Safeguarding

Derby College Group places the highest importance on safeguarding, and the safety and well-being of students is paramount in all College activities. Furthermore, the College recognises that employees/volunteers and students have an important role to play in safeguarding, in particular the welfare of young people and vulnerable persons and preventing abuse and/or harm. Derby College Group also acknowledges that at any time any person could be classed as ‘vulnerable’.

The College has a statutory duty placed on it by Keeping Children Safe in Education (September 2021) to have in place arrangements for carrying out its functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and vulnerable persons. This is further supported by the Education Act 2011 and the Children Act 1989 (Section 17 Child in Need (Provision of services for children in need, their families and others) and Section 47 Risk of Significant Harm (Local Authority’s duty to investigate). In order to comply with this duty of care, all employees/volunteers must be aware of the lines of communication and levels of responsibility which exist to ensure that matters of safeguarding can be dealt with adequately.

The Derby College Group Safeguarding Procedure sets out a framework for those arrangements.

Derby College Group is not an investigating agency. This function will normally be carried out by Social Care and Health, or other agencies with statutory powers, i.e. the Police, as set out in the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Procedures or Derby & Derbyshire Safeguarding Adults Policy & Procedure.

Key Safeguarding Contacts at Derby College

If you study with us or your child studies with us and you have any safeguarding concerns you can contact the College safeguarding team:

Staying Safe online

Social media is a great way to keep in touch.  Its important to regularly check your privacy settings on all your apps to keep yourself safe online.  Follow saferinternet.org to find checklists for Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter to protect yourself while you stay in contact with your friends.

Remember:

1. Protect your online reputation and ‘think before you post.’ Content posted online can last forever and could be shared publicly by anyone.
2. Report anything that concerns you to service providers and use blocking and deleting tools. If something happens that upsets you online, it’s never too late to tell someone.
3. Don’t give in to pressure: if you lose your inhibitions you’ve lost control; once you’ve pressed send you can’t take it back.
4. Respect the law: use reliable services and know how to legally access the music, film and TV you want.​​​​​​​

If you need any advice or support you can contact our Welfare Team for a chat email: welfare@derby-college.ac.uk or speak to them in person in College. If you don’t feel safe or have a safeguarding concern about another student, you can call one of our senior safeguarding team (using the numbers in the table above) from Monday – Friday 9am – 4pm.

Out of College hours support

If you have any Safeguarding concerns when the college is closed, you should contact either your Local Authority Out of Hours Social Care number for any concerns relating to a child (under 18), which you can find by putting in the postcode of where you’re reporting from at https://www.gov.uk/report-child-abuse-to-local-council.

Alternatively, if you feel that a child or any other student is at immediate risk and in need of protection you should contact the Police immediately (999 emergency, 101 non-emergency).

Further support and advice

Supporting your wellbeing

There are many external organisations working to provide support and strategies for coping; you can access our Mental Wellbeing Toolkit on Moodle for lots of contacts and ideas, talk to an online counsellor anonymously through Kooth or use any of the links below:

• Young Minds
• Anxiety UK
• Every Mind Matters
• The Children’s Society

The Derby & Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership. website provides important safeguarding information for the public, children, young people, parents, carers, school staff and other professionals.

In addition you can anonymously contact the NSPCC via text 88858 for free and they will send an automated confirmation response followed by a specific response from a Helpline practitioner within three hours.