Keeping Our Community Safe
Keeping all members of our community safe is of paramount importance. Students will hear the terms “Speak Out, Stay Safe” and “Safeguarding” often as we work to educate our community on how to protect themselves. Safeguarding refers to the education, policy and procedures that help to keep all members of our community, in particular our students, safe.
As an Education in Motion (EiM) school, Dulwich International High School Suzhou benefits from the extensive experience and expertise of an international group of schools in regard to community safety. This includes everything from completing reference and police checks on all staff, delivering regular training and educating our students on appropriate behaviour and where to seek support if they ever require it. Our message to our students is simple: Speak Out, Stay Safe!
If ever a student in our care is feeling unsafe, vulnerable, bullied or uncomfortable, it always helps to speak to an adult on campus. All DHSZ staff have received appropriate training to address concerns and act accordingly. Often this will mean referring students to a member of our safeguarding team who will deal with the concern empathetically. Concerns raised by students are dealt with privately and only shared with other staff on a need-to-know basis.
Students will see posters in every room on campus with details of the key persons they may reach out to if they have a concern. On the back of their ID card, they will also find emergency contact numbers and essential school rules.
There is no tolerance for bullying, whether physical, emotional, in person or online. Forstudents who feel they are a victim of bullying they must refer such concerns to the school. Often, concerns around bullying are based on online behaviour where a student posts images, memes or text on online platforms which are unkind and reflect poorly on them. Students must appreciate that anything they post online may be available forever, impacting their future university, internship, or job applications.
We encourage our parents to monitor their child's online behaviour and profiles to help ensure their conduct is appropriate. Students should carefully check their profile settings, not accept friendship or follow requests from people they do not know and be wary of being added to large Wechat groups. Students should never take photos of other students or staff on campus, make memes or post images or videos online without permission.
In our tutor time and Lifeskills programme we will actively teach and educate our students on how to behave appropriately in person or online. This is very important as this will help prepare our students for independent life overseas. Tutor time, Drama, Physical Education, CCAs and Lifeskills are essential parts of our curriculum that students often undervalue. These are important as engagement in these areas shows a commitment to self-improvement and responsibility, which helps keep one safe and positively influences a student's profile when applying to university.
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