Our Safeguarding Policy
What is this?
Your school has a Safeguarding Policy for staff, families and governors. This ‘child friendly’ policy is designed for young people and this should be read as a guide to the main policy.
What is it for?
To help you decide what could be a ‘problem’ and where to get help and support.
Is someone bullying you?
You must tell someone at school so we can help you.
Examples of people you can tell are:
Your Class Teacher
Mrs Cliff
Mrs Hollinger
Your Class Teaching Assistant
Your Dinner Lady
Do NOT keep it a Secret!
Is someone saying funny things to you?
Has someone said something to you or have you heard something that you do not like or upsets you?
You must tell someone at school so we can help you.
Examples of people you can tell are:
Your Class Teacher
Mrs Cliff
Mrs Hollinger
Your Class Teaching Assistant
Your Dinner Lady
Is someone touching you?
Has someone touched you on a part of your body like your bottom, chest or anywhere else you do not like?
You must tell someone at school so we can help you.
Examples of people you can tell are:
Your Class Teacher
Mrs Cliff
Mrs Hollinger
Your Class Teaching Assistant
Your Dinner Lady
Is someone trying to give you tablets, cigarettes, drugs or alcohol?
Has someone asked you if you want a tablet or to smoke a cigarette, or have a drink of something and you do not know what it is?
Do not eat, drink or smoke what they are giving you.
You must tell someone at school so we can help you.
Examples of people you can tell are:
Your Class Teacher
Mrs Cliff
Mrs Hollinger
Your Class Teaching Assistant
Your Dinner Lady
Is someone hitting, punching or smacking you?
Has someone hit, punched or smacked you or hurt you in any way?
You must tell someone at school so we can help you.
Examples of people you can tell are:
Your Class Teacher
Mrs Cliff
Mrs Hollinger
Your Class Teaching Assistant
Your Dinner Lady
If in doubt, talk to someone. There are many staff at school for you to talk to and they will help support you.
The four main areas of Child Protection concerns are:
1. Physical Abuse – hitting, smacking, shaking, throwing, burning, biting etc
2. Sexual Abuse – be aware this doesn’t always mean actually touching a child. It could be someone making you watch things to do with sex or encouraging you to act in an inappropriate way.
3. Neglect – this means things like not providing meals or warmth or clothing. Or perhaps not taking you to the Doctors when you need to go. There may be lots of different reasons why a child is neglected, and it is really important that we know so we can help.
4. Emotional Abuse – This means when someone upsets you or makes you feel bad. If someone in your family says horrible things to you and makes you feel sad and worthless are just a few examples for you and if you think you may have a problem that is similar to one of these then talk to.
How does your school work to protect children?
There are lots of different ways, but one of the main ways is making sure the staff here at your school know how to keep you safe and also make sure you have someone to talk to if you need to.
Your Academy Principal is here to support young people and their families if there is a Child Protection concern.
Safeguarding and Child Protection mean the same thing and they mean that we look after children and keep them safe.
Talk to someone.
What are the next steps?
Sometimes a member of staff at your school will need to check things with your Academy Principal and then if they can deal with the issue themselves, they will.
There are times though when they may need to contact some other agencies for support. These may be Children’s Social Care (Social Workers) or Police.
There are lots of other agencies who support children and their families as well.
Your Principal will talk to you and explain all of this and you can always go and ask them questions if you are unsure about anything.