Safeguarding

Keeping children safe is central to all we do. You can read full details in our policies and procedures, but in summary:

• All adults working in school are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, which you may know under its former title as a CRB check.
• All adults working in Regulated Activites are also subject to checking on the Barred List.
• Any regular volunteer is subjected to the same checking process as an employee.
• Adults who have not been through the process are not allowed unsupervised access to children.
• All checks are updated at least every 3 years,
• All recruitment is subject to Safer Recruitment processes and selection panel members are trained in this.
• All adults working in school have undertaken Safeguarding Training and this is renewed every two years.
• Staff complete training on specialist areas of Safeguarding such as FGM, County Lines and Peer-on-Peer abuse.
• There are three fully trained Designated Safeguarding leads,
• All staff have in-house refresher training annually, which includes changes to the key document Keeping Children Safe in Education
• All Safeguarding concerns are logged on a secure digital system to which all staff have access.
• Concerns are reviewed weekly by the DSLs.
• Transform Trust regularly audits this logging system.
• The Lead Governor conducts a comprehensive annual audit of Safeguarding.
• Safeguarding concerns are a standing item in weekly staff beirfings and meetings.
• A specialist pastoral and wellbeing team adds considerably to the capacity for managing concerns and operates pro-actively with children, families and agencies.
• Pupil and adult mental health and wellbeing is a core part of the curriculum and school day,
• Pupil wellbeing, mental health and engagement are ‘measured’ termly through Leuven tests.
• An active School Council exists for children to raise concerns.
• Pupil Voice is formally gathered annually and all (100% of) children expressing any negative views or feelings are followed-up by the Pastoral Team.
• Online/e-safety is a key priority and children are explicitly taught this.
• There is a robust system of monitoring for bullying, underpinned by a well-established Anti-Bullying Charter.
• Children can self-refer or report concerns anonymously.
• Attendance is monitored closely – all unexplained absences are followed up within a short-time of registers closing,
• Expectations of Attendance are high; attendance is typically 96.5 to 97% in any given year.
• The wellbeing of children absent long-term, including for all during Covid-related lockdowns or self-isolation, is monitored closely.
• Children are not off-rolled or excluded. There have been no permanent exclusions in the past 7 years. Fixed-term exclusions are extremely rare, averaging less than one per year.