Safeguarding Children and Young
People Policy /

Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy

1 / Mission

1.1‘Realising student potential and achieving excellence’.

2 / Context
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6 / This policy is written in the context of the College Corporate Strategy 2015-18.
The context of this policy supports the following:-
Safeguarding Statement
The College recognises its responsibilities and duties under the Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015 requirements, which defines safeguarding as:
•protecting children from maltreatment;
•preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
•ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
•taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
The College believes that safeguarding students is our paramount concern and therefore safeguarding issues take priority in relation to any other policies and/or procedures.
The College works in line with the Statement of Government Policy on Adult Safeguarding; Safeguarding Adults Principles to safeguard and prevent abuse of vulnerable adults.
  • Empowerment- Presumption of person led decisions and informed consent.
  • Prevention- It is better to take action before harm occurs.
  • Proportionality- Proportionate and least intrusive response appropriate to the risk presented.
  • Protection- Support and representation for those in greatest need.
  • Partnership- Local solutions through services working with their communities. Communities have a part to play in preventing, detecting and reporting neglect and abuse.
  • Accountability- Accountability and transparency in delivering safeguarding.
H&S General Statement
Doncaster College recognises its responsibilities and duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, to provide a healthy and safe working and learning environment so far as is reasonably practicable. This duty extends to cover employees, students, contractors, Visitors and members of the public and covers all its related activities and undertakings.
Equality & Diversity Statement
Doncaster College strives to promote an ethos and image that positively reflects its commitment to advancing equality of opportunity and celebrating diversity. The College does not tolerate any prejudicial behavior by any member of its community and has a zero-tolerance policy to bullying, harassment and victimization. Every step is taken to eliminate unlawful discrimination and foster good relations among all social groups. The College is committed to ensuring that it does not discriminate either directly or indirectly against individuals on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership.
This policy should be read in conjunction with the College’s Student Anti- Bullying and Anti- Harassment Policy, Staff Anti-Bullying and Anti-Harassment Policy, Whistle Blowing Policy, Health and Safety Policy and Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Policy.
The Corporation is committed to ensuring that the College’s duty of care is the College’s paramount concern.
The College operates within the following legislative framework:
Key Statutory Instruments:
  • Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Act 2006 amended by Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
  • Mental Capacity Act 2005
  • Education Act 2002 and 2011
  • Children Act 1989 and 2004
  • Human Rights Act 1998
  • Munro review 2011
  • Equality Act 2010 & Public Sector Equality Duty 2011
  • Sexual Offences Act 2003
Underpinning Legislative and Statutory Duties Guidance:
  • Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015
  • Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016 (DfE)
  • Keeping Children Safe in Education: Childcare Disqualification Requirements- Supplementary Advices, 2014 (DfE)
  • No Secrets Guidance 2000
  • Disqualification Under Childcare Act 2006:2015 (DfE)
  • Doncaster Safeguarding Children’s Board Policies and Procedures
  • Ofsted briefing 2014
  • What to do if you suspect a child is being sexually exploited 2012 (DfE)
  • Statutory Guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care 2014(DfE)

3 / Purpose

3.1The purpose of this policy is to:-

  1. Ensure the safety, effective protection and prevention of maltreatment or impairment of health and development of children and young people, in line with College policy, local policies and procedures and Government Legislation
  1. Ensure the College responds effectively to the ideological challenge of terrorism and extremism and the risk of radicalisation.
  1. Ensure good practice and responsibility for admission, within the context of inclusion, for individuals who present with a criminal conviction.

3.2 Within this context safeguarding can also include a range of potential issues such as:

  • bullying, including cyber bullying (by text, on social media etc.) and prejudice based bullying
  • racist, disability and homophobic or transphobic abuse
  • radicalisation and extremist behaviour
  • child sexual exploitation in the context of young people
  • Youth produced sexual imagery (sexting)
  • Alcohol/substance misuse
  • risk management and safety of others in relation to admissions and on-course students
  • issues that may be specific within Doncaster
  • particular issues in relation to domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and forced marriage
  • Children and young people who are missing from home and/or education
  • The College recognises that safeguarding is not just about protecting students from deliberate harm. It relates to all aspects of College life, including:

Health and Safety

Risk Management

Duty of Care

Requirements of professional bodies, regulating organisations and placement providers

First Aid

Educational Visits

Meeting needs of students with medical conditions

Internet and e-Safety

Appropriate arrangements to ensure security

4 / Scope

4.1This policy extends to all College employees, students, contractors and visitors who the College has a duty of care and responsibility.

5 / Responsibility

Roles Responsibilities

5.1The overall responsibility for Safeguarding Children is vested in the Governing body and Executive Group.

5.2The responsibility within the context of the Chief Executive Group is theAssistant Principal Inclusion,Student Experience and Commercial Development. In the absence of the Assistant Principal Inclusion and Student Experienceand Commercial Development it is the Deputy Principal.

