Information for students under the age of 18
In Centre of English Studies we take the care and supervision of all students very seriously, but especially those students who are under the age of 18. In UK law, people under the age of 18 are classed as children. Therefore, we have many policies and procedures in place to ensure the well-being and safety of all students, and especially our younger students.
16 and 17 year olds studying in the adult school
We do accept students under the age of 18 in our adult school who will be mixed into classes with adult students. In order to ensure that these students feel secure and safe we make special provision for them. Namely, students aged 16 and 17 studying on adult courses:
- Will have a special section giving specific information relevant to their age group in the induction
- Will have a special meeting once every week as part of the social programme.
- Will have regular social activities as part of the social programme just for under 18s
- Must follow the curfew times and be home for set meal times
- Students aged 16 or 17 must be home by 22.00 and they must obtain their host
family’s permission if they wish to stay out after 22.00.
- Must not go out in the evenings or anywhere out of the local area at weekends, except with prior permission from the school.
- Must tell their host what they doing and where they are going in their free time.
- There are appropriate numbers of staff trained in first aid
- All of our staff receive child protection training and are DBS checked (police check)
- All homestay hosts receiving students under the age of 18 are DBS checked
- Students have access to a 24 hour emergency phone number. This number is printed on individual student cards
Students studying on the Junior Programme
We accept students between the ages of 12 and 17 on the Junior Programme(in certain circumstances we do accept a limited number of students from the age of 11.
Contact us for more details). We have extensive safeguarding processes in place for these students. Namely:
- Students will receive specific and detailed inductions. This induction covers
- Laws relating to smoking/alcohol/drugs
- What to do if they have a problem/who to call/how to call emergency services
- What to do if they are arrested
- Curfew times
- How to deal with aggressive behaviour on the street
- Importance of queuing /saying please / thanks you/ speaking quietly if in buses etc
- Importance of speaking to us if they have a problem
- There are appropriate numbers of staff trained in first aid
- There are strict curfew times and rules for students under the age of 18. These curfew times are written in student
handbooks and all of our host families are aware of these times.
- There are strict school rules, written in student handbooks, covering bullying and respecting other cultures
- There is clear guidance about what students may and may not do in their free time, again to be found in student handbooks
- Hosts are instructed to know of the whereabouts of their young students at all times when they are not in school and to have a contact phone number for them
- There is a full time compulsory programme of study and activities 5 days a week and full day supervised excursion every weekend
- We try to place group students in the same physical area so they can walk home together
- We take personal details from every student so that we have contact details for a responsible person back home whom we may contact in the event of an emergency
- All of our staff receive child protection training and are DBS checked (police check)
- All homestay hosts receiving students under the age of 18 are DBS checked
- Students have access to a 24 hour emergency phone number. This number is printed on individual student cards
Please note that we cannot supervise every student 24 hours a day, so there will be times when your son or daughter has free time. However, we try as far as possible to ensure that someone in authority knows where they are at all times, and that they have clear guidance as to what they may and may not do.