Well-being
Online safety hub
Northern Education Trust has partnered with Smoothwall to create a free online safety hub for parents and carers to help keep their children safe online. Smoothwall is a system used by the trust to monitor the content our students access and digitally safeguard against any dangers or risks.
The Online Safety Hub offers an abundance of expert advice and guidance to help parents and carers manage their child’s safety online. It also includes information on several topics when it comes to keeping children safe, such as how to manage your child’s screen time, understand the latest gaming platforms and what they mean for your child’s safety.
Student Voice
Student voice is a key cog in the decision making process in every NET academy. Each academy has a Junior Leadership team that runs a very active academy council with nominated Junior Leaders and Class Secretaries who represent each class. School council meet on a fortnightly basis to discuss current issues effecting academy; the Junior Leadership team vote on any action that needs to be taken. Students learn how a democratic system works from an early age and they develop skills in public speaking, decision making and listening to one another’s ideas. Students are empowered by the process and are valued as key stakeholders in every NET academy.
Talk It Out
The primary academies all use a system called ‘Talk It Out’ so that students are able to communicate their worries to an adult. The rationale behind the idea is to ensure that every child at Northern Education Trust always has somebody to talk to. This is both reactive in addressing current problems and a proactive means of teaching our pupils that there are strategies available for them to manage their own mental health.
Every child has a laminated card with their name on that they keep in their draw in class. The child posts this card in a centrally placed, internal letterbox to alert the adult that they wish to talk to someone. Pupil Support then checks the post box daily and finds the child at an appropriate time to talk to them. ‘Talk It Out’ is valued by all children because they know they have the option to talk to someone should they need it. The ‘Talk It Out’ system encourages children to talk to someone if they are worried about an issue which is an important factor in improving their mental health and provides them with skills to improve their own well-being as they grow up.
Praise culture
All Northern Education Trust academies have an incredibly strong praise culture that is evident as soon as you walk through the door with ‘applause moments’ to be heard, displays dedicated to praise and the way teachers and students interact with one another.
Other rewards include:
- Positive affirmation of effort and achievement in a ‘STEPs to Success’ report shared with parents at various intervals during the year
- Staff verbally congratulating/ praising children
- Extra privileges
- Being given positions of responsibility such as head boy/girl, leading on the school council or being an ambassador for the academy.
- Postcards home from the staff to recognise outstanding effort and/or application
- Applause moments – children are encouraged to applaud any noteworthy response from their peers in all lessons
- Collaborative learning and praise – teaching structures used on a daily basis encourage children working together collaboratively and their subsequent praise for each other for their contributions.
Praise is also the bedrock of our ‘Expectations for Learning Policy’, which encourages children to make positive choices through praise and rewards.
Academy approaches
Staff at Abbey Park Academy recognise that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. The purpose of the academy’s safeguarding policy and culture within the academy is to ensure every child who is a registered pupil at the academy is safe and protected from harm. This means that staff will always work to:
- protect children and young people at the academy from maltreatment;
- prevent impairment of children’s and young people’s mental and physical health or development;
- ensure that children and young people at the academy grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care;
- undertake that role so as to enable children and young people at the academy to have the best outcomes.
Local contacts
Northern Education Trust takes safeguarding very seriously. Our academies ensure that safeguarding is a key priority in all aspects of academy life, and that safeguarding is a key part of our curriculum content. We see safeguarding as being the responsibility of all members of our academy communities.
Please see below a copy of the latest ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE) guidance from the Department for Education.
‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ is also available in other languages here: https://national.lgfl.net/digisafe/kcsietranslate
Northern Education Trust is not responsible for content on any external websites linked to from this site.