Safeguarding

At Manor High School we firmly believe that all students benefit from outstanding school attendance. To this end, we will do all we can to ensure that our students achieve maximum possible attendance and that any problems that prevent full attendance are identified and acted upon promptly. In order for an attendance record to be deemed very good, it must be 96% or above.

We expect that all students will:

• attend school regularly
• attend school punctually
• attend school appropriately prepared for the day

We expect that all parents/carers who have day to day responsibility for the children and young people will:

• encourage regular school attendance and be aware of their legal responsibilities;
• ensure that the child/children in their care arrive at school punctually, prepared for the school day;
• contact the school before 8.40am on the morning of each day of the student’s absence and send a letter, which will be kept on the student’s file, on their return to school. The letter should explain the reason and date(s) of absence, giving the student’s full name. Any unexplained absence is treated as unauthorised absence. We would ask that parents contact the school promptly whenever any problem occurs that may keep the child away from school.

We may ask for medical evidence to be provided for any period of absence that exceeds three days.

Manor High will not tolerate bullying of any kind as we believe that all members of the school community have the right to learn and work free from intimidation and fear. All bullying that the school is made aware of will be investigated thoroughly and action taken.

As with all bullying, we will not tolerate cyber-bullying and would encourage young people and their parents to report any such issues to the school, either to the Safeguarding Designate, the Pastoral Team or form tutor.

The Anti-Bullying Alliance defines bullying as:
the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person by another(s), where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be carried out physically, verbally, emotionally or through cyberspace.

Bullying is when someone or a group of people make you feel sad or afraid, over and over again. It is defined as: Several Times On Purpose

It can be:

• Physical : Pushing, kicking, hitting or any use of violence
• Verbal : Name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, threatening, teasing about someone’s race/gender/size/performance/looks/background etc
• Emotional : Excluding, tormenting, being unfriendly, looks, silence, staring etc
• On social media or by mobile phone
• A ‘hate’ incident – meaning you or someone else is being targeted because you or they are seen as being different. This might be because of disability, gender, race, religion/belief or sexual orientation.

You have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and to live without fear. So you must tell someone.

Who could you tell?

• Your parents
• An adult you trust
• A friend
• Your form tutor
• The Pastoral Team
• Contacting Childline on 0800 1111

Remember: you must tell someone. As long as you tell someone they will make sure the school knows, and we can help.

At Manor High, we believe that the use of technology is highly beneficial to the education of young people. As well as technology, such as the Internet, being used in a positive way for educational outcomes, we also acknowledge that there are many risks in using these. Our philosophy is to educate young people to make the right choices when using the Internet and to teach them how to be safe when using online technologies.

As with all bullying, we will not tolerate cyber-bullying and would encourage young people and their parents to report any such issues to the school, either to the Safeguarding Designate, the Pastoral Team or form tutor. In addition, if there are any concerns in relation to any content which is on the Internet or any persons who may be contacting young people, there is an option to report this online through CEOP.

National Online Safety: Social media and mental health poster

The staff at our school are committed to providing a safe place for all students, and a place where they can feel confident, have ambition and succeed.

The welfare of our students is paramount and at the centre of all we do.

Our safeguarding team is led by our Senior Designated Safeguarding Lead, Deputy Headteacher, Helen Newbery.

• Designated Safeguarding Lead: Helen Newbery
• Operational Designated Safeguarding Lead: Ashma Ghani
• Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads: Vickie Glover, James Croucher, Reena Sumra,  Andy Cross, Diane Naylor
• Prevent Single Point of Contact (SPOC): Ashma Ghani
• Designated Teacher for Children in Care: Fiona Ager
• Nominated Safeguarding Governor: Chris Brett

Our safeguarding policy is centred around the fact that everyone has a responsibility to safeguard our school community, students and staff alike, and our staff receive regular training and updates.  Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 ensures our statutory duty is met promoting the welfare and safety of students and assisting in ensuring the best possible outcomes are achieved.

