At Bath College, the safety and well-being of our students are our top priorities. We are committed to creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. This page provides essential information about our safeguarding policies, procedures, and resources.

What is Safeguarding?

Safeguarding refers to the measures we take to protect the health, well-being, and human rights of our students, ensuring that they are safe from harm, abuse, and neglect. It encompasses a range of policies and practices aimed at promoting a culture of safety and respect.

Our Commitment

We are dedicated to:

• Protecting Students: Ensuring that all students feel safe and secure in our college community.
• Promoting Welfare: Supporting the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of our students.
• Encouraging Reporting: Creating an environment where students can report concerns without fear of retribution.
• Training Staff: Providing regular training to staff on safeguarding policies and procedures.

Safeguarding Policies

We have comprehensive safeguarding policies in place to ensure the safety of our students. Key policies include:

• Safeguarding and Prevent policy: Guidelines for identifying and responding to concerns about the safety of our students 

How to Report a Concern

If you have a concern about your own safety or that of another student, please follow these steps:

1. Speak to a Trusted Staff Member: Reach out to a teacher, tutor, or any staff member you feel comfortable with.
2. Contact the Safeguarding Team: You can directly reach our dedicated safeguarding team at safe@bathcollege.ac.uk.

Support Services

We offer various support services for students in need, including:

Counselling Services

The College has a counselling service for students partnered with Off the Record, a Southwest based charity, offering counselling support for our learners up to the age of 25. With a core staff of three experienced counsellors who are all accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). All counsellors adhere to the BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice.

The specific focus of the Student Counselling Service is to provide support for the student’s mental or emotional well-being. In general, our role is not to provide information or advice but to help the student to speak about their difficulties, to make sense of what they are experiencing and to explore possible ways forward for themselves.

Counselling can help with exploring difficult relationships, coping with stress, depression, trauma, abuse, life crisis, loss, bereavement, transitions, phobias, developing self-knowledge, exploring body image or sexual identity, working through difficult feelings such as anger, anxiety, fear or emotional pain, talking about personal or learning problems, making decisions or choices for yourself, looking after your mental, physical, emotional and sexual health, working towards increased independence, gaining improved sense of personal well-being,  Understanding reasons for self-harm or eating difficulties.

Confidential Text: 07791766784

studentcounsellingservice@bathcollege.ac.uk

Students can normally receive a first appointment within one month of first making contact with the service. Students can contact the service directly by confidential telephone or text, through their tutor, or through the Student Welfare team.

Health Services

Our Nurse runs drop in sessions for students to seek confidential advice on any aspect of their health. This can range from stop smoking support to healthy eating advice or contraception to sexual health advice. We also run a number of awareness events over the year as part of our personal development provision which gives students the opportunity to find out more about specific well-being topics. You can access the College Nurse through the Student Welfare team, by email: yvette.taylor@hcrgcaregroup.com or by messaging 07976916058.

Mentoring

Our mentors provide practical support tailored to the individual. This could include signposting to useful services in college and the local area Money management Applications for Financial Support: e.g. Learner Support Fund or charity funding Help with housing Arranging meetings and accompanying students to appointments e.g. The One Stop Shop for housing or benefits advice Resolving problems with other students Overcoming difficulties on your course Help with planning for coursework deadlines Arranging a college buddy to help you settle in.

The Welfare Team will be happy to provide mentoring and you can arrange this by speaking with your tutor, emailing the team (safe@bathcollege.ac.uk) or coming to see us in the Welfare Offices across both campuses.

Tutorial support

If you are a full-time student, you will have a personal tutor, who is usually someone who also teaches you.
This tutor will:

• Help you to set targets that you need to make progress through your course.
• Keep an eye on your attendance, punctuality and progress on your course.
• Provide you with an induction into the College.
• Check if you need additional learning support to help you on your course.
• Help you to develop good study skills.
• Write a reference for you when you complete your course.
• Listen to you if there are personal issues that you want to discuss and advise you of extra support you can have to address these issues; if you need help with a particular issue your tutor will probably know where you can get it.
• Organise an enrichment programme that will give you opportunities outside your course.
• Address issues you and your fellow students raise about your courses and the College.
• Meet with you regularly for a 1 to 1 tutorial.
• Produce a written review of your progress at least 3 times each year – and send a copy to your parents/guardian if you are 18 or under or your employer if they have paid for your course
• Part-Time Students: we believe that part-time students should be provided with support and feedback on how they are doing on their course. If you are a part-time student you will have a tutor who will be someone who teaches you. As a part-time student you will receive the same support as a full-time student although you may not receive as many written reviews of your progress.
• Parent Information: the tutor also acts as a ‘gateway’ to the support services that the College provides to help students with personal matters that may affect their studies. You will be invited to meet your son or daughter’s new tutor within 3 weeks of the start of the course to give you a chance to find out more about College life and the course they are studying.

Online Safety

In today’s digital world, safeguarding extends to online interactions. We provide lessons to help students navigate online safety through our Personal Development provision, including:

• Social Media Guidelines: Best practices for safe social media use.
• Cyberbullying Information: How to recognize and address cyberbullying.

Online Safety Policy 2024-25

Contact Us

For any questions or concerns regarding safeguarding at Bath College, please contact our Safeguarding Team:

• Email: safe@bathcollege.ac.uk
• Text or call: 07815491988 or 07966980534

Meet the Safeguarding team