Safeguarding

What is Safeguarding?

Safeguarding at Blackpool and The Fylde College means taking all necessary actions to promote the welfare of students and to protect them from harm.

Safeguarding includes:

• Protecting all students from abuse, neglect, exploitation and maltreatment
• Preventing harm to health, mental health and wellbeing
• Taking action to ensure all students are safe, feel safe, and can achieve the best possible outcomes

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.
 

Safeguarding Team Introduction

Blackpool and The Fylde College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of all students, staff, and visitors.

To support this commitment, the College has a dedicated Safeguarding Team who work proactively with students to provide support during what may be a range of difficult, challenging, or vulnerable times. The team offers guidance, intervention, and reassurance to help ensure students feel safe, supported, and able to engage fully in their learning experience.
 

How Can the Safeguarding Team Help?

If you are worried about yourself or another student, you can speak to any member of Blackpool and The Fylde College staff. They will ensure your concern is shared with the Safeguarding Team, who can offer help and support.

A member of the Safeguarding Team will usually meet with you in person to listen to your concerns, talk through what is happening, and support you through what may be a difficult or worrying time.

The Safeguarding Team can help with a wide range of issues, including:

• Abuse at home or while at College
• Bullying
• Sexual harassment or other forms of harassment
• Online safety concerns
• Mental health and emotional wellbeing
• Substance misuse
• Exploitation, including sexual or criminal exploitation
• Risk of radicalisation (being drawn into extremism or terrorism)
• Homelessness or housing insecurity
• Sexual health and healthy relationships

You do not need to be certain something is wrong to ask for help if something doesn’t feel right, it’s always okay to talk to someone.
 

Contact Us

If you are a parent/carer or member of the public and you are concerned about a student, please call the Safeguarding Team directly who will be happy to assist.

You can also contact a member of the safeguarding team directly via email for non-urgent enquiries and information requests:

Call: 01253 504444
Email: safeguardingadministration@blackpool.ac.uk
 

Related Documents

Safeguarding Policy (Students and Apprentices) 2025-26
Safeguarding Guidance 2025-26

Operation Encompass

Blackpool and the Fylde College participates in Operation Encompass. 

Operation Encompass is a unique Police and Education early intervention safeguarding partnership which ensures that a young person’s college is informed, prior to the start of the next college day, that there has been an incident of Domestic Abuse or any incident in which the young person has been exposed in which they are considered to be vulnerable to harm, and which might then have an impact on them in college the following day.

Each school/college is informed of all such incidents, not just those where an offence can be identified or those which are graded as high risk. The partnership recognises that all incidents of Domestic Abuse/vulnerability can be harmful to children and young people. This information will be shared throughout the year, including holidays and weekends. Information will only be shared with the college by the police where it is identified that a young person was present, witnessed or was involved in a domestic abuse incident.

Nominated members of staff, known as ‘Key Adults’, have been trained to liaise with the police.  At Blackpool and the Fylde college, Key Adults are members of the Safeguarding Team who will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the college makes provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. The Key Adults will keep this information confidential, and will only share it on a need to know basis, for instance, to the Personal Tutor and teachers of the young person. It will not be shared with other students.

If you would like to know more about Operation Encompass, please follow the link below:

operationencompass.org
 

Radicalisation and Extremism

The Counter-terrorism (CONTEST) strategy 2018 defines ‘extremism’ as vocal or active opposition to the fundamental British values of:

• Democracy
• The rule of law
• Individual liberty
• Mutual respect
• Tolerance of people with different faiths and beliefs

Extremism also includes calls for the death of members of the armed forces, whether in this country or overseas. Some groups and organisations that promote extremist ideologies are not proscribed terrorist groups or organisations.

These groups support divisive or hateful narratives towards others, but may not promote extreme violence. For example, they may hold views that support the distrust or hatred of people with different faiths or undermine the principles of democracy.
 

What is Prevent?

Prevent is all about keeping people and communities safe from the threat of terrorism. It is one of the four strands of the government's “CONTEST” counter-terrorism strategy; the other strands are Pursue, Protect and Prepare. Full details of the Prevent Strategy can be found on GOV.uk.

Here is the Blackpool and The Fylde College Prevent Strategy (you must be a member of the B&FC community to view this resource)

The Government website ‘Educate Against hate’ has useful resources to help staff address raise awareness of extremism and radicalisation.

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