Care of under 18s

Children under the age of 16 will only be taught in one-to-one or in separate classes for under 16s.
16 and 17 year olds will be enrolled as adults and take part in adult classes.
We will contact the student if they are more than 15 minutes late for their class. The school must be notified if the student cannot attend their lessons. If we cannot get in touch with the student, we will contact their host family (if applicable), agent, parents or guardians. If we cannot get in touch with the student / host family / agent or parents by 4 pm, we will inform the authorities.
Students who are 16 to 18 years old are permitted to attend social events together with adult students, except for those events at bars or pubs which serve alcohol, or cinema trips where there is an over 18 age restriction. In this case an alternative activity will be organised for students under 18. Students under 16 taking part in family courses, can attend social activities with their parents/guardians.
We only arrange accommodation for students who are 16 or over and we will only accept under 16s if they are staying with parents or their family. We will require a confirmation in writing from the parents or legal guardians.
All social events organised by the school are supervised by adult members of staff, all of whom are DBS checked.
The ratio of supervision for offsite activities is one member of staff to 15 students.
We will require a 24 hour contact number and email for the parents or legal guardians of students. This must be provided at registration.

The school has an emergency contact number which can be contacted 24 hours. This is (+44) 07482 660030.
There are 3 types of social activities: 1) Weekday activities organised by Communicate staff – they are marked on the activities board with a name of the teacher who supervises the activity; 2) Weekend activities marked “Smile Adventures” which are supervised by Smile Adventures staff and there may also be 3) “Recommended activities” without a teacher’s name which are not supervised.
Outside of lessons or social activity times students will be expected to travel home or if they are staying out, they will be expected to inform their parent, legal guardian or host family where they are going to be. Students under 18 years old will be expected to have returned to their family by at least 10:30 pm at night (Sunday to Thursday) and 11pm at night (Friday and Saturday). If the student is not home by this time then the family or guardian should report the student missing by contacting us on the emergency phone.
During the weekend social activities, under 18s are supervised by our contractor “Smile Adventures” staff. The supervision includes picking students up from a Manchester city centre meeting point and taking them to a site, a guided tour in the town they are visiting and bringing students back to Manchester centre. During the trips students will be allowed to spend time while not directly supervised by a member of Smile Adventures staff – they will be allowed to go off in groups for short periods of time, normally about 2 hours, and will be asked to come back to a meeting point at a certain time. Students attending weekend activities will be asked to give staff their phone numbers and will receive the phone number of the staff.
Communicate school has a safeguarding policy which describes procedures in the event of a disclosure or allegation of abuse and the referral to official agencies.
Parents or guardians must inform Communicate of any medical condition or disability of a prospective student. If such information has not been provided, Communicate may refuse to accept the student. The student will have to return home at their own expense. Communicate staff and host families cannot be responsible for administering or safeguarding medicines. Students who are prescribed medication are asked to bring a letter from the doctor with the name of the medicine, the dosage and frequency of taking it and the name of the condition for which it has been prescribed, clearly described in English. This is in case the student needs medical attention whilst in our care. In the event that a student is taking regular medication, the student must be responsible for the care and administration of their own medication. Communicate staff will not administer medication to the student.
Child safeguarding disclosures cannot be retained as a confidential matter. All formal disclosures by a person under 18 years of age must be reported.