Bonner is a school that aims to provide a happy, stable environment, which will enable each child to become independent, adaptable, confident, caring and tolerant and to reach his or her potential.
Through effort to success
Children receive a broad and balanced education and we believe it is vital to develop pupils’ confidence, fully extend their capabilities and ignite an enthusiasm for learning that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. We promote recognition and respect of differences and have the highest expectations of pupils and staff.
Our vision and aims support Articles 3, 28, 29, 30 and 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC). All members of staff have a duty to promote children’s rights.
Safeguarding and child protection additionally relate to:
Article 9- Separation from parents; Article 18- Parental responsibilities; state assistance. Article 19- Protection from all forms of violence; Article 20- Children deprived of family environment; Article 21- Adoption; Article 25- Review of treatment in care; Article 33- Drug abuse; Article 34- Sexual exploitation; Article 35- Abduction; sale and trafficking; Article 36- Other forms of exploitation; Article 37- Detention and punishment; and Article 39- Rehabilitation of child victims.
ALL CONCERNS/DISCLOSURES MUST BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY TO THE DESIGNATED SAFEGUARDING LEAD, MARTIN TUNE, HEAD TEACHER OR LOUISE HAVARD, SENIOR LEARNING MENTOR OR, IN THEIR ABSENCE, ELLY ROSS, ASSOCIATE HEAD TEACHER BBG OR ANNE MILLS,
ASSOCIATE HEAD TEACHER BME.
Policy Review / Statutory Guidance UpdatesSeptember 2011
December 2011
December 2012
September 2014 / DFE: ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education: Information for all school and college staff’, April 2014
December 2014 / ‘Tower Hamlets Guidance on Preventing Violent Extremism and the Triangle of Prevent Intervention (PREVENT).
August 2015 / DFE: The Prevent Duty: Departmental Advice for Schools and Childcare Providers, June 2015, updated August 2015
May 2016 / To include information on Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
THSCB: Child Protection Procedures for Staff Working in Children’s, School and Family Settings, 2015; and Procedures for Managing Allegations of Abuse against Staff working in Children’s, School and Family Settings, 2015.
February 2017 / DFE: Keeping Children Safe in Education, May 2016; Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006, June 2016; and Working Together to Safeguard Children, March 2015, updated February 2017; Children missing education: Statutory guidance for local authorities, September 2016.
Next review date
November 2017
This version of the policy has been prepared by Martin Tune, Head teacher. It should be read alongside: Children’s Act 1998; Children’s Act 2004; Education Act 2002; the statutory guidance updates in the table above; and the following school policies:
Contents
1. AIMS OF THIS POLICY 4
2. DEFINITIONS OF SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION 4
3. RESPONSIBILITIES 5
3.1. Staff responsibilities 5
3.2. Reporting Concerns 6
3.3. Governors 7
3.4. Designated Safeguarding Leads 7
3.5. Allegation against a member of staff 7
4. SAFEGUARDING: WORKING PRACTICES 7
4.1. Designated Safeguarding Lead 7
4.2. Recruitment of suitable staff 8
4.3. Volunteers 8
4.4. Training 8
4.5. E-safety 8
4.6. Curriculum 9
5. CHILD PROTECTION: DEFINING AND RECOGNISING ABUSE 9
6. LEGAL DUTIES AND SPECIFIC TOPIICS 10
6.1. Children Missing from Education 10
6.2. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Child Sexual Exploitation 11
6.3. Preventing Radicalisation 11
6.4. Peer on peer abuse 12
7. PREVENTION AND UNIVERSAL SUPPORT 12
7.1. Early Help 12
8. SPECIALIST INVOLVEMENT 13
8.1. Crossing the threshold for social services involvement 13
8.2. Child Protection conferences 13
8.3. Monitoring children who are subject to a Child Protection Plan 13
9. APPENDICES 15
9.1. Contacts 15
9.2. Designated Safeguarding Lead 16
9.3. Definitions of Abuse 18
9.4. Specific safeguarding issues 19
9.5. Dealing with Disclosure 20
9.6. Tower Hamlets Triangle of Intervention (protecting pupils from Radicalisation and Extremism.) 21
9.7. Duluth model of domestic violence 24
9.8. Actions where there are concerns about a child 25
9.9. Logging a concern about a child’s safety and welfare 27
9.10. Allegations against other Pupils 29
9.11. Guidance for good practice ( intimate care) 31
9.12. Guidance for volunteers and work experience students 33
1. AIMS OF THIS POLICY
This policy ensures that ALL staff members in our school are clear about the actions necessary with regard to a child protection issue. Its aims are to:
· raise the awareness of all staff and identify responsibility in reporting possible cases of abuse;
· ensure effective communication between all staff when dealing with child protection issues;
· set out the correct procedures for ANY STAFF MEMBER who has a concern about a child’s welfare; and
· enable ALL staff to be prepared to identify children who may benefit from early help. Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges at any point in a child’s life.
