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Safeguarding

“Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as: protecting children from maltreatment; preventing 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; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.“ KCSIE

 

Keeping Your Child Safe

Safeguarding is the absolute priority at Lakelands Academy and is embedded into all aspects of our school. We are committed to keeping children safe both inside and outside of school and have staff (Designated Safeguarding Leads) who are trained to deal with issues relating to safeguarding and child protection. Our students and staff know who these people are as the information is highly visible around our building. In addition, all of our staff receive regular safeguarding training.

 

We take seriously our duty of care to all staff, pupils and families. The aim of our child protection and safeguarding policy is to promote welfare and make all within our school feel safe. We understand our community and its needs and shape our procedures to ensure that we can protect and care for our students and families. We respond to patterns in experience and data using our robust recording and tracking systems to inform actions, developments and whole school decisions.

We are committed to inter-agency working to keep children safe. Our ethos holds centrally the understanding that we must provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment which promotes the social, physical and moral development of all.

Lakelands Academy will have regard for the statutory guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) issued under Section 175 of the Education Act 2002, the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, and the Non-Maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2015. This policy has been developed in line with legal obligations, including, where applicable, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Lakelands Academy will adhere to the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). We will follow the DfE of What to do if you are Worried a Child is Being Abused – Advice for Practitioners. We recognise the NSPCC website also provides use additional information on abuse and neglect and what to look out for.

All child protection matters will be dealt with in line with the arrangements of  Shropshire Safeguarding Community Partnership  and West Midlands Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedures or, if relevant, the safeguarding partnership area children reside in or is under the care of.

If you have any concerns about the safety of a child at Lakelands Academy then please contact one of our Designated staff listed below. If it is outside of school hours or during weekends or school holidays, please contact the First Point of Contact (FPOC), Children's Services and tell them your concerns; 0345 678 9021.

If you need to report concerns out of office hours then please contact the Emergency Social Work Team on 0345 678 9040 selecting option 1.

You can also speak to:

  • Protecting Vulnerable People (West Mercia Police): 0300 333 3000
  • NSPCC: 0800 800 5000
  • Childline: 0800 1111

 

If you believe a child or young person in Shropshire to be at immediate risk of harm or in need of emergency medical attention call the emergency services on 999.

 

The government publication Advice to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) also provides information, advice and guidance that may be useful to you.

 

 

Communication with Parents

Our school will always discuss concerns with parents/carers and consent for any referrals should be sought unless to do so would:

  • Place the child at risk of significant harm or further risk of significant harm;
  • Place a vulnerable adult at risk of harm; and
  • Compromise any enquiries that need to be undertaken by children’s social care or the police.

 

The school will endeavour to ensure that parents have an understanding of the responsibilities placed on the school and staff for safeguarding children.

In the best interests of safeguarding children there may be occasions when the school has to consult with other agencies without a parent or carer’s prior knowledge. Our first concern and responsibility is the child’s welfare and we have a duty to protect children first and always. Such consultation may result in a formal referral which could prompt visits from social care and/or the police. We fully understand that this can be a very distressing set of circumstances. Our school will follow the procedures required by the Shropshire Safeguarding Community Partnership.

Our school will employ the services of an interpreter if required.

 

Curriculum

Child safety issues and child protection will be addressed through the curriculum where appropriate, especially through PSHE, Computing and E-Safety, Sex and Relations Education (SRE) and British values.

 

We use a variety of resources and approaches to teach the children how to keep themselves safe, build their resilience and manage risks.

 

The curriculum, and in particular the personal, social and health education development strand of the curriculum, includes an emphasis on relationships (relationships and sex education), building confidence and resilience in pupils and in developing preventative strategies to ensure their own protection and that of others. Opportunities are provided for pupils to develop the skills and strategies they need to stay safe from abuse, including age-appropriate discussions about healthy relationships, their bodies and being able to say no to requests that they do not want to carry out. Clear advice and guidance is built into the curriculum to ensure that pupils understand that there is a range of contacts they can turn to for advice and support and that they know where and how to report abuse

Current Safeguarding Concerns

 

Child Sexual Exploitation

  • Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is a form of sexual abuse which sees children/young people being manipulated or coerced into sexual activity for receiving ‘something’ such as; gifts, money, food, attention, somewhere to stay etc. Technology is very often used to groom victims.  This may occur through social networking sites and mobile phones with internet access. CSE has gained a large amount of media attention over the last year as lots of services involved with children and young people have noticed a big rise in cases involving CSE. Charities such as NSPCC and Barnardos have been campaigning to raise the profile of this form of child abuse.

 

Internet Safety

  • Children and young people spend lots of time on the internet.  They may go online to research information for homework or to play games, chat with friends and make new ones. The internet holds a massive amount of useful information and can also be a really good way of learning about new things and keeping in contact with friends and family.  It can also be a very dangerous place so it is important that children are protected and monitored when they are online.
  • CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) has lots of information about how to keep your children safe online and parental controls.  The link to the website is below.
  • CEOP – Thinkuknow

County Lines

 

  • County lines is when a young person is sent to sell drugs normally in a rural town. They get their train ticket paid for and are provided with a place to stay where they remain until the drugs are sold. They would then need to pass their earnings onto the drug dealer. In some situations they are mugged by the drug dealer and then owe the drug dealer the money that was stolen. This means it is very difficult to get out of the situation of having to go away to sell drugs.

Domestic Abuse - Operation Encompass