Student Life Update

Student life has provided further Christmas crafting sessions for JPQ Childcare students who joined us on Monday. A really enjoyable session took place complete with hot chocolate with marshmallows and chocolates! Everyone was impressively creative making cards and gift tags.

On Wednesday 13 December, 9.30-11.30 in the student lounge,  Student Life is hosting the return of the Christmas chocolate fountain so please do let your students know if they want to come and try some delicious chocolate treats!

Anti bullying week occurred earlier in November. The information shared by Student Life then, remains relevant and important now, so we are including in the bulletin for staff.

Student Life highlighted awareness of anti-bullying themes with an information board in the Café lounge, posters on College noticeboards and information on the App raising awareness of resources available to tackle bullying issues and detailing where students can access help and advice, including Kooth, Childline, and YES. It is worth remembering that bullying is not just focused on the young people we teach but is about all of us having the right to feel safe from any form of bullying and the psychological harm it inflicts. No one should have to endure bullying. The website Anti-Bullying Alliance is a useful resource.

A quick reminder of the key points of our own Anti bullying and harassment policy:

• Highlands is committed to preventing bullying and harassment.

• There are clear consequences for inappropriate behaviour conducted in the Highlands College environment.

• The Student Disciplinary Procedure will be used to support the Bullying & Harassment Policy

• Bullying can take many different forms (cyber-bullying by text message, social media, gaming)

• Bullying is defined by the nature and the impact of the behaviour, not the intention behind it

• If you feel you are the victim of bullying or harassment, tell someone promptly – Personal Tutor, a member of Student Life team or any member of staff

Referrals to Student life:

As we approach the end of this term, we thought you might be interested to know some stats on your referrals to us so far.

As of Thursday 7 December, we have had 125 referrals which is an increase on this time last year. Following a referral via EBS, we triage and allocate each student to one of the team who can then involve support processes within college, or refer to external agencies for specialist or multi agency support. We have also been very active in our partnership working with external statutory agencies. Our co-working with our Yes counsellors has been very successful and has provided a hugely positive addition to our resources here at Highlands. Their support has been fantastic. Huge thanks to Esme and Cathy.