Carleton House Preparatory School

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Carleton House Preparatory School
145 Menlove Avenue,
Liverpool. L18 3EE

T: 0151 722 0756

Charity No. 505310
Company Registration No. 01260765

Child Safeguarding Policy

Carleton House Preparatory School

Safeguarding Policy

DATE OF POLICY

November 2011

This policy will be reviewed regularly and appropriately

REVISION DATE:November 2012

The Carleton House policy on Child Protection is an application of the school’s Mission Statement. The safety of the pupils at this school is paramount. Pupils have a fundamental right to be protected from harm and all staff a duty to be alert to signs of abuse and to be aware of and follow the established procedures. The purpose of this policy is to set out the school’s approach to child welfare and its procedures when a pupil’s welfare is at risk. The procedures adopted follow the guidance set out in the DCSF Guidance ’Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education’ and ’What to Do If You’re Worried a Child is Being Abused’ (2006) and have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State.

This policy applies to the whole school including the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Responsibility of Governing Body

The Governing Body is responsible in law for the pupils at the school. They should be confident that:

1. this policy and procedures with other agencies are up to date;
2. The school operates safe recruitment procedures specified as CRB checks and compliance with Independent School Standards Regulations;


3. The school has procedures in place for dealing with allegations of abuse both generally and against members of staff, volunteers and the Head teacher and management;
   
4. a senior member of the school is appointed as the Child Protection Co-ordinator and discharges the functions required of this post;
   
5. requires training, updated every two years, for the designated persons in child protection and inter-agency working;
   
6. child protection issues are covered when dealing with external bodies;
   
7. any deficiencies in child protection arrangements are remedied without delay;
   
8. the governing body undertakes an annual review of the school’s child protection policies and the efficiency with which the related duties have been discharged.

Responsibility of the Head teacher

The Head teacher shall ensure that:

1. this policy and procedure are implemented by all members of staff;
   
2. the CPC (see below) has adequate resources and time to discharge her responsibilities;
   
3. all staff and volunteers feel able to raise issues of child protection without fear of reprisal.
   

Responsibility of Child Protection Co-Ordinator

The Child Protection Co-ordinator (CPC) Mrs Anne Daniels (Head) has responsibility for co-ordinating action within the school and liaising with the appropriate Local Safeguarding Children Board. In her absence the designated person to take responsibility for child protection matters is Mrs Fiona Mintz Deputy Head Upper School. Mrs Jennifer Kelly Deputy Head Lower School is the designated person taking lead responsibility within the EYFS setting.

The CPC will be responsible for:

1. ensuring their own training in child protection issues including identification of physical injury, neglect or abuse, when it is appropriate to make a referral and the use of inter-agency procedures is up to date and is updated every two years;
   
2. ensuring the staff have access to useful training and refresher sessions every three years for the Head and all staff with temporary and volunteer staff who work with children being made aware of the arrangements;
   
3. ensuring that suitable resources are available to allow for training;
   
4. monitoring, evaluating and reviewing this policy annually or following any incident;
   
5. the upkeep of a child protection which will record any incidents of suspected or actual abuse;
   
6. communicating readily with a local safeguarding agency whenever an allegation or disclosure of abuse has been made;
   
7. ensuring that the school has a policy and procedures in accordance with agreed inter agency procedures and makes them available to parents on the school website or by sending a copy on request. child protection issues are addressed through the curriculum primarily in RE lessons;
   
8. ensuring that pupils are aware of the existence of outside agencies such as Childline or the Samaritans;
   
9. ensuring that arrangements are in place with workplace placements or other external bodies to ensure that pupils are protected from harm. This may require the CPC to ensure that people outside the school are vetted and subject to appropriate checks. The CPC will also need to ensure the pupil is able to contact the school to discuss any concerns;
   
10. liaising with the Head teacher or Governor responsible for Child Protection generally about child protection policy, procedure and issues.

Categories

The following categories of abuse are recognised for legal and welfare purposes:

• neglect exposing to danger or resulting in significant impairment of a child’s health or development
  
• physical injury actual or likely
  
• sexual abuse actual or likely sexual exploitation of a child or adolescent
  
• emotional abuse ill-treatment or rejection having or likely to have severe adverse effect on emotional and behavioural development.
  

Staff Action

• All allegations of abuse by children must be taken seriously. The welfare of the child is the paramount consideration (Children Act 1989). The child must be listened to and reassured.
  

If a child tells you that he/she is being abused:

1. Do not make promises about confidentiality. Gently inform the child that it may be necessary to refer matters further for the child’s own sake but that the matter will be dealt with sensitively and only disclosed to people who need to know about it.
   
