Safeguarding & Child Protection

Safeguarding is at the heart of all we do at Torquay Girls Grammar school, and we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our students. Every member of staff has a clear understanding that safeguarding our students is everyone’s responsibility. All staff in the school are trained annually and kept up to date with any changes to safeguarding and child protection legislation. In addition, we have a large number of staff trained in safeguarding and child protection at Level 3 and they can be quickly identified by all students, staff and visitors to the school as they wear a yellow lanyard.

We encourage students to inform us if they feel worried in any way and ensure they feel listened to. If you are a student you can report a concern or worry anonymously here.

We believe that It is better to take action before harm occurs and have a significant focus on educating our students to prevent them from being harmed in any way. We do this by: continuously reminding our students of how to stay safe (inclusive of E-safety) in tutor time; via student notices, assemblies, PSHE & ICT lessons and through continuous interactions with the pastoral and safeguarding teams.

Also, we want to make sure that our parents and carers feel well informed of any safeguarding developments in a forever changing world and share regular updates through our safeguarding newsletters.

Reporting concerns about a student

All children have the right to feel safe. If you are concerned about the safety of any child in our school, you must report this to one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads detailed below on: safeguarding@tggsacademy.org

Please note: If your concern is out of school hours or during the school holidays then please contact please call the MASH (Multi agency Safeguarding hub):

For Torbay residents call 01803 208100 or email mash@torbay.gov.uk (out of office hours please call 0300 4564 876)
For Devon residents call 0345 155 1071 or email mashsecure@devon.gov.uk

If you or a child is at immediate risk, please call 999.

Relevant Policies:

TGGS Safeguarding Newsletters:

We use CPOMS to securely communicate and store all safeguarding concerns

Links for Families to Early Help:

Early Help Torbay Early help - Torbay Safeguarding Children Partnership

Early Help Devon Early Help - Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (devonscp.org.uk)

External Support for Students & Parents:

Gives advice about a wide range of issues including puberty, self-harm coping techniques, bullying, helping a friend, help to remove nude images on-line. Child line also offer free confidential counselling. www.childline.org.uk

24 hour confidential listening and support for anyone who needs it. They also provide information and support for mental health issues. www.samaritans.org

For advice and information on eating disorders. www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk

CAMHS Crisis - are offering additional crisis support. If a child or young person (under 18) is experiencing a mental health crisis, you can now access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) 24/7. Please contact 03300 245 321 during normal hours (8am-5pm, Mon to Fri) or 0300 555 5000 outside these hours. Callers will speak to a call handler, their call will be forwarded to a voicemail service and their message will be returned within one hour. There are three CAMHS crisis teams – Torbay and South Devon; Exeter, East and Mid Devon; and North Devon. Your call will be directed to the appropriate team. In the event of an emergency please call 999. www.dpt.nhs.uk/our-services/children-and-family-health-devon/camhs

Online counselling and emotional wellbeing platform. www.kooth.com

Advice and support about young people's mental health including information on CAMHS and what the next steps to seeking support are. youngminds.org.uk

STONEWALL - A UK charity for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and ace (LGBTQ+) people and their allies. They offer information and advice. www.stonewall.org.uk/help-and-advice

If you are worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating with you online. www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre

Report Harmful Content is a national reporting centre that has been designed to assist everyone in reporting harmful content online. https://reportharmfulcontent.com/