Pastoral Care & Safeguarding
College Pastoral & Safeguarding Team
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Rob Syposz Director of Oakes College |
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Karim Marsaoui Deputy Principal / Designated Safeguarding & Mental Health Lead |
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Ms Helen Davis |
Contact |
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| Mrs Libby Rae Learning Mentor |
Contact Tel: 01223 868358 |
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Duggee Dog Mentor |
SAFEGUARDING
Under the Education Act 2002 (section 175/157), schools must:
“make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children”.
We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where students are respected and valued.
At Oakes College, we have a whole staff led by a Safeguarding team of dedicated professionals who ensure that school policies and procedures are used to make all students feel safe and valued. The college will, therefore, be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures to ensure that students receive appropriate and effective support and protection.
Parents/carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information that gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, and physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. The college should make parents/carers aware that records of welfare concerns may be kept about their child. They should be informed that college staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including referrals to other agencies. However, in situations where the child is suspected to be at risk of harm, the law says that schools may take advice from other agencies without informing parents/carers.
Where concerns are reported to the college, these will be logged, and triaged on our secure online reporting platform called “My concern”.
In accordance with local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service.
Schools will seek advice from Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Leads) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children.
Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, schools or any person who has care of a child “may….do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social Care and the police investigate any concerns further.
What to do if you need to contact someone about a Child Protection concern
We are all responsible for Child Protection. If you think you or the child is in immediate danger and needs urgent help, please call the police on 999.
Members of the public should contact Cambridgeshire County Council Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub if you are:
- Concerned that a child may be suffering physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or is being neglected
- A child or young person is being abused or neglected
- As a parent or carer, you feel you are harming your child or are close to doing so
Contact numbers can be found on the Cambridgeshire County Council website.
For professionals, including school staff, procedures are in place for concerns to be referred to a Designated Person for Child Protection. The full details can be found within our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy on our Policies page.
Parents, carers, or other members of the public can also pass on safeguarding concerns to the school by making contact with the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Further information is also available on the Local Safeguarding Children Board website.
The purpose of Oakes College’s Safeguarding and Pastoral policies are to provide a secure framework for the College in ensuring all students are safe and their welfare is considered at all times. As part of our safeguarding policy, students are required to wear a lanyard to make it easier for everyone to identify and challenge anyone who comes onto the school site without permission, as well as showing you belong to the Oakes College community, something we are very proud of.
PASTORAL CARE
At Oakes College we understand the demands and sometimes overwhelming challenges faced by young people today and we pride ourselves on providing excellent pastoral care. We have a highly skilled team of experienced, specially chosen tutors who offer bespoke one-to-one support, closely monitoring wellbeing and academic performance. Our main aim is to establish the right balance between independence and support for our students, helping them to gain confidence when confronting issues and learning to solve problems themselves, developing resilience during the process. This is achieved by our tutors, guided by the expertise provided by our dedicated Pastoral Team. Students and tutors can access this support either by referral or self-referral to this service, which can range from an informal chat with a member of our Pastoral team, weekly mentoring sessions with the Pastoral Lead, or appropriate referrals to external agencies where necessary.
If students require any form of academic support, they should contact their subject teachers or tutors in the first instance. If the situation is unable to be resolved, then they should make contact with the Director of Studies, responsible for academic progress, who is able to refer students to our academic support team. Our team can help using a variety of different interventions, ranging from essay planning, revision schedules to file organisation.
If students have a wellbeing concern, they can either contact their tutor or a member of the Pastoral team.
If any student has an immediate serious concern about their wellbeing or that of another student, they must contact either of the Designated Safeguarding Leads, the Pastoral Lead or the Director of College.
At Oakes College we value student voice and understand that at times students may not wish to share their concerns with staff. Students can self-refer to the following organisations should they require support.
Please also visit our main Netherhall School Mental Health & Wellbeing page for links to websites and helpful information regarding Anxiety, Drugs, Alcohol, Exams, LGBTQ+, Bereavement, Sleep, Young Carers etc.
| Provider | Type of Support |
| Cambridgeshire Child & Adolescent Service (CASUS) | Drug & Alcohol Support |
| Talk to Frank | Drug & Alcohol Support |
| Centre 33 Cambridge | Mental Health & Wellbeing |
| Keep Your Head | Mental Health & Wellbeing |
| NHS One | Mental Health & Wellbeing |
| Young Minds | Mental Health & Wellbeing |
| Chat Health | Mental Health & Wellbeing Chat Service |
Please Note: The Oakes College is not responsible for the content of external websites linked within this page.