Red Flags
The following information was provided to all learners by Mrs Cassidy Griffiths during a school assembly, emphasizing the importance of healthy and safe relationships between learners and teachers, and highlighting for learners, the need to be aware of any “red flags” or potentially harmful and negative situations.
The purpose of a school is to educate children. It is also a school’s primary duty of care to protect you from any kind of harm or abuse. This is an essential right of yours as children. Unfortunately, there are some people who try and take advantage of their duty of care and use it to manipulate, hurt, or abuse young people. This is an unpleasant truth, but you need to be aware of this to keep yourself safe. We are having this conversation to remind you of your rights, to help you recognise when your rights are being taken advantage of, to guide you through how to report when you recognise something is not right, and to remind you that we are here to protect and support you in every instance.
Importantly, you must remember that you have the right to privacy. You have the right to freedom. You have the right to decide what you participate in. You have the right to decide what happens to your body. You have the right to say no.
School should be an environment that is open, transparent, and safe. To make sure that you are safe, you need to be aware of what is not okay in the school environment and in your relationships with your staff members.
- Under no circumstance should you be accessing a staff member’s personal or private space. If a teacher invites you into these spaces, this is a red flag. This includes physical spaces such as a staff members private residence. It also includes figurative spaces for example a staff member sharing personal details about their life (e.g. who they are dating).
- A staff member is not allowed to touch you physically in any way for any reason, other than in a medical situation where your and your parents’ consent has been obtained. If a staff member starts putting their arm around you, hugs you, touches any part of your body, bumps into you or brushes any part of your body, this is a red flag.
- Your personal and private space may not be invaded by a staff member. If a staff member forces you to talk about your private life with them, this is a red flag. If a staff member asks you to share pictures or images of yourself (in any capacity) or asks for any information about your body this is a red flag.
- You may confide in staff members that you trust however it is a red flag if that staff member encourages you not to talk to anyone else about things that are worrying you.
- If a staff member tells you to keep anything about your relationship/something that has happened with them/something that they have done a secret, this is a red flag. No relationship is meant to be a secret. Nothing that happens at school should be a secret.
- You may not have a social relationship with any staff member. If a staff member invites you to a social event that is not school related or starts to interact with you privately and personally in any way on social media, this is a red flag and must be reported.
- It is always nice to get positive comments from staff member, however if a staff member makes comments about your physical appearance or seems to giving you a lot more attention than any other student this is a red flag.
- If a staff member offers you money for anything at all, this is a red flag.
- If a staff member gives you gifts of any kind, this is also a red flag.
- If a staff member makes comments of a sexual nature, makes jokes of a sexual nature, or uses obscene language or profanities, this is not appropriate and must be reported.
- If a staff member suggests that you spend time with them instead of your friends or your family, this is a red flag
While we have really stressed the relationship between yourselves and staff members, this also applies to relationships between yourselves. You may not invade another learner’s private or personal space without their consent and need to mindful of how your actions make another person feel. Similarly, if another learner’s actions or words make you feel uncomfortable this is also a red flag.
If you notice any of these red flags, or there is anything at all that makes you feel uncomfortable about your relationship with a staff member or how a staff member is treating you, this needs to be reported. When you report something, we can help you and we can put a stop to it.
- You can report any red flags to any member of staff who will help you with reporting it to school leadership.
- If you are unsure if something is inappropriate or unsure if it is a red flag, ASK. You can speak to Mrs Griffiths, our school psychologist, who can help you understand when something is not right and guide you through reporting and dealing with the situation.
- Importantly, no matter how insignificant something seems, if it reminds you of any red flag or makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, you need to report it. Sometimes we feel scared to report something in case we are “wrong”, or we have misunderstood a situation, or we fear the repercussions for ourselves. If something does not feel right, it probably isn’t.
- Anytime you report something, you will be taken seriously. You will not be judged. You are not to blame if you find yourself in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable and you will not be in trouble for it.
- Your reports will be dealt with confidentially and every step will be taken to ensure that you are protected.
In emphasising transparency, it is very important to talk to your parents, guardians, or adults that you trust. Talk to them about all your experiences, at school and elsewhere, positive and negative. There may be certain things that you do not recognise as being inappropriate that these adults can help guide you on. It is important to remember that nothing that happens at school should be kept from your parents/guardians. If you are made to feel that there is something you should not tell your parents/guardians, then it is probably wrong, and you should definitely tell them. Consider discussing a safety zone list with your parents i.e., the people that you can trust and talk to should they not be immediately available to you. A reminder that my office is a safe and confidential space that can be used anytime to discuss and work towards understanding your experiences.