2. Give the child the time, space and your undivided attention.
   
3. Do not interrogate but allow the child to tell you the story in his/her own way.
   
4. Do not make judgements about whether the child is telling the truth.
   
5. Do not ask the child to repeat the story to other colleagues you feel need to know because of their role.
   
6. Do not make judgmental statements about the alleged perpetrator of the abuse. It is not the responsibility of teachers and other staff to investigate suspected abuse. Staff should avoid leading questions or prejudicial prompting and simply listen to and record the child’s version of events. While focusing on the welfare of the child it is most important to remember that an allegation is a statement or assertion which is unproven. Staff must therefore safeguard the reputation of those involved and be aware that false assertions about individuals can be serious offences against justice and charity.
   
7. Tell the child that you and the child may have to let Social Services/Police know about the abuse but that, if he or she would like, you will be there with them throughout the process.
   

Not all abused children will tell you they are being abused. However, professional judgment may lead you to believe that they are.

Referral

• In cases of suspected abuse members of staff must inform the Child Protection Co-ordinator, who will make the decision about whether the case is a matter for referral. When deciding whether to make a referral, following an allegation or suspicion of abuse the head teacher and or designated child protection officer should not make their own decision over what might appear to be a borderline case but rather the doubts and concerns should be discussed with the local authority designated officer.
  
• In cases of obvious physical injury, the pupil will be escorted to hospital and the family informed.
  
• A record of any disclosure must be completed within 24 hours by the member of staff to whom the child has disclosed and passed to the CPC. The note should record the time, date, place and persons present as well as what was said. In addition to maintaining the integrity of the documentation the CPC will also record the incident in a separate child protection log.
  
• Child protection documentation, whether recording an incident or monitoring a child after referral, is strictly confidential and must be returned directly to the CPC. Access to such documentation is by the CPC alone and the contents must not be divulged to or discussed with anyone else. The CPC will inform the Headmaster immediately. The CPC will make the information available, in cases of referral, to external agencies such as Social services or the Police. If parents cannot be located or are the subject of the allegation and external agencies are involved and require immediate interviews the CPC will remain with the pupil unless the police indicate that another appropriate adult is preferred and the child agrees to the CPC’s withdrawal.
  
• The child must not be re-interviewed without liaising with Social Services or the Police Family Support Unit.
  
• In cases of referral the CPC will contact the child’s family and one of the following agencies:Family Support Unit Social Services (Duty Officer or Area CPC).
  
• The school will not do anything that may jeopardise a police investigation by asking a child leading questions or attempting to investigate the allegation of abuse.
  

Allegations against members of staff, volunteers or the Head teacher

Allegations against staff, volunteers or the designated person with responsibility for safeguarding should be reported to the head. The designated person should be contacted (unless he or she is the object of the allegation). If the head is absent the allegation should be passed to the Chair of Governors. If the allegation concerns the head, the person receiving the allegation should inform the chair of governors without notifying the head first. In case of serious harm the police should be informed from the outset.
The suspension of a member of staff on full pay is, in law, a neutral act. Even so, because others may draw premature or inaccurate conclusions, a decision to suspend can have a detrimental effect on a teacher’s reputation and career. Suspension will not be undertaken without good reason, for example where a child or children are at risk, where the allegations are so serious that dismissal for gross misconduct is possible, and when suspension is necessary to allow the conduct of the investigation to proceed unimpeded.

Appointment of Staff

1. The school operates safe recruitment procedures specified as CRB checks and compliance with Independent School Standards Regulations.
   
2. Assurance will be obtained that appropriate child protection checks and procedures apply to any staff employed by another organization and working with the school’s pupils on another site.

Staff Behaviour

1. Any complaints about the behaviour of staff or volunteers working with pupils should be made to the Headmaster in the first instance who will, if appropriate, then invoke the complaints procedure under the Staff Handbook and may decide whether to involve a designated teacher. Action taken against any member of staff will be taken in accordance with the staff disciplinary procedure.
   
2. Neither corporal punishment nor any form of physical punishment will be used on a pupil. If it is necessary to use physical force to prevent a pupil from harming herself or others parents will be informed immediately. A full note of the incident shall be completed and placed on the pupil’s personal file. Reference should be made to the restraint policy and DCSF Guidance ’The Use of Force to Control or Restrain Pupil’ (November 2007).

Confidentiality

Given that it may be necessary for outside agencies and/or parents to become involved, any complaints from a pupil about abuse or concerns that a pupil is being abused will be dealt with as confidentially as possible. At all times Carleton House will strive to ensure that knowledge of any suspected abuse is only held by those required to know.

Carleton House is not obliged to provide information of the identity or nature of the complaint to any other persons. Requests for information by parents and/or outside agencies will only be provided if in the pupil’s best interests.

The school will report to the Independent Safeguarding Authority within one month of leaving the school any person (whether employed, contracted, a volunteer or student) whose services are no longer used because he or she is considered unsuitable to work with children. The address for referrals is

PO Box 181
Darlington
DL1 FA
Tel 0300 123 1111

If a child is suspected of being at risk contact
The Liverpool Children Integrated Services on 0151 233 3700 - open 24 hours.
Child Protection Helpline 0808 800 5000.

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