Child Protection is key to ensuring both the health and wellbeing of our students.  We work closely with colleagues from the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Team and First Response to guarantee we protect our students who are at risk of or are suffering significant harm.

Operation Encompass

All Leicester City and Leicestershire County schools are part of Operation Encompass which is a safeguarding initiative aimed at improving outcomes for children and families affected by domestic violence and abuse.

Operation Encompass is a protocol whereby schools are formally notified of any reported incident of domestic violence at an address at which children are present or normally resident. It is run in partnership with Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and with Leicestershire Police.

All public agencies currently share information where there are safeguarding concerns or risk of harm to children and the Police now share information about all incidents of domestic abuse through Operation Encompass.

To further support the welfare of children, when any domestic abuse incident has been reported to the Police during the school term and one of our pupils was in the household, the information is shared with the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

This system has been introduced because domestic abuse in a household can have a huge impact on children, even if they do not see what is happening.

This information will be used to ensure the school is able to provide appropriate support to pupils. The information will remain confidential and will only be shared on a strictly need-to-know basis. For example, with the class teacher. It will not be shared with children.

If you would like to speak to someone in confidence about domestic abuse, call the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0800 802 0028

Early Help

Leicestershire County Council’s Family Help Service (previously known as Children and Family Wellbeing Service) was established in April 2019 following the integration of four services:

• Children’s Centre Programme
• Information, Support and Assessment Service
• Supporting Leicestershire Families (Troubled Families programme)
• Youth Offending Service

Family Help

Family Help provides targeted early help to families – and when needed, Child in Need services. They provide early help services to families, where they’re experiencing difficulties that can’t be supported by universal services such as schools or GPs alone.

Contact Information: For more information or to request support, you can call 0116 454 1004 of email early-help@leicester.gov.uk

Safeguarding out of hours support:

Should you require any advice or support with safeguarding, please refer to the following contacts:

For further information, please view our Safeguarding policies.

The Prevent strategy is 1 of the 4 elements of CONTEST, the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy. It aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent is part of the safeguarding work that Manor High undertakes. All staff have completed a Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP). There is also a section within the safeguarding policy which addresses the concept of anti-radicalisation. More information can be found on the Lets Talk About It website.

What to do if you feel that a young person is at risk:

If you are a student at the school:

• Tell a member of staff about it if you’re in school;
• Tell your parents or guardian about it if you’re at home;
• Call Childline (0800 1111), The Samaritans (08457 909090) or other relevant organisation

If you are a parent:

• You can contact the Safeguarding Designated Lead at the school – Ashma Ghani
• An alternative point of contact is the Pastoral Team

Child on Child Abuse

This school recognises that children sometimes display abusive behaviour themselves and that such incidents or allegations must be referred on for appropriate support and intervention. Such abuse is unacceptable and will not be tolerated or passed off as “banter” or “part of growing up”.

This abuse could for example include:

• Physical abuse – hitting, kicking, hair pulling.
• Sexual violence and harassment – Sexual violence refers to sexual offences as described under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 including rape and sexual assault. Sexual harassment is ‘unwanted conduct of a sexual nature’ that can occur online and offline and may include sexual name-calling, taunting or “jokes” and physical behaviour, for example, deliberately brushing against someone or interfering with clothes.
• ‘Upskirting’, a criminal offence (under the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019) and typically involves taking a picture under a person’s clothing (not necessarily a skirt) without them knowing, in order to obtain sexual gratification or to cause humiliation, distress or alarm (anyone of any gender can be a victim).
• Sexting – including pressuring others to share sexual content.
• Initiation / hazing type violence and rituals – subjecting newcomers to potentially humiliating or abusing trials with the aim of creating a bond.
• Abuse within intimate partner relationships and / or teenage relationship abuse – a pattern of actual or threatened acts of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, perpetrated against a current or former partner.

