What is Safeguarding

Many people think that the words Safeguarding and Child Protection mean the same thing. ‘Safeguarding’ and ‘Promoting Welfare’ are relatively new terms. They were brought into practice with the Children Act 2004 and are much wider used than Child Protection.  Child Protection forms just a small part of Safeguarding and Promoting Welfare.

The statutory definition of Safeguarding and Promoting Welfare is:

  • 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;

  • Undertaking that role so as to enable those children to have optimum life chances and  enter adulthood successfully.

Safeguarding covers a wide range of activities and actions taken by a number of different people and agencies.  By ‘Safeguarding’ we mean 3 main types of activities:

  • Specific action to identify and protect children;

  • Activities directly designed to identify and  support children who are vulnerable to poor outcomes and life chances;

  • Ways to improve the general health and wellbeing of all children.

Safeguarding is about keeping children safe at all times. 

Our school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all of our children.  Safeguarding is a priority and ‘the golden thread’ that runs through our school and our Academy Trust.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined, in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), as:

  • 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;
  • Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

School staff are particularly important, as they are in a position to identify concerns early, provide help for children, promote children’s welfare and prevent concerns from escalating.

All staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn.  All staff should be prepared to identify children who may benefit from Early Help. Early Help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges at any point in a child’s life.

Our school believes that all Staff and Volunteers should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment that promotes the social, physical and moral development of every child.   We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent, effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at our school.

Staff, Visitors and Volunteers

All of our volunteers have taken part in a risk assessment interview with a member of the DSL team and are asked to provide ID and references. Volunteers undertake a DBS check as part of our safeguarding procedures.