THE JOHN OF GAUNT SCHOOL

- A Community Academy -

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN IN OUR SCHOOL POLICY

Originator / Reviewed by / Date of Review / Approved by / Date of Approval / Next Review Date / Website
HK
School / S&C / 11/3/13 / FGB / Mar 14 / Yes

Contents:

1Vision Statement

2Rationale

3Purpose

4Relationship to other policies

5School support

6Concerns flowchart

  1. Vision Statement

We aim:

  • to create an irresistible climate for learning;
  • to support everyone in our school community as they strive for excellence;
  • to work in partnership with others to remove barriers to learning;
  • to be at the centre of learning initiatives nationally.

2.Rationale

The John of Gaunt School fully recognises its responsibilities for child protection. Our policy applies to all staff, governors and volunteers working in the school.

  1. Purpose

This policy reflects our active commitment to promote and safeguard the welfare of students at our school. We believe that children have a fundamental right to feel safe and protected from any form of abuse. Therefore we aim to provide a secure, caring environment, highly skilled and aware staff, and a curriculum which promotes self-esteem, nurtures well-being and empowers children to protect themselves.

The school aims to ensure that students who are vulnerable, at risk and have suffered or are likely to suffer significant harm are identified, and appropriate action is taken to keep them safe. The school has and will continue to develop a systematic approach towards identification and referral of suspected child abuse to an appropriate agency. The school recognises that abuse may be emotional, physical, sexual or through neglect, or a combination of any of these. We also recognise the risk that students may pose to themselves at times.

Main ECM outcomes: Be healthy; Stay safe

  1. Relationship to other policies

This policy should be read in conjunction with our Equal Opportunities, Race Equality, Staff Professional Values and Code of Conduct Policy, Health & Safety, Whistle Blowing, Anti-Bullying, e-safety and Use of Force by Staff to Control or Restrain Students policies.

4.1 The main elements to this policy:

  • ensuring the practice of safe recruitment in checking the suitability of staff and volunteers to work with students;
  • raising awareness of child protection issues and equipping students with the skills needed to keep them safe;
  • developing and then implementing procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases of abuse and/or neglect;
  • supporting students who have been abused and/or neglected in accordance with his/her agreed child protection plan;
  • establishing a safe environment in which students can learn and develop;
  • ensuringall staff employed to work at the school receive appropriate child protection training within 2 terms (1 old term) of starting at the school and all staff attend updated child protection training every 3 years in accordance with safeguarding guidance;[1]
  • The child protection officer(s) is to undertake Level 2 training update every 2 years in accordance with safeguarding guidelines.

4.2Implementation of this policy:

We recognise that because of the day-to-day contact with students, school staff are well placed to observe the outward signs of abuse and/or neglect.

The procedures set out by the Local Safeguarding Children Board and taking into account the guidance issued by the Department of Education (DfE).

  • Establish and maintain an environment where students feel secure, are encouraged to talk, and are listened to;
  • ensure all students know that there are adults in the school whom they can approach if they are worried;
  • include opportunities in the PD and ICT curriculum for students to develop the skills they need to recognise and stay safe from abuse;
  • ensure we have designated staff for child protection who have received appropriate training and support for this role;
  • ensure we have a nominated governor responsible for child protection and that the policy conforms to DfE expectations and is reviewed annually;
  • ensure every member of staff, volunteer and governor knows the names of the designated staff responsible for child protection and their role;
  • ensure all staff and volunteers understand their responsibilities in being alert to the signs of abuse and/or neglect (Appendix 1), and responsibility for referring any concerns to the designated staff responsible for child protection;
  • ensure that parents have an understanding of the responsibility placed on the school and staff for child protection by setting out its obligations in the school prospectus;
  • notify Social Services if there is an unexplained absence of more than 2 days of a student who is on the Child Protection Register. All un-notified absences are checked and reported to parents through truancy call;
  • develop effective links with relevant support agencies and co-operate as required with their enquiries regarding child protection matters including attendance at case conferences;
  • keep written records of concerns about students, even where there is no need to refer the matter immediately;
  • ensure all child protection records are kept securely, separate from the main student file, and in locked locations, and that students who have a record are signposted on their file;
  • follow procedures, as set out in guidance from the Local Authority, when an allegation is made against a member of staff or volunteer;
  • ensure safe recruitment practices are always followed, as set out in the AMA document Guidance for Safer Working Practice for Adults who Work with Children and Young People (November 2007);
  • inform parents of the policy via the newsletter and make this policy available both in paper format and on the website.