2. DEFINITIONS OF SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined 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.
Sections 157 and 175 of the Education Act 2002 and the supporting Department for Education (DfE) guidance in “Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory guidance for schools and colleges” (DfE, July 2016) specify the need for all schools and education settings, including non-maintained schools, independent schools, Academies, Further Education institutions, and Local Authorities exercising education functions to make arrangements to ensure that their functions are carried out with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
The terms ‘Safeguarding’ and ‘Child Protection’ are often used interchangeably. At Bonner, ‘safeguarding’ is taking all reasonable measures to ensure that risks of harm to all children’s welfare are minimised. ‘Child protection’ relates to taking all appropriate actions to address concerns about the welfare of a child, or children, working to agreed local policies and procedures in full partnership with other local agencies. This includes ‘Early Help’.
3. RESPONSIBILITIES
3.1. Staff responsibilities
ALL members of staff at the school (paid and unpaid) have a statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children as laid out in the DfE publication ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, May 2016.
ALL members of staff have a duty to immediately report any concern about a child’s welfare to Martin Tune, Louise Havard, Elly Ross (BG) or Anne Mills (ME). In no situation must a concern or disclosure be left until the end of the day or until at time which is ‘more convenient’. Information about children and families must only be shared in a professional context.
If at any time there is a risk of immediate serious harm, this must be reported immediately –anyone can do this. (The Child Protection Advice Line – 020 7364 3444)
3.2. Reporting Concerns
In any event, do not speak to the parents before seeking advice from the Designated Safeguarding Lead/s. The Designated Safeguarding Lead/s will decide the appropriate course of action; this may be to contact the parents to discuss the issue, or may be to refer directly to Social Services. Some incidents may require police involvement, such as when a child has an injury or there is an allegation of sexual abuse.
It is vital that any concerns are reported as soon as possible and that unnecessary delay is avoided.
If at any time there is a risk of immediate serious harm to a child then this must be reported immediately – anybody can make a referral under such circumstances. THE CHILD PROTECTION ADVICE LINE – 020 7364 3444
3.3. Governors
The Governing Body has a duty to ensure that the school meets its statutory responsibilities. Safeguarding issues are reported at each termly meeting of the full Governing Body. One member of the Governing Body acts as the nominated governor for safeguarding/child protection (including Looked After Children and PREVENT duty). Each member of the Governing Body undergoes an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
3.4. Designated Safeguarding Leads
Martin Tune (Headteacher) is the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) within the school to lead policy development and implement statutory guidance. Louise Havard (Senior Learning Mentor), Eleanor Ross (Associate Headteacher BG), and Anne Mills (Associate Headteacher ME), have completed Tower Hamlets Local Safeguarding Children’s Board training and are accredited Designated Child Protection Persons - deputising in the headteacher’s absence.
3.5. Allegation against a member of staff
If an allegation is made against a member of staff, including the headteacher, the DSL will inform the nominated governor for child protection / safeguarding Emma Brotherton or the Chair of governors Alan Ball who will contact the Local Authority Designated Officer for Allegations (LADO) James Gilley, and follow procedures in accordance with Tower Hamlets Council, Children’s Social Care Services Directorate and Local Safeguarding Children’s Board procedures (LSCB).
iProcedures for Managing Allegations of Abuse against Staff working in Children’s, School and Family Settings, September 2015.
