NETA recognises its legal duty under the 1989 Children Act to work with other agencies in protecting children from harm and responding to abuse
NETA will follow the principals and procedures laid down by the appropriate Local Safe Guarding Children’s Board.
If staff have significant concerns about a child / young person which they feel may be an indicator of physical injury, sexual abuse, emotional abuse or neglect, these concerns should be discussed with the designated person. This person will liaise with staff within the Education services (Child Protection Officer) and with the agencies responsible for child protection investigation (Children Education and Social Care) (CESC).
Staff who have concerns about apparent injuries or who are told anything significant by a child must report their concerns to the designated staff within the establishment / NETA.
The designated people within NETA for child protection issues are:
· 13 – 16 year olds – Sian Cameron
· 16 – 18 year olds – Jane Stephenson
NETA staff do not carry out investigations or decide whether a child is being abused. That is the responsibility of the Children Education and Social Care (CESC) and / or the Police Child Protection Unit.
A written record of any incident, disclosure or allegation will be made in accordance with the Children Education and Social Care (CESC) Practice Guidance.
NETA aims to:
· Encourage all children towards a positive self image
· To help children view themselves as part of the wider community and to nurture children’s abilities to establish and sustain relationships with families, peers and adults in the world outside.
· To support personal and emotional development
· To create and encourage an ethos which reflects respect amongst all relationships. That is staff / staff, staff / student, student / student.
· To provide a model for open and effective communication between adults and young people.
Parents can feel confident that careful procedures are in place to ensure that all staff and volunteers appointed are suitable to work with children.
PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE
Key Principals
· Physical contact should be a conscious act
· Physical contact should always be such as to show respect for dignity and physical well being of the young person
· Physical contact should be based on a judgement of the minimum action necessary to meet the needs of the situation
· Physical contact should never be an act of punishment
· Physical contact should never be such that it might be interpreted by the young person or other as physical or sexual abuse.
There are situations in which physical contact with a young person may be appropriate and necessary to demonstrate exercises or techniques in engineering, e.g.
· Correcting hand, finger, arm and body positions in the use of engineering equipment
· Correcting body position in the acquisition of a skill
· Preventing inappropriate body movements
· To administer first aid
· Where a young person is in distress and needs comforting
Staff will use their own professional judgement when they feel a young person needs this kind of support.
Always preface any physical contact with an explanation, e.g.
“I am going to show you how to file safely and correctly, so I will have to touch your hands / arms to move them into the correct position”
If physical contact is an issue and verbal explanation is difficult you will need to use pictures and diagrams.
Teaching in a group can be of positive benefits in being able to demonstrate for example, correct posture. You may instruct one young person to correct the posture of another.
Non-acceptable responses
Avoid contact with parts of the body other than shoulders, arms, legs and hands. Avoid any contact when alone with the pupil unless it is clearly relevant to teaching an engineering skill.
There may be some young people for whom touching is particularly unwelcome and it is important that all staff receive information on these children.
Physical contact between staff and young people of the opposite sex becomes increasingly open to question as young people reach and proceed through adolescence. Staff should bear in mind that even innocent and well intentioned physical contact can sometimes be misconstrued.
The way our behaviour is experienced and interpreted may not match our intentions however well meaning.
Frank T Ramsay
Chief Executive