Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

We define safeguarding as being broader than ‘child protection’. Safeguarding in our school confirms what we do for all children, applies across the whole school, and is linked to our overall culture, ethos, and the principles we follow in school. Safeguarding in our school is child centred and ensures that at all times we work in the best interests of the child to ensure that school is a safe place for all of our children and young people to be.

We define Child Protection as what we do for children at risk of significant harm, or who have been significantly harmed and we have separate clear procedures which are understood by ALL, in place for this.

We define children and young people in our school as being children within the age ranges of 3 to 9 years, however we are aware that children include everyone under the age of 18.

As appropriate, to safeguard any young person who is over the age of 18 who continues to receive education in our school, we operate in accordance with local guidance and will report suspicions/allegations of abuse or neglect to the Adult Social Care Gateway Team on 0191 6432777.

We accept and expect ALL in school to understand that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

In school we act in the best interest of all children and ensure we take all reasonable steps to prevent them from harm. Having appropriate safeguards in place not only protects and promotes the welfare of children/young people, but also enhances the confidence of pupils, staff, volunteers, and parents/carers. Therefore, safeguarding arrangements should be considered in conjunction with the procedures outlined in Reference Document B.