Child protection

Our parental consent form has an option for parents/guardians to opt-in to allowing photos & videos to be taken by St Brelade’s College and used for promotional purposes. In addition, staff, group leaders & hosts will also ensure that students’ consent is also given before taking photos or videoing. Only images of young people suitably dressed or fully clothed will be taken.

The internet is now a significant tool in the distribution of child pornography and bullying. In addition to the abuse of the child in the images, adults use the internet to establish contact with children with a view to grooming them for abusive relationships. Children may also be put at risk by the online activities and actions of other children. St Brelade’s College works to raise awareness about the safe use of the internet (staff inductions, homestay visits and lesson material). St Brelade’s College Social Media Policy is applicable to staff, group leaders, host/residence providers who are not permitted to socialise with or accept friend requests from students/send friend requests to students under the age of 18 years on social networking sites.

According to the Department of Education’s advice for headteachers, staff & governing bodies (2013), the term ‘reasonable force’ covers the broad range of actions used by most teachers at some point in their career that involve a degree of physical contact with pupils. Force is usually used either to control or restrain. This can range from guiding a pupil to safety by the arm through to more extreme circumstances such as breaking up a fight or where a student needs to be restrained to prevent violence or injury. ‘Reasonable in the circumstances’ means using no more force than is needed. As mentioned above, schools generally use force to control pupils and to restrain them. Control means either passive physical contact, such as standing between pupils or blocking a pupil’s path, or active physical contact such as leading a pupil by the arm out of a classroom. Restraint means to hold back physically or to bring a pupil under control. It is typically used in more extreme circumstances, for example when two pupils are fighting and refuse to separate without physical intervention. School staff should always try to avoid acting in a way that might cause injury, but in extreme cases it may not always be possible to avoid injuring the pupil.

Responding to situations

Schools can use reasonable force to:

• remove disruptive children from the classroom where they have refused to follow an instruction to do so;
• prevent a pupil behaving in a way that disrupts a school event or a school trip or visit;
• prevent a pupil leaving the classroom where allowing the pupil to leave would risk their safety or lead to behaviour that disrupts the behaviour of others;
• prevent a pupil from attacking a member of staff or another pupil, or to stop a fight in the playground; and
• restrain a pupil at risk of harming themselves through physical outbursts.

Schools cannot:

• use force as a punishment – it is always unlawful to use force as a punishment.

• Staff, group leaders, host/residence providers have a duty to deal with any child protection issue that may arise and also to avoid sexual misconduct and any activity that may reasonably raise concerns as to their propriety. Examples might include students drinking alcohol with them or allowing access to inappropriate materials or internet sites. These activities cannot be characterised directly as sexual misconduct, but could be conduct leading to establishing a sexual relationship. Such activities should therefore be subject to some regulation to avoid impropriety or the appearance of it. Anyone who is aware of such activities should report them to the DSS/DSL.
• Any compromising situations should be avoided where an accusation that they acted inappropriately could be made. If an incident is reported that could be interpreted as inappropriate it is important that it is recorded and reported to the DSS/DSL.
• Don’t make unnecessary physical contact with children. Student’s consent should be given before any physical contact is made (except in the case of reasonable force or emergency situations).

The Sexual Offences (Jersey) Law 2018 makes it a criminal offence for a person to engage in sexual activity with a child or young person. The law also makes it a criminal offence for people who are in a position of trust with a child aged 16 or 17, that is if the adult looks after any children in premises such as a school or is appointed as the guardian of the child and intentionally engages in a sexual act with that child.

Misconduct is behaviour which involves committing an offence, an abuse of trust or the breach of the standards of propriety expected of staff working in education.

If a child is being abused physically, sexually, psychologically or is being neglected, signs of abuse may include the following (although these could have other causes):

• A fellow student may express concerns.
• The child may describe something that has happened to them.
• Unexplained injuries, change in dress to hide injuries, suddenly avoiding sports.
• Reverting to younger behaviour, nervousness, sudden under achievement, attention seeking, stealing, lying.
• Preoccupation with sexual matters, being sexually provocative with adults.
• Looking unhappy and ill cared for, being withdrawn or aggressive, having lingering injuries or health problems.
• Distrust of adults and other students, difficulty in making friends and socialising, personality and behaviour changes.

Disclosures made by a child

DO:

• Ensure the child or young person is safe.
• Listen carefully to what the individual has to say, but do not ask questions other than to clarify what has been said. A record of where and when the alleged incident took place and who was involved or otherwise present should be written.
• Inform the child disclosing abuse that this information cannot be kept confidential and must pass this information on to other professionals in order to help them.
• Contact the emergency services if urgent medical help is required.
• Contact the DSS/DSL. If it is not possible to contact the DSS/DSL because it is suspected they may be involved in the abuse, review our ‘Allegations of abuse or inappropriate behaviour involving staff, group leaders & hosts’ section below.
• The DSL holds the responsibility of making referrals to the Children and Families Hub and this role cannot be delegated down.
• Take care to preserve any evidence e.g. clothing, bedding, weapons, text messages, letters etc.
• Record the allegation or suspicion of abuse as accurately as possible.

DON’T:

• Question the child or young person as this may affect any police action.
• Discuss the allegation/abuse with the alleged perpetrator.
• Discuss the allegation/abuse with other staff members, other than the DSS/DSL.
• Take any other action without first discussing this with the DSS/DSL. However if it believed that a child is in immediate danger, the police should be contacted.
• Promise to maintain confidentiality.
• Delay reporting the incident/allegation.

Disclosures made by ‘an adult at risk’

A Safeguarding Adult Procedure would be initiated if ‘an adult at risk’ is either being abused or is at immediate risk of abuse. The consent of the adult at risk should be sought when making referrals, unless that person lacks mental capacity and/or the gaining of consent would put that person at greater risk, or the alleged perpetrator poses a risk to others. For further information see SPB Multi Agency Adult Procedures online.