Safeguarding
The safeguarding of all members of our community is of paramount importance to us and we are committed to making sure this permeates everything that we do.
We work tirelessly to ensure students are safe, feel empowered to discuss any concerns they have and are able to learn in a caring, positive and supportive learning environment.
For information and advice, and to report concerns directly to CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre), click on the image below.
Safeguarding legislation and government guidance says that safeguarding means:
Protecting children from maltreatment, preventing impairment of children’s health or development, ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Child Protection: is part of safeguarding and promoting student welfare. It involves measures and structures designed to prevent and respond to significant harm, abuse, exploitation and neglect.
Safeguarding includes: Child Protection, Health Care Plans, Health and Safety, Site Security, Safety on school trips and visits, Safer recruitment – School Central Record & DBS checks, online safety and associated issues, anti-bullying work, children’s & learner’s health, mental health and emotional wellbeing and so much more.
Our Safeguarding policy can be found below, and also on the policies and guidance section of this website.
This policy is reviewed regularly, and all staff receive annual Child Protection and Safeguarding update training and are aware of the internal procedures for passing on concerns within the academy.
If any member of the academy or local community has concerns about the welfare of a student in the academy, then please direct them to a member of our Safeguarding Team.
Alternatively, anyone can make a referral using Suffolk County Council’s Customer First service. Call 0808 800 4005 at any time.
Thinkuknow.com is a useful website that is full of guidance materials and support with keeping children safe online.
Internetmatters.org helping to teach online safety.
Youngminds.org are a mental health charity for children,. young people and their parents/ carers.
PREVENT is a national programme that aims to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It works to ensure that people who are susceptible to radicalisation are offered appropriate interventions, and communities are protected against radicalising influences.
Radicalisation can happen when a person develops extreme views or beliefs that support terrorist groups or activities. There are different types of terrorism and PREVENT deals with all of them.
How does the Prevent strategy apply to schools and parents?
From July 2015 all schools have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism.
This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from drugs or gang violence.
The PREVENT strategy is not just about discussing extremism itself, which may not be appropriate for younger children. However, it is about teaching children values such as tolerance and mutual respect.
Importantly, we can provide a safe place for students to discuss any issues so they better understand how to protect themselves.
Children are spending more time than ever on social media and gaming platforms so it is no surprise that online grooming by extremists is on the rise. Young people are especially being targeted by groups and individuals promoting violence and hatred.
Helping your child be digitally savvy and knowing the signs of radicalisation will help keep them safe and protect them from potential risks.
Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership safeguard people with care and support needs and act to minimise risk of harm, and adopt a zero tolerance to abuse and neglect. Providing information, advice and ways to report someone you are worried about.
Suffolk Safeguarding Children Board Information for parents and carers in need of support or guidance, on a range of safeguarding matters.
If you have concerns regarding someone who works with children, including foster carers and volunteers, these should be reported to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). This applies to all paid, unpaid, volunteers, casual, agency employees, or anyone working in a self- employed capacity.
This is statutory guidance from the Department for Education and
schools and colleges in England must have regard to it when carrying out their duties to
safeguard and promote the welfare of children. For the purposes of this guidance
children includes everyone under the age of 18.
Click here to read the DfE document: Working Together To Safeguard Children.
Click here to read the DfE document: Keeping Children Safe In Education.
The academy has produced its own information booklet which includes detailed information about the different areas of safeguarding concerns, useful links to external sources of advice, and helpline information. You can view or download the booklet by clicking below.
SafeCall provides confidential and anonymous support to young victims of county lines exploitation and their families. The expert team is available 9am-11pm, 7 days a week, by calling or texting 116000.
County Lines and Child Criminal Exploitation
County lines drug crime from Suffolk and Norfolk Constabulary
Getting you up to speed with velocity, from Suffolk Constabulary
Find a wide range of useful documents here.