We recognise that students who are abused or witness violence may find it difficult to develop a sense of self worth. They may feel helplessness, humiliation and some sense of blame. The school may be the only stable, secure and predictable element in the lives of students at risk. When at school their behaviour may be challenging and defiant or they may be withdrawn.

Issues of concern that do not fit neatly into the ‘child protection’ category should be referred to the Student Development Team and / or the Senior Designated Member of Staff for Child Protection These include:

  • Emotional and Mental health concerns;
  • self harming;
  • anorexia/bulimia;
  • drug, alcohol and substance abuse ;
  1. School Support

5.1 For Students:

  • A focus on early identification and prevention of harm;
  • easy access to confidential advice, information and guidance;
  • annual auditing of its child protection procedures;
  • the content of the curriculum (including SEAL);
  • the school ethos which promotes a positive, supportive and secure environment and gives students a strong sense of being valued;
  • the school behaviour policy and anti-bullying policy which is aimed at supporting vulnerable students in the school. The school will ensure that the student knows that some behaviour is unacceptable but they are valued and not to be blamed for any abuse which has occurred;
  • liaison with other agencies that support the student such as, Social Services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Education Welfare Service and Educational Psychology Service, Youth Development Service, Youth Offending Team, Young People’s Support Service;
  • ensuring that, when a student who is subject to a Child Protection plan leaves, their information is transferred to the new school immediately and that the relevant social worker is informed;
  • use the Common Assessment Framework to assess complex needs[2].

5.2 Support for Parents and Carers:

The school will endeavour to support parents and carerswho have concerns by being a listening school. Any parent or carer who is concerned that a child may be showing signs and symptoms of any form of abuse should report these to the Headteacher or the Senior Designated Member of Staff for Child Protection.

  1. What to do if you feel a student may fall into an ‘at risk’ category (Appendix 2).

The flow chart on the next page clarifies and sets out the expectations about reporting and recording concerns. Appendices 4 and 5 give examples of the sheets to be used at various stages of concern.

FLOW CHART FOR CHILD PROTECTION PROCEDURES

TO BE USED AT THE JOHN OF GAUNT SCHOOL

DESIGNATED CHILD PROTECTION OFFICER

  • Senior Leadership Team – Helen Kerr - 01225 762637 ext 203

email

POSSIBLE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF PHYSICAL ABUSE

Non-accidental injuries / Accidental injuries
Bruises likely to be: / Bruises likely to be:
  • Frequent
  • Patterned, eg finger and thumb marks
  • Old and new in same place (note colour)
  • In unusual position
consider:
  • developmental level of the child and their activities. Bruising may be more difficult to identify on black skin.
/
  • Few but scattered
  • No pattern
  • Same colour and age
consider:
Age and activity of child, eg learning to walk may be confused with birthmarks or other skin conditions.
Burns and Scalds likely to have: / Burns and Scalds likely to be:
  • Clear outline
  • Splash marks around burn area
  • Unusual position, eg back of hand
  • Indicative shapes eg cigarette burns, bar of electric fire
/
  • Treated
  • Easily explained
  • May be confused with other conditions eg impetigo, nappy rash

Injuries suspicious if: / Injuries likely to be:
  • Bite marks
  • Fingernail marks
  • Large and deep scratches
  • Incisions eg from razor blade
/
  • Minor and superficial
  • Treated
  • Easily explained

Fractures likely to be: / Fractures likely to be:
  • Numerous – healed at different times
consider:
  • Age of child, always suspicious in babies under 2 years old
  • Delay in seeking treatment
/
  • Of arms and legs
  • Seldom on ribs except for road traffic accidents
  • Rare in young children
  • May rarely be due to “brittle bone syndrome”

Sexual abuse may result in: / Genital area
  • Unexplained soreness, bleeding or injury in genital or anal area
  • Sexually transmitted diseases, eg warts and gonorrhoea
/
  • Injury may be accidental (seek expert opinion)
  • Soreness may be nappy rash or irritation, eg bubble bath
  • Anal soreness may be due to constipation or threadworm infestation


ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or, more rarely, by a stranger.