There are school and Safeguarding Children Partnership guidance and policies which detail the school’s procedures to address and minimise these concerns including:

• Behaviour Policy
• Anti-bullying Policy
• E-safety Policy
• Part 5 of ‘Keeping children safe in education.’ 2023

Sharing nudes and semi-nudes

School will always respond if informed that children have been involved in sharing nudes and semi–nudes (youth produced sexual imagery). The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) guidance, “Sexting in schools and colleges: responding to incidents and safeguarding young people” and ‘Sharing nudes and semi-nudes – advice for education settings working with children and young people. (Dec 2020) will be used to guide the school’s response on a case by case basis.

The key points being:

• Inform the Lead DSL as soon as possible. If necessary, the DSL or DDSL may interview the student(s) involved; this may include requesting the child to describe the image in order to ascertain whether a child has been or as it risk of being harmed.
• Support the victim as appropriate and in accordance with their best interests
• Searching, screening and confiscation will be used as appropriate
• Inform all parents of involved children unless by doing so you put a child at risk
• Images will not be viewed by school staff
• If school is to deal with the matter, involve parents in ensuring the images are deleted

If there is evidence of exploitation or the targeting of a vulnerable student, inform the police

Reporting an incident of sexual violence or sexual harassment:

Where allegations of a sexual nature are made, the school will follow the statutory guidance set out in part 5 of keeping Children Safe in Education 2023.

Where an incident has occurred or specific risks are identified, the details will be added to a safeguarding or behaviour record for the children concerned and an investigation conducted by a DSL.

A risk assessment will be undertaken by the DSL in order to minimise the risk of further harm and to ensure the safety of all staff and students.

If it is believed that any child is at risk of significant harm, a referral will be made to children’s social care. The DSL will then work with children’s social care to decide on next steps, which may include contacting the police.

In other cases we may follow our Safeguarding and Child protection policy and inform parents. Parents and carers of the children involved will be informed as soon as it is appropriate to do so. Our focus is the safety and wellbeing of the students, if the school believes that notifying parents could increase the risk to the child or exacerbate the problem, advice will be sought from children’s social care and / or the police before parents are contacted.

Support will be offered to the alleged victim, the child or young person accused, and any other children involved by different adults in school (to avoid a conflict of interest). A referral to any relevant outside agency will be made e.g. Police or Social Care.

Curriculum

Planned PHSE and RSE will include personal privacy, respect and consent so that children have a better understanding of how to behave towards their peers including online. This will be taught alongside other safeguarding issues as set out in DFE guidance.

“Wellbeing is at the heart of Manor High School”

We are delighted to announce that in May Manor High School have previously achieved the National Wellbeing Award for Schools by showing commitment to promoting emotional wellbeing and positive mental health. We are currently working towards gaining the award again.

Mental Health Helplines and Support

Eating a healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help you feel your best. It can be simple, too. Just follow these eight tips to get started.

The two keys to a healthy diet are:

• Eat the right number of calories for how active you are, so that you balance the energy you consume with the energy you use.
• If you eat or drink too much, you’ll put on weight. If you eat too little you’ll lose weight. The average man needs around 2,500 calories a day. The average woman needs 2,000 calories. Most adults are eating more calories than they need, and should eat fewer calories.  For teenagers (11-14 yrs) it is slightly lower, with boys needing 2,220 and girls 1,845 calories per day.
• Eat a wide range of foods to ensure that you’re getting a balanced diet and that your body is receiving all the nutrients it needs.

Try to follow these eight simple guidelines:

• Base your meals on starchy foods
• Eat lots of fruit and veg
• Eat more fish
• Cut down on saturated fat and sugar
• Eat less salt
• Get active and be a healthy weight
• Don’t get thirsty
• Don’t skip breakfast

More information is available at the NHS Live Well Hub

Everyone can benefit from regular exercise. people who are active will:

• have stronger muscles and bones
• have a leaner body because exercise helps control body fat
• be less likely to become overweight
• decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
• possibly lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels
• have a better outlook on life

Besides enjoying the health benefits of regular exercise, teenagers who are physically fit sleep better and are better able to handle physical and emotional challenges — from running to catch a bus to studying for a test.

