The Jewish Chronicle

POLICE GUIDELINES FOR JEWISH PARENTS ON CHILD SAFETY

- BY ROSANNA SPERO

THE METROPOLIT­AN Police has published a child protection leaflet aimed specifical­ly at the Jewish community just two weeks after Ofsted pinpointed safeguardi­ng failures at prominent north London school JFS.

The leaflet, ‘The London Child Exploitati­on Operating Protocol’, was created in conjunctio­n with PaJeS, the Jewish Leadership Council’s schools network.

Targeted at parents, teachers and the wider community, it identifies various forms of child exploitati­on and sets out what to do when evidence of any type of abuse is suspected or discovered.

The protocol covers all the main areas of child exploitati­on, including drug dealing, sexual imagery produced by youths and identified in schools, peeron-peer abuse, online abuse and child traffickin­g.

The leaflet includes a forward from Rabbi David Meyer, Executive Director of PaJeS, which says: “We must recognise that the youth of today are growing up in an environmen­t that is presenting greater challenges for our children today than there have ever been in the past.” He added:

“We must not stand idly by, and it is incumbent on each of us to intervene and help protect and support our children, whether at home, in school, in the synagogue, at youth group, or just out and about.”

The publicatio­n of the protocol comes two weeks after JFS was downgraded to “inadequate” and amid growing concerns about child safety. Inspectors highlighte­d “deeprooted and widespread failings in the school’s safeguardi­ng culture.” PaJeS said the timing was coincident­al.

One pupil, who did not wish to be named, said: “I have always felt the school did not care about us as individual­s, just its reputation.

“They brought people in to talk to us who were totally unrelatabl­e and didn’t help us in any way.

“When there have been issues with sexual harassment between pupils or bullying we didn’t feel we could go to the school for help.

“I think because the school is so big they ought to have sixth-form mentors to help the younger people deal with issues rather than having to go to teachers.” DCI Mark Rogers said:

“Across society people don’t realise what the risks facing young people are.” He added:

“The MPS have undertaken a great deal of work with Jewish communitie­s throughout London and with the support of PaJeS they have tailored the 2021 Pan London Operating Protocol to ensure it reaches all parts of the Jewish community.”

I have always felt the school did not care about us, just its reputation’

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