5.3 The Assistant Principal Inclusion,Student Experience and Commercial Development is

responsible for ensuring that students/staff are appropriately supported and guided, and for liaising with the Local Safeguarding Children Board to ensure compliance with policies and procedures.

5.4The Deputy Principal and Assistant Principal Inclusion,Student Experience and Commercial Development are responsible for ensuring that the College is effectively represented at appropriate Strategic Boards and works in partnership in the context of safeguarding.

5.5 The Deputy Principal and Assistant Principal Inclusion,Student Experience and Commercial Development are responsible for ensuring that the College operates in line with the Department for Education advice on Disqualification by Association requirements.

5.6The Deputy Principal is responsible for ensuring that staff have the appropriate knowledge and expertise via an appropriate staff development programme, including 3 years mandatory essential skills training, and to ensure staff are vetted with the Disclosure and Barring Service, prior to appointment and every 3 years thereafter as appropriate to the role.

5.7 The Assistant Principal Inclusion, Student Experience and Commercial Development is responsible for ensuring the Risk Assessment process is adhered to in line with the law and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

5.8 The Assistant Principal Inclusion, Student Experience and Commercial Development is responsible for ensuring the 14-16 cohort is safeguarded in line with legislation and local Safeguarding Board procedures.

5.9The Assistant Principal Inclusion, Student Experience and Commercial Development and Head of Welfare, Tutorial and Professional Development are responsible for ensuring that all incidents are appropriately recorded and reported.

5.10 The Governing body must ensure all safeguarding policies, procedures and training is effective and compliant with current law.

5.11The Designated Governor (Safeguarding) is responsible for consulting with the Chair of Governors, in the event of allegations being made against the College Principal and Chief Executive.

5.12All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and reporting concerns in line with College procedures and policies.

Nominated Members of Staff

5.12College Managers are responsible for ensuring all their line reports attend safeguarding training in line with College policy.

5.13The nominated member of staff with responsibility for Child Protection/Safeguarding is theAssistant Principal Inclusion,Student Experience and Commercial Development.

5.14The Assistant Principal Inclusion,Student Experience and Commercial Development can be contacted by telephoning (01302) 553707.

5.15In the absence of the Assistant Principal Inclusion,Student Experience and Commercial Development further nominated staff are; the Head of Welfare, Tutorial and Professional Developmentext.4216, the Head of Children’s University (01302) 553791, the Head of Facilities, Contracts and Commercial Development (01302) 553562, the Head of Inclusion (01302) 553848, the Head of Additional Learning Support and Life Skills (01302) 558246, Student Services and Administration Manager (01302) 552057 and the Head of Human Resources (01302) 553962.

5.16In the absence of the nominated member of staff, please contact the Welfare Administrator on (01302) 553741 or .

5.17The Head of Human Resources is responsible for ensuring all matters of safeguarding concerns relating to staff are referred to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) in line with Safer in Education 2014. The Head of Human Resource will also refer to The Disclosure and Barring Service any individual in the employ of Doncaster College if that person has been working in regulated activity and been dismissed, removed or resigned due to safeguarding concerns.

5.18 The Head of Facilities, Contracts and Commercial Developmentis responsible for screening applications at the point of admission and/or within on course programme should it be necessary where a relevant criminal conviction has been declared.

The Corporation

5.19The Corporation is committed to complying with the procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board. It recognises that it has a responsibility towards young people or vulnerable adults and people attending or visiting the College to safeguard and promote their welfare and to take appropriate decisions about how this can be achieved. It is not the Corporation’s responsibility to investigate child abuse.

5.20Nevertheless, the Corporation has a duty to act if there is a cause for concern and to notify the appropriate agencies so that they can investigate and take any necessary action.

5.21Also, it has a duty to act if there is a cause for concern in relation to a potential threat or risk posed by any potential or existing members of staff or students to young people or vulnerable adults at the College.

5.22Overall responsibility for ensuring:

  1. Policies and structures are in place to safeguard students safer recruitment, designated staff, training and development, whistleblowing, managing allegations against staff and health and safety management and framework.
  2. Policies are aligned to Local Authority Guidance and agreed inter-agency procedures.
  3. Policies are effective, reviewed annually and updated accordingly.
  4. Maintaining up to date knowledge and understanding of the Corporation’s role in safeguarding.
  5. Appropriate resources to enable statutory compliance.
  6. Ensuring young people are taught how to keep themselves safe.
  7. Ensuring young people have access to services to keep themselves safe regardless of protected characteristics.

5.23The Chair of the Corporation has responsibility for managing safeguarding allegations against the Principal and Chief Executive and ensuring locally agreed policies and procedures are followed.

6 / Definitions

6.1The Children Act 1989 defines a child as person under the age of 18.

