School Life > Safeguarding & Online Safety

Our commitment to Safeguarding

Milton Abbey recognises that the welfare of children is paramount: the needs and wishes of each child will be put first.

We expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment to safeguarding and details of how we achieve this can be found in our full Safeguarding Policies & Procedures (click this link).

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies, when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents and carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.

We actively support the UK Government’s Prevent agenda to counter radicalism and extremism, and we are an Operation Encompass School (see Domestic abuse section below).

Reporting

If you have any concerns about the safety and welfare of a child you should report it. If you feel a child is at immediate risk of danger, the police should be contacted. 

If you have other concerns about a child you can ring the school and speak to a member of our safeguarding team on 01258 880484 or by sending a confidential email to safeguarding@miltonabbey.co.uk.

Our Safeguarding team
  • Designated Safeguarding Lead with responsibility for Child Protection: Chris Barnes
  • Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads with responsibility for Child Protection: James Watson,  Martin Bolton, Sarah Badley, David Bennetts, Claire Alison, Adam Hartley
  • Safeguarding Governor with responsibility for Child Protection: Ian Bromilow
You can also contact these organisations for independent help or advice:

Domestic violence and abuse

The Designated Safeguarding Lead receives information from Dorset Police when there has been an incident of domestic abuse in a Dorset household where a student lives; this is part of the national Operation Encompass programme.  The information shared allows us to monitor and support the pupil. If we have additional concerns we will discuss the need for further safeguarding actions with Children’s Social Care. This information is only shared with other staff on a restricted need-to-know basis (i.e. those who are immediately responsible for the pupil’s welfare).
 
Being in a household where there is domestic violence is distressing and scary for children and young people. They may hear violent or controlling arguments; they may witness violence directly; they may feel powerless to protect a parent or carer. They are likely to be aware of their parent or carer’s distress and injuries after an incident. They may also get hurt themselves.
 
Help and advice:
  • Children with a concern can contact Childline | 0800 1111
  • Adults with a concern about a child can contact NSPCC | 0808 800 5000 or the local authority multi-agency safeguarding hub
  • Adults with concern about themselves can contact the National Domestic violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247
Specialist support for issues such as: stalking, sexual assault, refuges, survivors of abuse, honour-based violence, men experiencing domestic abuse and for people carrying out domestic abuse are also available.
 

Our approach to online safety

Technology, the internet and digital platforms are integral to our pupils’ personal, social and educational lives.
 
Milton Abbey is committed to educating pupils to be digitally literate, to recognise and manage risk, and to be resilient online. We also have a duty of care to ensure our technical infrastructure, policies and procedures, and staff training result in as safe as possible an online environment at school.
 
Webinars and training

We hold regular training sessions for staff, students and their parents to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest online safety trends. Our most recent video shared with parents on Internet Safety Day 2021 is on the subject of Fake News and Misinformation:
 

Advice for parents

Milton Abbey is also committed to supporting parents in this ever-changing digital world. The following online safety resources are suggested if parents wish to find out more:
 
NSPCC.png A comprehensive website covering all aspects of online safety including:
  • Talking to young people about their online activity and the risks
  • Articles on topics such as bullying, gaming, pornography
  • How to use Parental Controls
The NSPCC also run an advice line, sponsored by O2, available on 0808 800 5002 between 9am and 6pm, Monday to Friday.
Internet-Matters.png From internet service providers such as BT, Sky, BBC and Google:
  • Material is divided by topic and age
  • Useful information sheets to download
Parent-Zone.png
  • Articles and blogs about all aspects of digital parenting
  • Reviews of popular games and apps
Think-U-Know.png
  • Educational material for parents and carers from the police
  • With separate sites for children of different ages
Report-Harmful-Content.png
  • Gives advice on how to remove inappropriate or illegal content
  • You can also make a report to assist in getting content removed, if you have already reported it to the platform and no action has been taken
Common-Sense-Media.png
  • Gives parental reviews of lots of games, apps (and also movies)
  • Also available as an app
  • Provided as a link to a useful resource, but we do not endorse the content of any third-party reviews
If you have any specific questions, you can also contact our dedicated Online Safety Coordinator.