Safeguarding Policy

Drafted and agreed: January 2020
To be reviewed: Annually

Purpose of the policy

This important policy seeks to ensure that Dayspring Academy safeguards all of its pupils and promotes their physical and emotional welfare, allowing them to thrive in our school.

Provisions of the policy

1. If staff believe that a pupil is subject to neglect or abuse of any kind they should refer their concerns immediately to the Headteacher. He will make a dated record of the referral and decide on a course of action in liaison with senior staff. The actions available to the Headteacher may include interviews with parents/guardians or referrals to social services or the police.

Staff should be vigilant looking out for the signs of neglect or abuse. Here are some common signs :

• The children have injuries not consistent with a given explanation, or the injuries have no accidental explanation;
• With emotional abuse (when children feel unloved or inadequate) children may display sudden changes in mood, depression or persistent tiredness. They may also take to lying, stealing or running away;
• With sexual abuse children may display a preoccupation with sexual matters. They may indulge in sexual activity through words, play or drawing. The children may also be sexually provocative towards adults or other children.
• Sometimes a child will self harm (cutting, burning etc) as a result of some form of abuse.
• Where neglect is present children may have skin diseases, weight loss, very poor personal hygiene, malnourishment, illnesses which are clearly not being treated or very dirty, poor quality clothing.  

2. All staff should ensure that, as far as is reasonably possible, the environment in which our pupils work is safe and secure. So :

• Pupils should be supervised at all times, especially at pick-up time where pupils should only be handed over to parents/guardians (or someone we are certain has been sent by the parent/guardian.) School should maintain a record of who is picking up children, including phone numbers of these assigned adults. No child should leave our premises unaccompanied by an adult;
• School gates should remain closed throughout the day. Guards should ensure this;
• The environment should be kept clean and free of hazards at all times;
• Adequate health and safety provisions should be observed (including plans and equipment to deal with a fire);
• Visitors to the site should sign in at the gates with our security guards. The visitors’ record should detail times in and out as well as who the visitors intend to see. Visitors should then be directed to the Reception;
• If a pupil suffers injury through an accident he/she should receive speedy and adequate medical attention; the incident should be relayed to the Headteacher and recorded in the accident book; and parents/guardians should be contacted immediately.
• Photographs and videos of pupils should only be displayed on the school website and Facebook page. Indeed the management of the academy should annually seek parents’ approval for such postings.
• In the course of school trips by bus, staff should check the drivers’ licences; make a visual check for road worthiness of the vehicles being used; carry a written list of the pupils on the trip; maintain calm behaviour on the buses; carry a First Aid box; ensure that every child is safely picked up by parents at the end of the trip.
• With regard to toilets, staff should where necessary give instructions to pupils from outside the toilet while not looking into the toilet. Staff should not enter the boys’ or girls’ toilets unless there is a real pressing need to do so, (for example a child has fallen and hurt him/herself badly or a child in pre-school has soiled him/herself.) Staff should not enter cubicles with pupils. 

3. When a new member of staff is appointed to the school a reference should be sought from their last employer. The reference should ask if the appointee is safe to work with children.

4. Pupils should be taught well how to stay safe. They should learn how to manage risks. They should learn how to stay well through eating a healthy diet and doing regular exercise.

5. Pupils should be kept free of all forms of bullying (verbal and physical).  If bullying is reported it must be stopped that same day. A record of the bullying should be kept in the bullying log kept by the Headteacher. (Note : bullying is defined as repeated maltreatment by someone who is bigger or stronger than the victim.)

6. Teachers and other staff members should treat all children with the respect and dignity befitting their age and understanding. Teachers and members of support staff should never physically or emotionally harm pupils –this includes the use of aggressive language.  Such conduct will trigger immediate dismissal.

Monitoring of the policy

The Headteacher and Chair of Directors will conduct Safeguarding Audits on a regular basis and report weaknesses in safeguarding to Directors with an action plan to remedy those weaknesses promptly.