Neither the Governing Body, nor individual Governors, have a role in dealing with individual cases or a right to know details of cases (except when exercising their disciplinary functions in respect of allegations against staff).
iContact details for nominated Governors and designated staff can be found in Appendix 1
iMore details about the role of the designated lead can be found in Appendix 2
4. SAFEGUARDING: WORKING PRACTICES
4.1. Designated Safeguarding Lead
The Designated Safeguarding Leads work with Governors and staff to establish the following:
· Health, Safety and Environment: Establish and maintain a safe school setting in which children can learn and develop.
· Safe recruitment: Check the suitability of staff and volunteers to work with children.
· Training and education: Raise awareness of child protection issues amongst adults and equip children with the skills needed to keep them safe.
· Policy and procedures: Develop and implement working practices for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse.
· Working with individuals: Support pupils who have been abused in accordance with his/her agreed child protection plan.
4.2. Recruitment of suitable staff
All adults employed in our school are required to have an enhanced DBS to ensure that there is no evidence of offences involving children or abuse. We also require all volunteers to be vetted. The school has a ‘Safer Recruitment Policy’ which outlines our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and requires all staff and volunteers to demonstrate this commitment in every aspect of their work. We also have a Staff and Volunteers Safer Code of Conduct Policy as well as a Staff Behaviour Policy (Code of Conduct) which is regularly reviewed in light of safeguarding guidance.
The school has a Single Central Register of all vetting checks completed for new and existing employees, volunteers, agency staff and other professionals working with children in the school. This includes Enhanced DBS checks and ‘Disqualification by association’ checks. The details of Governors’ enhanced DBS checks are also on the system.
4.3. Volunteers
All volunteers work under the supervision of a teacher or full-time member of staff. Teachers retain ultimate responsibility for pupils at all times, including pupils’ behaviour and the activity that they are undertaking. An induction briefing and volunteer handbook inform volunteers of their roles in safeguarding and child protection.
We provide work experience students with an understanding of the operational aspects of school life, engaging with them as young adults. However, as they are under 18 years of age, if they make a disclosure or any member of staff has a concern about them, this must be reported to the DSL who will pass it to the appropriate authority.
i Further guidance notes for volunteers can be found in Appendix 12 of this document.
4.4. Training
Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) are required to undertake regular training in order to ensure they have current knowledge of safeguarding practices. This training should include training on the PREVENT duty and specific child protection issues. (Section 6 and Appendix 4). Accreditation for this role must be renewed every two years through the Local Safeguarding Children Board (THLSCB).
All staff undertake safeguarding training as part of INSET. Designated Safeguarding Leads provide training on an annual cycle. Training with an external provider is planned-in every three years. A password protected electronic record of all training undertaken by staff is maintained on the school network. S:\ADMIN\Policies\SAFEGUARDING\Quality Assurance of Safeguarding procedures\Schools course tracker.xlsx.
4.5. E-safety
We have appropriate filters and monitoring systems in place and these are detailed in our Acceptable Use Agreement for Staff and Volunteers, our Computing Infringement Policy and our Online Safety Policy.
While on-site, all pupils and adults access the Internet through LGFL WebScreen™ 2.0. This filtering systems is designed for the UK education sector, rather than business or personal use. Although this is a scalable filtering system, we retain the highest security settings for all child users.
It is highly unlikely that children will be able to view explicit material online at school. This does not protect children from the potential of being exposed to these materials when accessing the Internet beyond the school network. We teach children how to deal with these situations when they come across them. We provide workshops for parents to inform them of how to restrict their children’s access at home and to regulate children’s internet use
4.6. Curriculum
We recognise the importance of developing pupils’ awareness of behaviour that is unacceptable towards them and others, and how they can help keep themselves and others safe. Our curriculum, including our focus on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), provides personal development opportunities for pupils to learn about keeping safe and who to ask for help if their safety is threatened.
As part of developing a healthy, safer lifestyle, pupils are taught to, for example:
· safely explore their own and others’ attitudes