Safeguarding

Many parents find their teenager's behaviour challenging. Teenagers' behaviour can be baffling, stressful, hurtful and often worrying. But in most cases it does not mean there is anything more serious going on than the natural process of becoming an adult.

Many of the common behaviour issues that parents find hard are an essential part of puberty and growing up. Surges of hormones, combined with body changes, struggling to find an identity, pressures from friends and a developing sense of independence, mean the teenage years are a confusing time for your child.

You can find information about how to support teenagers plus links to useful sites via the ‘NHS website’.

It’s important we make time to talk to young people about mental health throughout the year, not just on ‘Time to Talk Day’. The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families has some top tips for parents and carers about managing conversations with young people about mental health.

You can follow the link below: ‘Talking mental health with young people at secondary school’.

Download the ‘Where’s the harm‘ booklet to raise your awareness of underage sales of vapes and tobacco.

To understand what it is, how to recognise the warning signs, what to do and more, the ‘Internet Watch Foundation’ have put together an information page.

It is important to know that the victims of ‘sextortion’ are never to blame. The criminals who try to extort money or make victims do things they don’t want to do are the ones at fault.

• Safe settings, controls and monitoring
• App settings on your child’s device
• Help and reporting
• Talking to children about life online
• Top tips for parents
• Important topics to talk to your child about

https://parentsafe.lgfl.net/home#h.ldnnd1hbl56b

LGFL parent safe Parental Awareness

Parental playlist (UK) How do I keep my child safe online?

Video games offer some amazing opportunities, but parents can find it tricky to navigate the topic with their children. UNICEF have sought the advice of a video games expert from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, to offer guidance for parents.

One of the things we really encourage parents to do is to play video games with their children. Sit down and let them teach you how to play. Let them be the expert. Let them have the joy of showing you their worlds.

Engaging with your children in this way helps establish that this is a hobby of theirs that you are interested in learning more about and, hopefully, see the value in. That way, when you are having a conversation with them about video games, they are not just thinking: “Well, you just don’t get it.”

UNICEF have produced an article with clear and simple advice for parents and carers about online gaming which you can find on ‘UNICEF’s website’.

Use the ‘ABC online safety checklist’ for parents to help you manage your individual child’s online safety.

Guidance for parents and carers of neurodivergent gamers, the following tips will help keep your child safe as they play ‘video games online’.

Online scams are a bigger risk now than ever. Parent Zone research found that 96% of young people in the UK aged 13-18 have made an online purchase. Of those young people, 42% had subscribed to something accidentally, been scammed, or lost money in some other way.

If your child has been the victim of a scam or if you want to find out about preventative measures, you can find useful information in Parent Zone’s ‘How to deal with Online Scams’ guide.

The AdWise guide ‘Online guide to outsmart online ads and traps’ explains, in simple terms, how companies make money through online advertising and offers tips to young people on navigating marketing traps. It also delves into the online rights that are crucial for young people to be aware of.

Join us on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month from 9:30am-11:00am at Carnforth Hub. The hub is for people of all ages, including parents who live locally, to pop in and have a chat and a brew in a warm space and maybe be tempted by a fancy pastry!

There will be advice from either myself or colleagues from Community Volunteering Service (CVS), Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), and Health who will join us whenever possible.

We also provide focussed sessions on topics including Special Education Needs, employment, relationships and health and we will also be opening a One Stop Shop for families in Lancaster.

The hub is also for parents who live locally who may want to know more about what is on offer by Children and Family Wellbeing, and Early Help Assessment. We are still offering CAB appointments and the Foodclub each Friday afternoon.

We hope you will join us at Carnforth.

Rachel Norris

Senior Family Support Worker (Community)

Help is available from a variety of agencies e.g., Citizens Advice Bureau, Smoking Cessation, Children and Family Wellbeing Service, Lancaster City Council (and more to come) on the first Thursday of the month at Morecambe Library, 9:30am – 11:30am and every third Friday of the month at Lune Park Family Hub.

In conjunction with Lancashire Police, LGGS is involved in a national initiative called “Operation Encompass”.  The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident.

Following an incident, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared.  Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff are made aware early enough to help and support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.

At LGGS our Operation Encompass lead in school is Miss Bellin, Deputy Headteacher. This is a valuable initiative that means we can help and support students and their families within our school when they need us most.

You can find out more information by visiting the Operation Encompass website:

Operation Encompass: https://www.operationencompass.org/