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.
Useful websites
Prevent – Report online material promoting terrorism or extremism.
https://www.gov.uk/report-terrorism
Take It Down – A free service that can help young people remove or stop the online sharing of nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos taken of them when they were under 18 years old.
https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/
Report Remove – Created to help young people under 18 in the UK to confidentially report sexual images and videos of themselves and remove them from the internet.
https://www.ceopeducation.co.uk/professionals/guidance/report-remove3/
Inclusive Digital Safety Hub – So you got naked online (SEND version), a guide for children and young people. This resource helps and advises young people who may find themselves in a situation where they (or a friend) have put a sexting image or video online and have lost control over that content and who it’s being shared with.
https://www.internetmatters.org/inclusive-digital-safety/so-you-got-naked-online-guide-for-young-people/
What I wish my parents or carers knew… – A guide for parents and carers on managing children’s digital lives.
https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/what-i-wish-my-parents-or-carers-knew-a-guide-for-parents-and-carers-on-managing-childrens-digital-lives/
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.
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
At Essa Academy, we take a proactive and rigorous approach to safeguarding with all staff taking responsibility for the safeguarding of our students. An intense and frequent training programme ensures all academy staff, both teaching and support, are highly trained in safeguarding. All employees are vigilant in monitoring, recording and reporting safeguarding concerns and take the stance that ‘it could happen here’. We are fully inclusive; we work hard to meet individual needs and provide tailored provision to support students to overcome their barriers to learning. Therefore, we deploy a wide range of effective and bespoke intervention programmes and support packages which are delivered internally through the academies pastoral team or sourced externally through the many professional agencies that we work with. We are dedicated to doing all we can to ensure student welfare and wellbeing and co-ordinate, action and review support through a weekly inclusion meeting where senior leaders and Deep Support staff discuss support for our most vulnerable students, ensuring safeguarding remains high on the academy’s agenda.
Local contacts
Key safeguarding contacts (Bolton)
| Social Care (Bolton) | |
| MASS (R&A) Children’s Social Care Castle Hill, Bolton BL2 2JW Tel: 01204 331500 |
Out of hours Emergency Duty Team Children’s Social Care Castle Hill Bolton BL2 2JW Tel: 01204 337777 |
| Children’s Social Care North Castle Hill Centre Castleton Street Bolton BL2 2JW Tel: 01204 337408 |
Children’s Social Care South Farnworth Town Hall Bolton BL4 7PD Tel: 01204 337448 |
| Children’s Social Care West Westhoughton Town Hall Westhoughton Bolton BL5 3AW Tel: 01942 634625 |
|
| LADO (Bolton) | Telephone Number |
| Lisa Kelly Bolton Safeguarding Children Partnership Department of Children’s Services Bolton Council Castle Hill Centre Castleton Street Bolton BL2 2JW |
Tel: 01204 337474
Email: [email protected] |
| Police department/Station | Telephone Number |
| Bolton Police 6-8 Scholey Street Bolton BL2 1HD |
101 |
| Local Police Desk | 0161 856 5579 |
| GMP Prevent Team DC12507 Keith Galley [email protected] |
07881 356940 0161 856 6345 |
| Anti-terrorist hotline | 0800789321 |
| Education Department (Bolton) | Telephone Number |
| Children Missing in Education Team | 01204 334036 |
| Education HR team | 01204 333333 |
| Other | Telephone Number |
| NSPCC Whistleblowing Helpline | 0800 028 0285 |
| Disclosure and Barring Service Address: PO Box 3961, Royal Wootton Bassett, SN4 4HF [email protected] |
03000 200190 |
| Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) Address: Cheylesmore House, 5 Quinton Rd, Coventry CV1 2WT [email protected] |
0207 593 5393 |
| Ofsted | 0300 1233 155 |
| Bolton Safeguarding in Education Team Jo Nicholson Natalie France |
01204 337 472 / 01204 331 314 |
Designated Safeguarding Lead – Miss O Rowe ([email protected])
If you have concerns about a child in the community, please see the key contacts below.
- Bolton Social Care – https://www.bolton.gov.uk/safeguarding-protecting-children/reporting-child-abuse
- NSPCC – https://www.nspcc.org.uk/
- Kooth – https://www.kooth.com/
- Sharps – https://essa.thesharpsystem.com/
The Sharps system allows young people to report any incidents which occur within the school and local community anonymously and without fear.
Mental Health Lead:
Miss O Rowe ([email protected])
At Essa Academy, we aim to promote positive mental health for every member of our staff and student body. We pursue this aim using both universal, whole Academy approaches and specialised, targeted approaches aimed at vulnerable students.
In addition to promoting positive mental health, we aim to recognise and respond to mental ill health. In an average classroom, One in Six children will be suffering from a diagnosable mental health issue (NHS Digital). By developing and implementing practical, relevant, and effective mental health policies and procedures we can promote a safe and stable environment for students affected both directly and indirectly by mental ill health.
National contacts
Anti-terrorist hotline – 0800 789 321
Barnardos – https://www.barnardos.org.uk/
Big White Wall – https://togetherall.com/en-gb/big-white-wall/
Calm Harm – https://calmharm.stem4.org.uk/
CAMHS – (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) – Tel: 0300 013 2000
Change Grow Live – https://www.changegrowlive.org/
Childline – https://www.childline.org.uk – Tel: 0800 1111
Child Bereavement UK – https://www.childbereavementuk.org – Tel: 0800 02 888 40
Chill Panda App – iOS app / Android app
Disclosure and Barring Service – Tel: 03000 200190
Family Lives – https://www.familylives.org.uk/
Kooth – https://www.kooth.com/
Mind – https://www.mind.org.uk/
Mindler (previously ieso) – https://www.iesohealth.com/
NSPCC – https://www.nspcc.org.uk/
NSPCC Whistleblowing Helpline – Tel: 0800 028 0285
Ofsted – Tel: 0300 1233 155
Qwell – https://www.qwell.io/
Talk to Frank (drugs and solvent/volatile substance misuse) – https://talktofrank.com – Tel: 0300 123 6600
Teacher Regulation Agency – Email: [email protected] – Tel: 0207 593 5393
Tootoot – https://tootoot.co.uk/
Young Minds (mental health support) – https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
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 click the following link to view the latest ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE) guidance from the Department for Education.
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025
‘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.
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