Designated Safeguarding Leads

The Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) at Hertswood Academy, lead on safeguarding and child protection issues in the school. All staff in school are trained in line with Keeping Children Safe in School guidelines. Some staff with additional training are part of our wider Safeguarding Team, who are also on hand to support when necessary.

Hertswood Academy's DSLs are:

• Peter Gillett - Headteacher
• Tora Hodge - Deputy Headteacher
• Paul Marlow - Assistant Headteacher
• David Swingler - Head of Learning

Reporting Safeguarding Concerns

Parents wanting to report a safeguarding concern can contact our Designated Safeguarding Leads at safeguarding@hertswoodacademy.org or by phone through our main office on 020 8238 7200.

Students wanting to report a safeguarding concern can fill in the Student Safeguarding Form on our Student Hub, email one of our Designated Safeguarding Leads, or speak to any member of staff in school.

Bullying is not tolerated at Hertswood Academy. You can learn more about this in our behaviour policies. If you have any concerns, please be sure to report them.

Topics such as domestic abuse, radicalisation and online safety are covered with students in our Personal Development Programme and assemblies. If anyone has any concerns regarding such topics in any form, please be sure to report them.

View our list of Emergency Support Services

Online Safety

Students' Use of the Internet

Students at Hertswood access the internet while in school using Chromebooks, as well as on Windows-based computers for specialist subjects such as ICT, Photography and Design Technology. All such devices are managed and maintained by the Academy.

Typically students are asked to use the internet for:

• accessing and creating work on their online file storage through Google Workspace for Education.
• accessing lesson resources and complete work provided to them through Google Classroom, our online classroom system.
• accessing various educational websites such as Century, Seneca Learning, MathsWatch, Quizlet, Kerboodle and Pearson ActiveLearn, to view resources or complete tasks.
• communicating with staff members through their school Gmail email account.
• accessing our school management system, Arbor, to track their timetable, homework assignments, House Points, etc.
• researching educational topics using Google for search.

Protecting Students in School

Students' internet access while in school is limited by a filtering system designed for schools, which aims to prevent access to all inappropriate content, as well as logging their activity and notifying relevant staff of attempts to access concerning content.

Teachers are able to monitor the screens of students in their classes while they are in school, as well as further limit the websites students can access during their lesson.

Protecting Students at Home

To support parents with online safety at home, for students in Years 7-11, internet activity of student devices outside school on their school device is subject to school filtering and monitoring systems. Our system allows parents to monitor and make limited adjustments to their child's internet filtering outside of school.

Teachers are not able to monitor the screens of students while they are outside of school.

Email Communications

Students in Key Stages 3 & 4 are prevented from receiving emails from most email addresses, other than those specifically approved by the Academy. All student emails are scanned by an advanced system searching for indications of bullying, suicide or violence, and notifying relevant staff where appropriate. These systems are in place whether or not the student is inside or outside of school.

Support for Parents

The school does and will continue to support and share advice with parents on how to keep their children safe online. This includes information provided at Information Evenings, as well as emails with links to useful resources and seminars/webinars.

Web Filtering Purpose Statement

Hertswood Academy wants all students to have access to online resources to support their academic journey. The Academy aims to put in place appropriate systems to allow this access, while safeguarding students. The Academy regularly reviews its systems to ensure they are suitable for safeguarding purposes, while not over-blocking content.

Useful Documents from the Government and DfE