What is Safeguarding?
Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Safeguarding means:
- protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
- preventing harm to children’s health or development
- ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
- taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes
Protecting children from maltreatment and preventing impairment of children’s health or development is necessary, but not sufficient to ensure that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care. These aspects of safeguarding and promoting welfare are cumulative and all contribute to the five outcomes that are key to children and young people's wellbeing, namely:
- Stay safe
- Be healthy
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution
- Achieve economic wellbeing
Safeguarding Team
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 annually via the platform Educare. In addition, all staff receive face to face training on Keeping Children Safe in Education updates and any arisen safeguarding trends throughout the year.
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.
Safeguarding Policies
Further Links
Stockport Safeguarding Children Partnership
Stockport Child Protection Referrals (contacting the MASSH)