This policy accordingly applies to children/young people under the age of 18. ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015’ published by the Department of Health sets out the Government Guidance on child protection and states that all staff in the education service, including those in further education. Colleges should be aware of the need to alert Social Care, the NSPCC or the Police, where they believe a child has been abused or is at risk of abuse. This would also include children and young people who are at risk of or actual FGM(female genital mutilation), sexual exploitation and running away and bullying.

6.2Categories of Abuse

Physical may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child, including by fabricating the symptoms of, or deliberately causing, ill health to a child.

Psychological including emotional abuse, threats of harm or abandonment, forced marriage (this is a marriage conducted without the full consent of both parties and where duress is a factor), deprivation of contact, humiliation, blaming, controlling, intimidation, coercion, harassment, verbal abuse, isolation or withdrawal from services or supportive network.

Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (e.g. rape or buggery) or non-penetrative acts. They may include involving children in looking at, or in the production of, pornographic material, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in a serious impairment of the child’s health or development, such as failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, or neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Financial: including theft, fraud, exploitation, pressure in connection with Wills, property or inheritance for financial transactions, or the misuse or misappropriation of property.

Discrimination: including racist, homophobic, sexist, that based on a person’s disability and other forms of harassment, slurs or similar threat.

Institutional: when the needs of the institution take precedent over the needs of the individual.

Domestic abuse including “honour” based violenceDomestic abuse is a pattern of behaviour which may involve violence or other abuse by one person against another in a domestic setting.

Honour based violence is a violent crime or incident which may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of a family or community.

Modern Slavery human trafficking which may include transporting, recruiting, or harbouring people for the purposes of exploitation using violence, threats or coercion.

6.3 Staff should also be mindful of the threat of bullying:

Bullying: Young people and vulnerable adults can be vulnerable to bullying, which is deliberately hurtful and harmful behaviour, often repeated over a period of time and from which it may be difficult to defend themselves. Bullying may take many forms, including: physical attacks, verbal (which would include name-calling, threats, racist or homophobic remarks), and emotional (for example, isolating an individual from the activities and social acceptance of other young people). Cyberbullying involves making use of the Internet or mobile phones to taunt intimidate or threaten.

The damage inflicted by bullying must not be under-estimated; it can cause considerable distress, affect the young person’s health and development and cause significant harm. Where any staff member suspects bullying, they must report the suspicion to their line manager who must investigate and, where appropriate, invoke the College bullying and harassment procedure.

6.4 Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and Trafficking

‘The sexual exploitation of children and young people under 18 involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people (or a third person or persons) receive ‘something’ (e.g. food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, affection, gifts, money) as a result of performing, and/or others performing on them, sexual activities.

Child sexual exploitation can occur through use of technology without the child’s immediate recognition, for example the persuasion to post sexual images on the internet/mobile phones with no immediate payment or gain. In all cases those exploiting the child/young person have power over them by virtue of their age, gender, intellect, physical strength and/or economic or other resources. Violence, coercion and intimidation are common, involvement in exploitative relationships being characterised in the main by the child or young person's limited availability of choice resulting from their social/economic and/or emotional vulnerability’

[Doncaster Safeguarding Children Board Website 2015]

Staff need to be aware of key indicators of CSE such as, missing for periods of time or returning home late, regularly missing from their education, appearing with unexplained gifts, older boyfriends/girlfriends, suffering from sexually transmitted disease. In cases where a member of staff suspects CSE this must be referred immediately to the Safeguarding Team (Safeguarding Children & Young People from Sexual Exploitation Statutory Guidance 2009) and Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation Action Plan 2011 (DfE).

If staff have a suspicion that a child has been trafficked for example for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, labour fraud, or criminal activity again this must immediately be referred to the Safeguarding Team.

6.5Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation is defined by the World Health Organisation as ‘all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons’. If staff have a suspicion that a child is at risk in the context of Female Genital Mutilation this must be referred immediately to the Safeguarding Team. The College have a mandatory duty in line with the DfE and Home Office statutory guidance to report known cases of Female Genital Mutilation in under 18 year olds to the Police.

6.6 Children or young people who go missing from home/education.

The College will work in line with local statutory guidance for children and young people who are missing from home and /or from education and the Statutory Guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care 2014. Where a young person has gone missing from College the local authority and parents where appropriate will be contacted to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of that young person.

7 / Policy

7.1Guiding Principles

The Corporation recognises that it has an important role to play in safeguarding the welfare of children and young people in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (2015) and preventing their abuse (actual or suspected). The College has a duty to support all students and additional duties regarding the protection and support of students in the 14 to 18 age range, vulnerable young people and adults and children in the College’s child care provision, Primary School children attending Children’s University, students attending external partners’ premises and training facilities, young volunteers within the College volunteering projects and those individuals who may be concerned about potential or actual coercion into forced marriage.