The Designated Safeguarding Lead at St Monica’s RC High School is Mr
D Kenny (Deputy Headteacher).

The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads at St Monica’s RC High School are:

• Mr. M. Kehoe (Assistant Headteacher)
• Mrs. A. Balmer (Assistant Headteacher)
• Mrs. L. Pickering (Operational Safeguarding Lead)

Please contact the school reception to speak to a member of the safeguarding team on 0161 773 6436.

Please click here to read ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025’.

To view our Safeguarding Policy, please click here.

While there are huge benefits to being online in order to stay connected to friends and family, it’s important to have regular conversations with your children about staying safe online and encouraging them to talk to you if they see anything worrying.

What harms might my child experience online?

You may have concerns about specific harms that your children experience online including: abuse, criminal exploitation, exposure to radicalising content, consensual and non-consensual sharing of images/videos, cyber-bullying, exposure to age-inappropriate content and harmful content.

Where can I go for help?

These resources will support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices:

• Thinkuknow resources for parents and carers and children of all ages to help keep children safe online
• Childnet has developed guidance for parents and carers to begin a conversation about online safety, as well as guidance on keeping under-fives safe online
• Parent Info has support and guidance for parents and carers related to the digital world from leading experts and organisations
• NSPCC also has guidance for parents and carers to help keep children safe online
• UK Safer Internet Centre gives tips and advice for parents and carers to keep children safe online – you can also report any harmful content found online through the UK Safer Internet Centre
• Reporting Criminal Content Eliminating Child Sexual Abuse Online | Internet Watch Foundation IWF

The Prevent strategy is a key part of the UK government’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, and is focused on preventing individuals from being drawn into terrorism or extremist ideologies. In schools, the Prevent strategy is implemented as part of a broader duty of care, aiming to safeguard children from risks of radicalisation.

At St. Monica’s, all staff receive annual training so that they are able to recognise the signs of radicalisation or vulnerability to extremist views.

Staff have learned how to identify possible signs such as:

• sudden changes in behaviour & attitudes
• expressing extremist or divisive views
• isolation from peers or withdrawal from school activities
• accessing or sharing extremist material online

At St Monica’s, Prevent principles are integrated into our curriculum, including:

• Promoting British Values, including democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect for different faiths and beliefs.
• Critical Thinking Skills: building resilience by encouraging debate, critical thinking, and understanding of different perspectives.
• Online Safety – teaching our children about the risks of accessing harmful content and promoting safe internet use.

The following are useful website if you are concerned at all about the safety of a child:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

https://www.childline.org.uk/

As part of St Monica’s commitment to keeping children safe, we are proud to be part of Operation Encompass.

Operation Encompass is a unique Police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people exposed to domestic abuse.

Police will inform Bury schools prior to the start of the following school day, when a child or young person has been involved in or exposed to a domestic incident.

Being part of Operation Encompass means our school will receive a notification from Greater Manchester Police before the start of the next school day when a child or young person has been involved in or exposed to a domestic abuse incident the previous day.  Operation Encompass aims to mitigate harm to children by enabling immediate support, so that all interactions from when the child first arrives at school the day after notification of an incident, are of a positive nature.

All information relating to Operation Encompass is given in strict confidence to the school’s Key Adults.