Student Well Being
Help! Are you worried about something that’s happening to you or a friend? Do you need help right now? It’s not always easy to admit it but we all need help sometimes. If you’ve got a problem or something you’re worried about you'll find lots of people and places that can help here.
REMEMBER – whatever the problem is, talking about it can be the first step to solving it. If there’s an adult you trust like a parent, carer or a form teacher, the SSO’s or a teacher, talk to them first about what’s happening. There is a specific team of staff at John Colet whom you can talk to called the Safeguarding Team. Please see the notice board outside the School Hall or in the area outside the Medical Room for details of the staff members. You can see or speak to any adult in school who will be able to direct you to the correct member of staff. In school you can self-refer by filling in slip located outside the Medical Room.
Family Support Service workshops
Student Welfare Officer (SWO)
The school has a SWO who provides first aid to students who have suffered an injury or illness. Parents/carers will be called if we feel that they are too unwell to continue and emergency services will be contacted if necessary. It is essential that the school can contact a responsible adult in the case of an emergency.
If your son or daughter has a medical condition please keep us updated and provide any medicines which need administering during school hours. The following forms relating to medical conditions and the administration of paracetamol or other medicines should be completed and returned to the school. These forms should also be updated as required.
Administration of Medicines Form
If there are any concerns or queries please contact the Student Welfare Officer.
Health for Teens
From February 2023 Buckinghamshire School Nurse provision launched a new web-based text
messaging service for Secondary School-aged children in Bucks. Young people who access this will be directly linked to one of the School Nurses, who will be able to offer text message support, advice and where necessary will be able to see the young person in school. To use the messaging service students can text 07312 263295 or visit this link.
The messaging service will be available Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm when an NHS School Nurse will reply to the message. Should a student be looking to access this service during school term time then they will need to do so between 3pm and 4pm, so as to adhere to our school's use of mobile phone policy.
If a message is sent outside of working hours an automated response is sent, advising that we will contact during the next working day. The automated response advises that this is not an emergency service and that urgent help should be sought from an NHS walk-in centre or by calling NHS 111. In an emergency, dial 999 or go to A&E.
Youth Counselling Services
Kooth Commissioned by Bucks County Council free online service.
Safe and anonymous online support for young people Monday – Friday 12pm – 10pm Saturday – Sunday 6pm – 10pm Pioneers in online counselling, trusted by the NHS and over 250,000 people who have used or are using their services.
Other useful contacts:
- National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children 0808 800 5000 NSPCC
- ChildLine 0800 1111 Childline
- Saneline National out-of-hours mental health helpline Saneline
- Samaritans round the clock service, a safe place to talk Samaritans
- Useful Information on a range of mental health issues including self help guides and resources.
Mind Information line 0300 123 3393 Mind Student Minds Young Minds - Bucks Mind 01494 463364 Bucks Mind
- The Mix support service for young people The Mix
- Bucks CAMHS local specialist mental health services for children and young people provided by the NHS. CAMHS
- One-to-one support to young people at risk of Sexual or Criminal Exploitation R-U Safe Bucks 01494 785 552; 07546 075638 R-U Safe Bucks
- Advice on Eating Disorders Beat
- Bullying Help Anti- Bullying Alliance Bullies Out Kidscape
- Addaction is one of the UK's leading mental health, drug and alcohol charities. Addaction
- Gender identity and sexuality LGBT Health and Wellbeing Stonewall
- Exam Stress Youthspace
- Young Carers Bucks Young Carer
- Losing a loved one Child Bereavement UK Hope again- bereavement
- Bucks ‘you matter’ guide offering help and advice on lots of the issues above Bucks You Matter
- stem4 - Teenage Mental Health Charity,
- Parent Info aims to raise parents’ confidence in digital parenting skills and help them to make informed decisions about addressing the risks their children face.
- Bucks Family Information Service - free, impartial information to families with children aged 0 to 19 years (or up to 25 years with a special educational need or disability), young people and professionals.
Click on this link for a seven step CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) course that you can follow online, to help yourself to deal with issues such as anger, anxiety and depression. This course has been linked from NHS Berkshire Self Help Course
Ready for social networking?
Want to stay in touch with your friends online? You’ll know there are lots of social networking websites and mobile apps that people use to chat, comment, share pictures and game with their friends. You probably also know that for most of these sites, like Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter, you need to be at least 13 years old to sign up. For some, like Whatsapp, you need to be even older.
If you’re under 13 you shouldn’t be using them – you’ll be breaking their rules and could be putting yourself at risk.
Why? There are lots of reasons why these sites can be unsafe for young people, even those over 13, so it’s important that you don’t use them until you know how to do so safely .Remember - there’s no rush to start social networking and there are plenty of other ways to stay in touch with your friends. If you are already using social network sites, make sure you know what the risks are and what you can do to be safer.
For further guidance go to the CEOP - Child Exploitation and Online Protection website or contact them 0870 000 3344
Help and advice if you are being bullied
Bullying is deliberately hurtful behaviour by an individual or a group, repeated over a period of time. This could be over consecutive days/weeks. Usually, there is a power imbalance that makes it hard for the victim to defend themselves.
As a school we are committed to, creating a supportive, caring and safe environment in which every child is valued, challenged and fully developed. We promote an ethos of good behaviour where students treat one another and the school staff with respect. We will strive to create and maintain an environment where students can openly discuss bullying without fear of discrimination and students are not afraid to challenge and stand up for what they know is right.
As a school it would be naive of us not to acknowledge that in a community of over 1000 children/adolescents bullying in its various forms is likely to occur. As it is often a secretive activity we need to change attitudes and create a school ethos that makes clear that we will not tolerate bullying of any kind. Bullying is anti-social behaviour and can affect both students and staff; it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Only when all issues of bullying are addressed will everybody be able to fully benefit from the opportunities available at John Colet School.
StudentAntiBullyingLeaflet-modified.pdf
ExampleParentCarerAntiBullyingLeaflet.pdf
Gender Identity Procedure
The procedure outlined below is supported by the Child Protection policy and framework documents that support safeguarding. This procedure should be read in association with the Child Protection policy.