We place much emphasis on our pastoral responsibility for the young people in our care and the welfare of the child is paramount.

We recognise that our pupils have a fundamental right to be protected from harm and take all reasonable steps to ensure that their welfare is safeguarded and their safety preserved. Only then will they be able to learn effectively.

All members of Parkhall Integrated College staff, both teaching and support, are trained in child protection, are alert to the possible signs of child abuse and are aware of the guidelines and procedures to follow if abuse is suspected.

The following principles form the basis of our Child Protection Policy.

1. It is a child’s right to feel safe at all times, to be heard, listened to and taken seriously.
2. We have a pastoral, responsibility towards the children in our care and should take all reasonable steps to ensure their welfare is safeguarded and their safety is preserved.
3. In any incident the child’s welfare must be paramount, this overrides all other considerations.
4. A proper balance must be struck between protecting children and respecting the rights and needs of parents and families; but where there is conflict the child’s interest must always come first.

School Safeguarding Team

Parents are encouraged to contact the designated teacher/deputy designated teacher if they have any concerns. A copy of the child protection policy is distributed to parents annually. A copy of the policy can be found in the policies section of this website.

Anti-Bullying

It is an integral part of our ethos that bullying will not be countenanced and will be discouraged. The school will seek to achieve this by an effective combination of support and sanction; by Prevention strategies (proactive) and Intervention strategies (reactive) drawn from existing pastoral and positive behaviour structures.

The pastoral and discipline structures of the school seek to serve these ends. It is an integral part of such an ethos that bullying will not be accepted and will be actively discouraged.

Bullying includes (but is not limited to) the repeated use of—

any verbal, written or electronic communication,

any other act (which includes omission), or

any combination of those, by a pupil or a group of pupils against another pupil or group of pupils, with the intention of causing physical or emotional harm to that pupil or group of pupils.

Our Anti- Bullying Policy takes cognizance of the Addressing Bullying in Schools Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.

Proactive prevention strategies are promoted throughout the school on a regular basis, and a particular focus is enforced during induction programmes, workshops, assemblies and events during Anti-Bullying Week. Reactive intervention strategies may be adopted in line with our pastoral and discipline structures.

Cyber-bullying, the targeting of someone through the use of technology, is an area that presents challenges within schools. We endeavour to educate all our school community on the dangers of the misuse of technology through our anti-bullying policy, our acceptable use of the internet policy and workshops and presentations for pupils and staff.