PHYSICAL ABUSE

Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer feigns the symptoms of, or deliberately causes, ill health to a child whom they are looking after. This situation is commonly described using terms such as factitious illness by proxy or Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional treatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of ill treatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

SEXUAL ABUSE

Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (eg rape or buggery) or non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, pornographic material, or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways (see Appendix 3).

NEGLECT

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failing to protect a child from physical harm or danger, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs

Self Harm and substance misuse

Guidance for supporting young people who self-harm or who may be misusing drugs, alcohol or other recreational substances, or for supporting those who may be living with family members who are self-harming or misusing illegal substances can be found at the following web address:

SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Before considering possible signs, symptoms and behaviours that may indicate that a child has been sexually abused, it is worth looking at the range of behaviours associated with normal sexual development.

The following are suggestions regarding “normal” sexual behaviour in children. This is included at the request of delegates, and is an excerpt from one of the speeches made by Michele Elliot of Kidscape.

What is normal? I wish I knew, it would make life so much easier, particularly working in the field of child sexual abuse. Perhaps I could share and leave you to draw your own conclusions. These are generalisations, and the ages will overlap at the edges, but it provides something at least to argue about.

This is the age of strong feelings and sexual activity “for real”. As there is more understanding of sex, the game becomes more serious. It is not unusual for adolescents to fall in love with an older role model, who may be opposite or same sex. A “Mrs Robinson” type affair, if you will forgive the use of that term. It does not necessarily mean that the adolescent is homo- or heterosexual, just that the hormones are OK!

Peer attraction is the norm and I would be concerned about a teenager who seemed interested in only younger children. From research done by experts who work with sexual offenders, it would seem that many offenders started fantasising when they were in their early teens about abusing children. Some actually began abusing as young as eleven with children under the age of five. So be aware of teenagers you deal with who seem not to have any peer relations and are seeking out much younger children.

In brief summary, children and young people:

  • Are sexual with themselves and others
  • Are curious about bodies – their own and other peoples
  • Do experiment
  • Do masturbate from an early age
  • Do make sexual jokes
  • Do play games involving their bodies
  • Have sexual attachments to peers
  • As teenagers, may become secretive about a peer relationship
  • As young children, do try to touch other people’s bodies

As a rule, I would be concerned if:

  • There was force or coercion involved in any sexual act
  • There was abusive, sadistic or ritualistic sexual behaviour
  • A child exhibited inappropriate sexual behaviour for his/her age
  • An older child became sexual with a child much younger
  • There was an element of secrecy which was not appropriate
  • There was compulsive public masturbation

A spectrum of inappropriate acts includes:

  • Pornography
  • Indecent exposure
  • Sexual play/fondling
  • Masturbation
  • Oral sex
  • Vaginal intercourse
  • Anal intercourse
  • Sexual abuse of children and young people by children and young people

With special needs children, some of these statements may not be valid. However, this vulnerable population is subject to sexual abuse and many of the concerns are similar if the maturity levels are matches.

You may not agree with definitions of “normal behaviour”, nor feel that the other behaviours are cause for concern. It does not matter, as long as you think about what you consider “normal” and what you would do if a child displayed behaviour that did worry you. If in doubt report it!

Staff and governor training is regularly undertaken to ensure all staff and Governors are aware of the range of issues which require reporting.

Students and parents are supported to make the right choices for staying safe and are given information about how and where to report concerns about the welfare of themselves or others through a range of opportunities including but not limited to: The assembly and tutor program, curriculum content including PSHE and ICT and parenting classes.

Further information about child protection and safeguarding in school is available from the South West Safeguarding and Child Protection Group Website All procedures for safeguarding at The John of Gaunt School are in line with these guidelines.

THE JOHN OF GAUNT SCHOOL

Policy and Code of Conduct for Safe Practice

Vision Statement

We aim

o to create an irresistible climate for learning;

o to support everyone in our school community as they strive for excellence;

o to work in partnership with others to remove barriers to learning;

o to be at the centre of learning initiatives nationally.

Introduction

This document provides a guide for adults working in schools (including staff,

governors, volunteers and visitors) about acceptable and desirable conduct to