Carlton Colville Primary School

Contextual safeguarding recognises that as young people grow and develop they are influenced by a whole range of environments and people outside of their family. For example in school, in the local community, in their peer groups or online. Children and young people may encounter risk in any of these environments. Sometimes the different contexts are inter-related and can mean that children and young people may encounter multiple risks. Contextual safeguarding looks at how we can best understand these risks, engage with children and young people and help to keep them safe. It's an approach that's often been used to apply to adolescents, though the lessons can equally be applied to younger children, especially in today's changing world.

Here are some examples of risk factors

The government has launched a campaign called 'Together we can tackle child abuse'. The resources, aimed at everyone in the community, include four very short videos explaining physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and online abuse. 
The simple mnemonic, ABC, is used to remind people that they should look out for changes in appearance, behaviour or communication. The webpage has a search engine to find out where to report abuse.
For more information, google ‘together we can tackle child abuse'.

Other useful websites:

The NSPCC website has lots of advice around the following safeguarding areas: self harm, online safety, talking about drugs and alcohol, talking about difficult topics, talking PANTS with your child and dealing with divorce and separation, click here. 

Pantosaurus -  click here

Red cross wellbeing support, click here

Advice for pupils:

• Always be careful when you are using the internet. It can help you to keep in touch with your friends and help your education, but it can also cause harm; to you and to others.
• Remember help is always available at school if you are having any problems online.
• Don’t be afraid to talk to your teacher or another adult at school.

Potential online risks can include:

• Access and exposure to inappropriate /disturbing images and content
• Access and exposure to racist or hate material
• Sexual grooming, luring, abuse, and exploitation by/with strangers
• Sharing personal information with strangers that could identify and locate a child offline
• Online bullying (cyberbullying) by peers and people they consider their ‘friends’
• Being encouraged to take part in violent behaviour such as ‘happy slapping’
• Sending or receiving sexually explicit films, images, or messages of themselves or others (this is known as sexting when sent by mobile phone)
• Glorifying activities such as drug-taking or excessive drinking
• Physical harm to young people in making video content, such as enacting and imitating stunts and risk-taking activities
• Leaving and running away from home as a result of contacts made online.

Advice for parents and carers:

There are several ways to help keep children and young people safe online:

• Educate yourself and children and young people know about the dangers online
• Tell them what they should do if anything goes wrong online or upsets them i.e. tell someone about it
• Explain that anything shared online or by mobile phone could end up being seen by anyone
• Ensure computers and laptops are used where you can see and not out of sight in a bedroom
• Use parental settings, filtering software, and privacy setting to block inappropriate sites and content

To visit our online safety resource page click here