Safeguarding

Child Protection and Safeguarding Statement

Our first priority in this academy is to ensure that all children are safe. Safeguarding can be defined as ‘The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring that they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully’.

Our core safeguarding principles are:

• The academy’s responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children is of paramount importance
• To ensure that staff feel confident and clear about their role in Child Protection.
• To provide an environment where children feel safe and secure.
• To provide a place where they are valued and develop self-confidence and self-esteem.
• Safer children make more successful learners

We help to keep pupils safe by:

• having an up to date child protection policy
• having other safeguarding policies, such as anti-bullying and internet safety
• checking the suitability of all our staff to work with children
• encouraging pupils to tell us if something is wrong
• adhering to health and safety regulations
• training all our staff to recognise and respond to child welfare concerns
• appointing a designated person who has additional training in child protection
• working in partnership with parents and carers
• sharing information with appropriate agencies if we have concerns
• managing and supporting our staff team

Our curriculum

• There is a well-planned safeguarding curriculum throughout the academy. It is covered through PSHE lessons, Enrichment lessons as well as assemblies. Specific issues that arise (such as E-Safety) are addressed with bespoke lessons. The safeguarding curriculum undergoes the same quality assurance as all the other curriculum areas, including the checking of planning and support for delivery.
• There is an extensive safeguarding curriculum delivered in a variety of ways.  This includes “Votes for schools” which covers a broad range of topics and allows staff to identify any misconceptions.  Assemblies are used to follow up and consolidate learning.  Outside agencies such as “Big Talk” cover sex and relationship topics. PIXL resources such as ‘Mind to the Kind’ and SEAL resources are also utilised with the pupils.The DSL and the DDSL use assembly time to inform and remind children about safeguarding procedures and to identify a trusted adult within the academy.
• The well-planned curriculum ensures pupils understand risk.  During pupil interviews the children will talk about the ‘5 R’s’ which are embedded throughout the school.  The pupils will refer to ‘Mind to be Kind’ classroom based activities supporting the need to be kind to one another and PANTS in relation to keeping themselves safe. Assemblies and classroom work on e-safety have also been covered extensively.

If your child is being bullied

We define bullying as behaviour that is deliberate, repeated more than once and is designed to be hurtful. Bullies tend to pick on children who they think are unable to defend themselves. Bullying is not only about hitting or fighting. It also includes name calling, threats, taking belongings, intimidating and making unkind or abusive remarks. Children may try to hide the fact they are being bullied because they are afraid or ashamed but you might notice some signs, for example your child might:

• change their behaviour
• come home with torn clothing
• ‘lose’ their dinner money, or ask for extra money
• try to avoid going to school
• complain regularly of headaches or stomach aches
• have unexplained cuts and bruises
• play truant.

We have anti-bullying procedures that help us to identify and deal with any case of bullying in school, but bullying does not only take place in school, it can also happen in the home or in the community.

Bullying can be serious and cause a lot of distress. If your child tells you that they are being bullied in school, ask for their permission for you to tell us. They may not have told us themselves because they are afraid that the bully will find out and the bullying will get worse. Try to help them to understand that the bullying will not stop while it is kept secret. As soon as we know it is happening we will follow our anti-bullying procedures to try to stop it.

It is also distressing to suspect that your child might be bullying other children. Our anti-bullying procedures include trying to support children who bully to change their behaviour, so please talk to us if you think your child needs some help.

What we will do if we have a concern about your child

If we are concerned that your child may be at risk of abuse or neglect we must follow the procedures in our child protection policy. You can look at the policy on the school website or come into school and see a copy.

The procedures have been written to protect all pupils. They comply with our statutory responsibilities and are designed to support pupils, families and staff. The procedures are based on the principle that the welfare of the child is the most important consideration.

In almost all circumstances, we will talk to you about our concerns and we will also tell you if we feel we must refer our concerns to children’s social care. We will ask your consent to make a referral, but in some circumstances we may need to make the referral against your wishes. We will only do this if we genuinely believe that this is the best way to protect your child, and the fact that you did not consent to the referral will be recorded.

If we think that talking to you first might in some way increase the risk to your child, we will report our concerns to children’s social care and take advice from them. We will normally tell you that a referral is being made and we will record the reasons why we decided to follow this course of action.

All child protection records are kept separate from your child’s general school file. Records are stored in a locked cabinet or drawer, and if stored on computer they are password-protected. The only staff who have access to the records are those who need to know about the concerns in order to protect and support your child.

Child protection is a very sensitive issue and it raises many questions and a range of strong emotions. We will do everything we can support our pupils and you can be assured that any action we take will be in the best interests of your child.

If a child has a concern or worry:

• All pupils at OSPA feel comfortable to talk about their concerns.  The message of sharing their worries and identifying a trusted adult is regularly incorporated into assemblies. For example, wellbeing, anti-bullying and e-safety. Throughout the day, pupils are given opportunities to ‘drop in’ and speak about any concerns with the Welfare and Pastoral Lead or members of SLT.  Any alleged bullying incidents are dealt with by SLT.
• They can note their worry and post it into the worry monster (Years 1,2 and 3) or worry box (Years 4, 5 and 6).
• They can speak to their teacher or any trusted adult.
• Pupils know the key members of staff that are responsible for safeguarding in the school. They can also identify trusted adults within the school. They can speak to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Steward or the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Allington.
• OSPA has a safeguarding notice board with photos of the DSL and DDSL displayed.