Finding an activity they are interested in can be tough, but there are a whole range of activity experiences available, just find one that suits. Look at the local leisure centre or community centre at what courses and activities they offer. Even going out on a bike ride or for a walk in the evenings can help!

Most teens need about 8½ to more than 9 hours of sleep each night. The right amount of sleep is essential for anyone who wants to do well on a test or play sports without tripping over their feet. Unfortunately, though, many teens don’t get enough sleep.

Until recently, teens were often given a bad rap for staying up late, oversleeping for school, and falling asleep in class. But recent studies show that adolescent sleep patterns actually differ from those of adults or kids.

These studies show that during the teen years, the body’s circadian rhythm (sort of like an internal biological clock) is temporarily reset, telling a person to fall asleep later and wake up later. This change in the circadian rhythm seems to be due to the fact that the brain hormone melatonin is produced later at night for teens than it is for kids and adults. This can make it harder for teens to fall asleep early.

These changes in the body’s circadian rhythm coincide with a time when we’re busier than ever. For most teens, the pressure to do well in school is more intense than when they were kids, and it’s harder to get by without studying hard. And teens also have other time demands — everything from sports and other extracurricular activities to fitting in a part-time job to save money for college.

Early start times in some schools may also play a role in this sleep deficit. Teens who fall asleep after midnight may still have to get up early for school, meaning that they may only squeeze in 6 or 7 hours of sleep a night. A couple hours of missed sleep a night may not seem like a big deal, but can create a noticeable sleep deficit over time.

How do I know if I’m getting enough?

You are not if you experience any of the following:

• difficulty waking up in the morning
• inability to concentrate
• falling asleep during classes
• feelings of moodiness and even depression

It is essential that students are prepared for a day of learning. Their minds need to be fully focussed and awake.

Here are some things that may help you to sleep better:

• Set a regular bedtime.
• Exercise regularly.
• Avoid stimulants. (Coffee, fizzy drinks, energy drinks)
• Relax your mind. Unwind by keeping the lights low.
• Don’t nap too much.
• Avoid all-nighters.
• Create the right sleeping environment.
• Wake up with bright light.

NHS – Junk Sleep

Possible warning signs of stress include:

• Physical signs of harm that are repeated or appear non-accidental
• Changes in eating or sleeping habits
• Increased isolation from friends or family, becoming socially withdrawn
• Changes in activity and mood
• Lowering of academic achievement
• Talking or joking about self-harm or suicide
• Abusing drugs or alcohol
• Expressing feelings of failure, uselessness or loss of hope
• Changes in clothing – e.g. long sleeves in warm weather
• Secretive behaviour
• Skipping PE or getting changed secretively
• Lateness to or absence from school
• Repeated physical pain or nausea with no evident cause
• An increase in lateness or absenteeism

How parents can help their son/daughter if they show signs of poor emotional or mental wellbeing

• Listen and try to be understanding
• Show them affection
• Encourage social interaction with friends and family
• Provide a peaceful and loving environment
• Do activities together
• Let them know they can talk to you anytime about anything
• Don’t be afraid to seek advice from mental health professionals

If you have concerns about your health, there are people you can go to for advice. Remember, by ‘Health’ we mean your body and your mind. You may be physically well but anxious, or unhappy. So, where can you get help or support?

• An adult you trust
• Pastoral Team
• Websites such as KidsHealth.org or NHS LiveWell

Conditions in School

• Allergies: NHS Information | Anaphylaxis UK
• Asthma: NHS Information | Asthma UK Advice Line (0800 121 6244)
• Diabetes: NHS Information | Diabetes UK (0845 120 2960)
• Epilepsy: NHS Information | Epilepsy Action (0808 800 5050)
• Eczema: NHS Information | National Eczema Society (0800 0891122)

Infections in School

Health Protection Agency
NHS Direct
Immunisations