Student care and safeguarding

We’re a supportive, caring community working hard to meet all pupil needs. Life in Dallam’s school community is anchored around every child’s emotional and physical health and wellbeing.  

Whether focusing on academic skills and achievements or our pastoral approach and actions, we believe robust, positive relationships are fundamental. Those connections and interactions with our whole school team empower our students to thrive. 

We’ve recently enhanced two aspects of our student experience. Firstly, we’ve dedicated more meaningful time for students to connect with their form tutors, fostering stronger relationships and support systems within our school community. 

Secondly, we’ve expanded our offer of school outings and extracurricular activities, providing a wide range of enriching opportunities for students to explore their interests beyond the classroom. 

These initiatives are complemented by our commitment to delivering a rich and well-balanced curriculum.  

We also encourage students to take on diverse leadership roles, empowering them with independence and communication skills to thrive beyond their time at Dallam. 

You can find all the details on our policies, procedures and life at school on our policies page. 

Safeguarding at Dallam School

Our safeguarding team in school

At Dallam School, we are fully committed to safeguarding every student in our care. Our dedicated safeguarding team is always available to support students and families, and we encourage anyone with concerns or in need of guidance to get in touch.

All staff receive Level 1 safeguarding training and regular updates throughout the year. Students are taught how to keep themselves safe, recognise the signs that something may be wrong, and understand when and how to report concerns about themselves or others.

We offer several ways for students to share any worries they may have: in person, via TEAMS, through our CONFIDE reporting system, or using our new pastoral post boxes. We expect our students to be kind, respectful, courteous and compassionate in their interactions with one another. Just as importantly, we want every student to feel safe in school and confident that all adults here will listen to them and act on any concerns they raise.

Dallam School is a phone‑free environment. Students are not expected to use mobile phones at any point during the school day. This helps reduce distraction and ensures that communication with families takes place through the school’s phone and/or Synergy system when needed.

We regularly share safeguarding information with parents and carers to support conversations at home. On this page, you will find useful links to agencies that work with young people, guidance to help navigate the ever‑changing digital landscape, and key contacts within school and local authority services if you would like to discuss any concerns with us.

Operation Encompass

We are proud to be part of Operation Encompass, a national initiative that supports children and young people who are affected by domestic abuse. Through this partnership, we receive timely information from the police when they attend domestic incidents involving any of our students. This enables us to provide immediate, sensitive and professional support within school.

Being part of Operation Encompass helps us work in close collaboration with families, police and safeguarding teams to offer the right care at the right time. If you would like more information about Operation Encompass, please speak to our safeguarding team.

* Immediate risk of harm

If you have a safeguarding concern about a student who is at immediate risk of harm, please dial 999

* Not at immediate risk of harm

Cumbria - If you have a safeguarding concern for a student that is not at immediate risk of harm, please contact the Cumbria CSCP on 0333 240 1727 to report your concerns. If you require an response outside of working hours (weekends, Bank Holidays and between 5pm (4:30pm on Fridays) and 8:00am during the week) contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 0300 373 2724.

Lancashire - If you have a safeguarding concern for a student that is not at immediate risk of harm, please call 0300 123 6720 or out of hours 0300 123 6722.

Health, mental health and safeguarding resources

We’ve pulled together a list of trusted websites with lots of helpful advice on specific issues, including dealing with exam stress, bullying, Internet safety, drug and alcohol abuse advice and healthy eating and eating disorders.    

If you have any worries about your child’s wellbeing please contact our pastoral team so we can work together to help and support your child. 

Digital wellbeing

A group of Dallam School students are proud to serve as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors through The Diana Award. Their work focuses on three strands: inclusion, wellbeing and community. Here is a short message from the team about digital wellbeing:

Keeping your child safe online is an incredibly important responsibility in the 21st century. It can sometimes be difficult to know exactly what your child is doing online, but there are steps you can take to support them. Digital wellbeing is something that families, schools and young people work on together.

Using parental controls is a helpful way to make sure children are not accessing harmful content. Broadband filters can remove inappropriate websites and images from searches, and many services allow you to review which sites are being visited at home.

Recent research shows that around one in five children report experiencing online bullying. This can include verbal, emotional or mental harm. Make sure your child knows they can talk to you about anything that worries them. You can also contact the school for advice and support if needed - we are here to help.

Reporting an absence  

Our school day begins at 8.50am. 

If your child is going to be absent from school, you must report the reason to their pastoral co-ordinator via Synergy before 8.40am.

If your child is absent and we have not heard from you, we will text you as part of our safeguarding process.