Feeling worried or anxious?
Do not worry if you usually get help and support in school. During the time we are closed, you can pick from this list of services/support if you need to talk to someone.
You can email and someone from the safeguarding team will help you.
Safeguarding is everyone’s business and it is among the most important things we do. If our pupils do not feel safe, they will not learn.
The safeguarding lead for TCS is Rebecca Armour. The deputy safeguarding team consists of Stephanie Smith, Lisa Lincoln, Megan Booth, Jake Allcock, Rachel Dunn and Gemma Dexter.
Our online safety lead is Stephanie Smith
Our Prevent lead is Jake Allcock. Information around our prevent duty can be found here.
Our Domestic Violence lead is Stephanie Smith. Information around domestic abuse and how we work with multiple agencies to provide support can be found here.
If you have a concern regarding an adult working with children at The Cavendish School please contact Stephanie Smith the Head of School. You can also report directly to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO): telephone contact 01223 727967 or out of hours emergency duty team: 0345 0455203
Any individual student, staff member, parent/carer or visitor can make a referral, if they have a concern about a child or adult, directly to the safeguarding team or the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).
Sexual Abuse within Schools – Child on Child Abuse, Sexual Violence and Harassment and Harmful Sexual Behaviour
Our position as a school and an academy trust is clear: sexual violence and sexual harassment are never acceptable, will never be tolerated and are not an inevitable part of growing up. Such behaviour will never go unchallenged or become accepted and we remain committed to working openly and transparently with to promote mutual respect.
Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy has guidance within it around the indicators of peer on peer abuse and harmful sexual behaviour along with our response procedures. All relevant Safeguarding Policies are available in our policies section.
All students are taught the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum.
The appropriate means for disclosing an allegation of abuse relating to another student is always to inform a member of the specific academy’s safeguarding team directly or for pupils to make use of the SHARPs system. In the event that an allegation is made against a member of staff, this must be sent to the School Head or directly to the Trust Safeguarding Lead in the event that the concern regards the head of school. We will always act on concerns raised.
Useful Links:
Child Missing in Education Guidance:
Local Safeguarding Partnership Link:
| Service | Information/Support Offered | Contact details |
| CAMHS Live | Support with feelings of depression, anxiety, self-harming, suicidal thoughts, stressed | www.nhft.nhs.uk/camhslive |
| Young Minds | Crisis Messenger | Text YM to 85258 |
| Childline | Online, on the phone help about all areas of concern. Web site is full of useful information | 0800 1111 www.childline.org.uk |
| VOICE | Victim of theft, robbery, attacks, abuse, violence, harassment, or stalking? | 0300 3031965 |
| CIRV | In a gang and want out? Know someone else who needs help getting out of gang related activity? | call 24/7 on 07539183975 |
| STEM | Supporting teenage mental health | www.stem4.org.uk |
| NHS | For your mind, for your body – support for all areas | www.nhs.uk |
| NSPCC | National Society for the Protection of Children | 0808 800 5000 (free) |
| Samaritans | Support for people in crisis | 08457 909090 |
| School Nursing | Chat Service | 07480 635443 |
| Kooth | Free safe and online support for young people | Kooth.com |
| YOUnited | Mental health and emotional well-being to support children | Chums.uk.com Cambridgeshire : 0330 3000 830 |
| App | Helps you with | Logo |
| Calm Harm (part of Stem4) | Help you to resist or manage the urge to self-harm and can help to reduce anxiety. |  |
| Clear fear (part of Stem4) | Clear Fear is a free app to help children and young people manage the symptoms of anxiety. |  |
| Combined Minds (part of Stem4) | Combined Minds is a free app to help families and friends provide mental health support. |  |
| What’s Up | Use the positive and negative habit tracker to maintain your good habits. |  |
| Mind Shift | Mind Shift stresses the importance of changing how you think about anxiety. Think of this app as the cheerleader in your pocket, encouraging you to take charge of your life, ride out intense emotions, and face challenging situations. |  |
| Happify | The Happify app is your fast-track to a good mood. Try various engaging games, activity suggestions, gratitude prompts and more to train your brain as if it were a muscle, to overcome negative thoughts. |  |
Local Foodbanks
| Food Bank (Cambridge) | Cambridge City Foodbank | https://cambridgecity.foodbank.org.uk/ 07772 538628 |
| Food Bank (Huntingdon) | Trussell Trust Food Bank | 01480 458565 |
Coping Strategies (Core Studies)
Take care of yourself before you take care of your performance| Relaxation | Controlled breathing and progressive muscle relaxation (examples below): Rectangular Breathing – using windows, doors, picture etc. Breathe in and out deeply as your eyes follow the rectangle. Box Breathing – breathe in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. 7-11 Breathing – in for 7, out for 11, or as long as you can manage. The outbreath is your friend when stressed, or not feeling stressed. It brings oxygen to your heart and brain, which we need more than ever when under pressure. Mindfulness Colouring – colouring a picture / number colouring book. |
| Thinking About Something Good | Example: sit and draw a picture about a time when you were on holiday. What were you doing? What could you see? Who were you with? What were you wearing? What could you smell? |
| Leaving a Situation | Leaving the room and coming back later |
| Talking to Someone | Talking to someone, including assertiveness and seeking advice and support |
| Mental Games | Practice mental games to shift your attention (2-3 minutes): Alphabet games: naming someone famous for each pair of initials: AB, BC, CD. Category games: naming as many categories within 2 minutes (vegetables, flavour of ice creams etc). Memory games: naming all the teachers in the school. Rhyming games: listing as many rhyming words within 2 minutes |
At The Cavendish School we are working in partnership with Cambridgeshire Police and Cambridgeshire County Council to identify and provide appropriate support to pupils who have experienced domestic abuse in their home; this scheme is called Operation Encompass.
In order to achieve this, Cambridgeshire’s Education Safeguarding Team will share police information of all domestic incidents, where one of our pupils has been present, with the Designated Safeguarding Lead(s) (DSL)/Domestic Abuse (DA)Lead. On receipt of any information, the DSL/DA Lead will decide on the appropriate support the child may require.
The Operation Encompass information is stored in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information. All information sharing and resulting actions will be undertaken in accordance with the ‘Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Joint Agency Protocol for Domestic Abuse – Notifications to Schools, Colleges and Early Years settings’.