Welfare and Safeguarding
Safe and Happy Language Learning
Our most important job is to keep you safe! We also want you to be happy.
We take Safety and Happiness very seriously! Jake, our Head of Junior Programmes is also our Designated Safeguarding Lead. Together with the Safeguarding Team and all the staff at Melton College, Jake is ready to talk to you and help with any problems.
Safeguarding is a complicated area with lots of long words but everything is connected with just two; Safe and Happy.
Find out more about what Safeguarding covers by following this link.
For our Junior students
We accept Junior students aged 8-10 (if with mum or dad), and 11~19. Our 18 and 19 year old juniors are called "Young-adults". Let us explain....
In the United Kingdom (Britain) you become an adult when you are 18. At this age you legally make all your own decisions and are totally responsible for all your actions. When you are under 18 you are, in law, a child. You are not allowed to do certain things; you are not allowed to make all your own decisions. But you are responsible for all your actions!
All our junior students have rules to follow. You can find our main rules here. Our rules are to keep you safe and happy, during your time with us.
Melton College has some additional rules for juniors aged 18 and 19
- You must accept all the junior rules
- You must set an example
- You must behave responsibly
- You must be a role model by setting an example to the younger students
- You must at all times behave appropriately for an environment with children
We have a special page for our Young Adults, giving you more information.
Melton College has a number of extra rules in place for students under 18.
- Accept and follow the College Curfew Times
- Attend all Saturday excursions
- Attend all timetabled classes
- Not hire or borrow a bicycle
- Inform their homestay host when they are leaving the house during the evening and on Sunday.
Additional Melton College Rules for students under 16
- Students under 16 must return to their host family for their evening meal unless on a College activity or with a group leader
- Students under 16 may only go into the city if accompanied by a College teacher or a group leader, or with the knowledge and consent of the host family or the College and in the company of at least two other student
Melton College rules if you are part of a group
Many students come to Melton College as part of a group. The group is almost always led either by a leader or by the students’ teacher.
All of the rules on this page have been agreed in advance as part of the booking process. They cannot be changed by leaders or teachers, once in the UK.
In practical terms, this means that the leader or teacher cannot, for example, change the curfew times or ask for additional meals etc. Additional arrangements made by the leader or teacher must be made with the knowledge and agreement of the College.
Melton College Rules for the Guidance of Adults on our Gold Course
Our Gold Course is our only Adult only Course at Melton College. The course is separated from the junior programme in a number of ways, for example, the lesson times and break times are different.
Gold Course do, however, run in the same building and share the same facilities as our Junior Courses. This is important as some of our Gold Course participants are the parents of Junior Course children.
We have some simple guidance for our Gold Course participants, to help them get the most from the course. You can find the link here, or in the download section.
As an adult, we invite you to share in the safeguarding of our younger students by reporting anything that concerns you to Jake, our Designated Safeguarding Lead. We would also ask you to observe the following:
- Always behave appropriately in the presence of children
- Do not smoke except in the designated Smoking Area
- Do not use the main toilets during the times the children have a break - you have access to the first floor and ground floor toilets (for which your teacher will provide the door code) at all times
- On excursions, if possible, sit next to another adult rather than a child
- If you are here with your own children, be careful you do not find yourself taking responsibility for other peoples' children as well
What are the College curfew rules?
All students on Young learners' and Young Adults' Course must follow College curfews
Students under 18 must return by the Curfew times set by the College. Please note, these times cannot be changed by the student, their parents, relations, agents, teachers or group leaders!
Curfew Times for students under 18
Age | Students must be home by |
18 or 19 | 23:00 |
17 | 22:30 |
16 | 22:00 |
16 | 21:30* |
14 | 21:00* |
13 | 20:30* |
12 | 20:00* |
11 and under | 19:30* |
*Students must return home by these times unless they are on a College activity
*Students under 16 must return home after College for their evening meal
Our Safeguarding Policy
This sets out in a lot of detail our commitment to safeguarding.
Melton College has a moral and legal obligation to provide students with the highest possible standard of care. We are committed to devising and implementing policies so that all staff are aware of their responsibilities to safeguard children from harm and abuse. All staff and all adult involved in the College are required to follow procedures to protect children and report any concerns about their welfare to appropriate authorities.
Our aim is to promote good practice, providing children and young people with appropriate safety/protection whilst in the care of Melton College.
Melton College is committed to the following:
- The welfare of the child is paramount
- All children, whatever their age, culture, ability, gender, language, racial origin, religious belief and/or sexual identity should be able to participate in tuition and social activities in a safe environment
- Taking all reasonable steps to protect children from harm, discrimination and degrading treatment and to respect their rights, wishes and feelings
- All suspicions and allegations of poor practice or abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately
- All staff will be recruited with regard to their suitability for that responsibility, and will be provided with guidance and/or training in good practice and child protection procedures
- Working in partnership with parents and children is essential for the protection of children
The full policy is in the download section
Our Anti-Bullying Policy
Bullying is
- Making someone sad
- Making someone scared
- Making someone embarrassed
- Making someone do something that they know is wrong
- Making someone do something that makes them uncomfortable
- Bullying is deliberately hurtful behaviour repeated over a period of time at a targeted individual/group arising from and taking advantage of an imbalance of power. Bullying may be indirectly contributed to by others who do not
- inform staff that help is needed.
Bullying can be
- Physical – e.g. hitting, pushing or any act that invades personal space
- Verbal – e.g. name calling, teasing, taunting, playing cruel jokes on people. Racist or sexual harassment
- Social – e.g. ignoring people, embarrassing people in public, not including people (in real life or online). Discriminating on grounds of religion, culture, race, gender, disability or sexuality
- Online – e.g. posting hurtful or threatening messages on social media or messaging apps
Anyone can be a bully, anyone can be bullied. We will not allow anyone to bully you, or anyone else and we will stop them as soon as you tell us!
The full policy is in the download section
Our Photo and Video Policy
You will want to take lots of Photos. We want to take lots of photos. For the College, we have rules about what we do with photos.
- We will not take your photo if you do not want us to
- We will not publish your photo without your permission - if you are under 18, we will also get your parents' permission
For our students, we also have some simple rules
- Don't take photos of people who do not want you to take their photo
- Don't publish anyone's photo without permission
- Don't take photos which you know will upset, embarrass or humiliate anyone
The full policy is in the download section
Our Safer Recruitment Policy
We have a detailed policy for the safe recruitment of staff. The policy, which you can find here, is detailed and is a key part of our wider safeguarding policy.