Safeguarding Overview

What is Safeguarding?

Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Safeguarding means:

providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

Safeguarding Team

Ms E. Hulance

Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mr G. Dorsett

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Ms K. Roban

Deputy Headteacher - Pastoral

Mr B. Attfield

Safeguarding Governor

Intent and Core Principles

Our intent and core principles are shared with all staff and promote a culture of vigilance and curiosity that allow us to identify those children in need to support in a timely manner and guide our safeguarding team in responding to concerns when they are raised.

Safeguarding Intent

At the Kingsway School, we recognise that it is everyone’s moral as well as statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of our children. We work to provide a safe, secure and welcoming environment where everyone is respected, valued and held in positive regard. We promote a climate where children are confident in sharing concerns about their own safety and wellbeing and that of others.

Safeguarding Core Principles

Child Protection

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child. Safeguarding children and child protection guidance and legislation applies to all children up to the age of 18.

Specific Types of Abuse

Abuse: a form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or, more rarely, by others. Abuse can take place wholly online, or technology may be used to facilitate offline abuse. Children may be abused by an adult or adults or by another child or children. There are four main categories of abuse: physical, emotional, sexual and neglect.

Staff Training

Our core Safeguarding Team are all Level 3 trained. Our DSL is also our Designated teacher for Looked After Children and Senior Mental Health Lead.

All of our staff complete comprehensive training on Child Protection, Online Safety and the Prevent Duty. We have a hybrid training model, using a combination of online training via the platform Educare and face-to-face content through staff induction and inset days. In addition to statutory elements, training is responsive to safeguarding trends and the needs of staff in different roles.

Raising Concerns about Staff

Concerns about the conduct of staff or any other adult working with our students are raised directly with the Headteacher through our low-level concerns policy and all staff know how to raise concerns directly with our Local Authority Designated Officer.