co.uk/

Contact Us | Space Youth Project

What is child sexual exploitation?

Child Sexual Exploitation is where someone is taking advantage of you (or someone you know) sexually for their own benefit.  Sexual exploitation can happen to boys and young men as well as girls and young women. It can happen to anyone and people who exploit you can be any age, male or female.

How does it happen?

Sexual exploitation can be hard to recognise because often it feels like that you are in a good relationship with the person – or people – who abuse your trust in them. It could be that a friend, or group of friends, or someone you think of as a boyfriend or girlfriend exploits you or it might be a person or a new group of people you only just have to know, in person or online.

Often people who exploit you are nice to you, your friends and family; they might buy you things, including alcohol or drugs, they might listen to your problems, take you to great places, be there for you, and they might give you a place to stay when you’ re having problems.

Anyone who persuades you to have sex with them or other people, or encourages you to post sexual images of yourself via text or on the internet, in return for the things that they have given you, such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, money, food, accommodation or affection, is sexually exploiting you, even if you don’t always feel like they are.

If what you are being asked or forced to do makes you feel uncomfortable or worried in some way and somehow feels wrong, then remember it probably is.

If you are worried for yourself or a friend, please talk to an adult you trust.

Remember: if you are in any danger or feel unsafe, get in contact with the police immediately on 999.

If you would like to talk to someone in confidence you can contact:

free on 0800 1111 and this number won’t appear on a telephone bill. Available 24 hours a day.

BCP Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 01202 735046

Drugs

Talk to FRANK for facts, support and advice on drugs and alcohol.

Text: 82111

Email: https://www.talktofrank.com/contact

If you or someone needs urgent help after taking drugs or drink, call 999 for an ambulance.

 

 

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