Child Protection Policy

It is imperative that all Schools fully recognise the responsibility they have regarding arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.  Those statutory responsibilities are noted within the following legislation:
Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 states;
  • a local education authority shall make arrangements for ensuring that the functions conferred on them in their capacity as a local education authority are exercised with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
  • schools and Further Education (FE) institutions should give effect to their duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils.
  • the governing body of a maintained school  shall make arrangements for ensuring that functions relating to the conduct of the school are exercised with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who are pupils at the school
  • an authority or body …shall have regard to any guidance given from time to time by the Secretary of State
This legislation makes child  protection responsibilities clear and places an obligation on schools to ensure that these responsibilities are met in full.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined in Working Together (2015)  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; and
  • taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

In addition,
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016 (KCSE2016) outlines:
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsible.  Everyone who comes in to contact with children and their families and carers has a role, to play in safeguarding children.  In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively all professionals should make sure their approach is child centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child.
School and college staff are particularly important as they are in a position to identify concerns early, provide help for children, and prevent concerns from escalating.  All school 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, from the foundation years through to the teenage years.

 

[1] Maintained school means a community, foundation or voluntary school, a community or foundation special school or a maintained nursery school. The Education Act 2002 does not specifically refer to Academies; however this duty is equally placed onto Academies by subsequent updated legislation.

[1] Child means a person under the age of eighteen.

[1] Working Together guidance to be revised – likely formal consultation around November 2019, and implementation in early 2020