Safeguarding and Adults on Site

SAFEGUARDING AND ADULTS ON SITE

RECRUITMENT

Interviews for staff members are held in accordance with the principles of the Lancashire County Council safer recruitment guidelines, identification documents are checked at interview and, if current DBS clearance is not portable, a further enhanced clearance is required before a member of staff or volunteer begins work in accordance with Local Authority and DCSF guidance. Teaching staff are also checked against the NCTL “right to teach” register.

All staff are issued on appointment with guidelines and advice on usage of social media and the LCC booklet, “Safer Working Practice for Adults who work with Children and Young People in an Educational Setting”, which gives advice on when staff might be vulnerable, advice on professionalism and behaviour and also advice on social and physical contact.

ADULTS ON SITE

All adults regularly on the school site are subject to enhanced DBS clearance procedures and placed on a Single Central Register as per OFSTED requirements. Adults on site during the school day on a one-off basis are accompanied at all times by a cleared member of staff.

SITE SECURITY

The school is securely fenced, and outside gates lock automatically at the beginning of the school day. After this time, visitors to Student Reception are required to use the intercom on the gates to contact a member of staff for the gate to be opened, and students cannot leave the site unless the gate is opened from reception.

Visitors to school can only access the building via the two reception areas at each side of the school, where they are required to sign in and have photo ID cards made (further details below).

All corridors, dining rooms, student support rooms and outside areas are covered by CCTV cameras at all times.

PROTOCOLS FOR VISITORS TO SCHOOL

The following protocols are in place to ensure that there is never anyone unaccompanied on the school site during the school day whom we are not absolutely sure has an acceptable enhanced DBS clearance.

A list is pinned on the wall in Main Reception and in Student Reception, and this will clearly show the organisations, firms and individuals for whom we hold evidence that all their employees are DBS cleared, or for whom we hold such evidence ourselves. In the latter case, these people will be on our Single Central Register (SCR).

As and when regular visitors to school provide evidence that they hold a current DBS Enhanced Certificate, they will be placed on the SCR and the reception lists will be updated.

Visitors we know to be sufficiently cleared are given grey "Heysham High" lanyards, with either a visitor's badge with their photograph, name, the date and the name of the person they have an appointment with, or a permanent ID card if they are in school on a regular basis.

If the visitor to school is not on the list, or is not covered within any of the organisations on the list (and this includes parents and carers), they are given a red “Visitor” lanyard. They need to be picked up from reception by the member of staff they are coming to see, and returned by that member of staff to reception when they are leaving. Visitor badges will say the visitor’s name, their organisation if appropriate, the date and the member of staff responsible for the visitor whilst in school.

Visitors wearing red lanyards are never unaccompanied and are never allowed to meet with students without their responsible member of staff, or another cleared adult whom that member of staff delegates. This applies to healthcare professionals and charity workers who come into school asking to meet with students - if they are not on the list and cannot provide an acceptable DBS certificate, they cannot meet alone with students.

Student Receptionists do not accompany adults into or around school who are not wearing grey lanyards.

Any staff members who come across an unknown adult in school wearing a red lanyard, not accompanied by the person responsible for them, should escort the visitor back to reception immediately.

Parents/carers coming into school to meet with staff are be picked up by that member of staff and that person is responsible for ensuring that the parent/carer is escorted at all times until they are brought back to reception when they are leaving.

Clients for sports massage or hair and beauty are greeted at reception by two massage, hair or beauty students, and are returned by them to reception when they are leaving. These areas have their own protocols for safeguarding whilst attending members of the public.

Clients for the La3 gym can only use the separate swipe system to enter school after 4pm when the member of La3 staff on duty is in situ in Main Reception and has switched on their computer system. If student sports teams are still on site for matches, there will be PE staff in the sports block. In addition, the whole of the journey from reception to the gym is covered by CCTV.

Contractors, engineers, workmen, etc, have to enter school through one of the reception areas and sign in so that they can be given the appropriate lanyard. Unless they are on the list on the reception wall, they will have to be escorted to where they will be working.

Deliveries into reception are permissible, but if a delivery is being made further into school than reception, the member of staff receiving the delivery must either come to reception to receive it, or escort the delivery person (who must be signed in and wearing a red lanyard) to their room/office and back to reception.

Deliveries to kitchens. Deliveries to the main block kitchen can be given access through the main gates, and the receptionist will ring the kitchen to ask one of the catering staff to meet them. Deliveries to the Junior Block kitchen have to be given access through the gates by the Catering Manager, who opens the gate and locks it after the delivery has been made.

PARENTS’ EVENINGS

Parents’ evenings are held in the sports hall. Access is through the Main Reception entrance and straight into the sports hall. A reception table is placed across the corridor where parents are met, so casual access to the school is not possible. Student greeters work in pairs, and there are always members of staff on duty apart from teachers meeting with individual parents.