Child Safeguarding Policy

v2.0

version date: 2022.06.21

 

1. Safeguarding Policy Overview

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1.1 Safeguarding Definition

In the UK, safeguarding means protecting peoples' health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect.

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In our sector, in which we work with children, 11 Plus Prep School has a moral duty to protect children from any harm while they are in the care of 11 Plus Prep School staff.

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1.2 Scope

The scope of this safeguarding policy applies to all staff employed or contracted by 11+ Prep School and any associated personnel while engaged with work or visits related to 11+ Prep School.

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1.3 Purpose

The purpose of this policy statement is:

• to protect children and young people who receive 11+ Prep School’s services from harm. 

• to provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and young people and their families, with evidence of the principles that inform our child safeguarding policy. This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of 11+ Prep School, including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students.

 

1.4 Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. A summary of the key legislation is available from nspcc.org.uk/learning

 

1.5 Supporting documents

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies, procedures, guidance and other related documents:

• Code of Conduct for Children

• Role description for the designated safeguarding officer

• Dealing with disclosures and concerns about a child or young person

• Managing allegations against staff and volunteers

• Recording concerns and information sharing

• Child protection records retention and storage

• Behaviour codes for children and young people

• Photography and sharing images guidance

• Safer recruitment

• Online safety

• On-premise safety

• Anti-bullying

• Managing complaints

• Whistleblowing

• Health and safety

• Induction, training, supervision and support

• Adult to child supervision ratios

 

2. Beliefs

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2.1 Eleven Plus Prep School’s Beliefs

• Children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind

• 11 Plus Prep School has a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

 

2.2 Eleven Plus Prep School recognises that:

• the welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from all types of harm or abuse

• some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues

• working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

 

3. Safety & Responsibilities

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3.1 DBS Checks

All 11+ Prep School employees have undergone a basic DBS (Disclosure and Barring Services) check. A basic DBS check is a certificate of “convictions and conditional cautions that are considered to be unspent under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974.”

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All 11+ Prep School employees must have a clean DBS certificate (i.e., no unspent criminal convictions or cautions). 11+ Prep School employees are able to present their DBS certificates upon request. Requests to view DBS certificates should be made to the Safeguarding Officer.

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3.2 Responsibilities

Eleven Plus Prep School has a duty of care to all children to whom its tutors provide an educational service, or any other service that may be provided by Eleven Plus Prep School. The same duty of care applies no matter what media is used to provide the services, e.g., online or face-to-face, and no matter what format the educational service takes, e.g., group lessons, one-to-one lessons, mock exam practise.

Every member of staff is committed to providing a safe learning environment for all children and protecting them from all forms of harm: bullying, physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.

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Every member of staff at Eleven Plus Prep School – whether paid or voluntary – is committed to reporting any instances of child harm that they may be aware of. Every member of staff at Eleven Plus Prep School is aware of the agencies to whom they must report instances of child abuse or neglect, and will follow protocol when referring any known or suspected instances of child neglect or abuse to those agencies.

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3.3. Specific practices around safeguarding

11+ Plus Prep School ensures that its staff understand the definition of harm and the types of harm that a child might face.

In conjunction with this document, 11+ Prep School has authored a Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct has been authored to ensure that 11+ Prep School staff, the student and the parent/carer of the student is aware of the behavioural standards expected of students during 11+ Prep School lesson time, and the repercussions if these behavioural standards are violated.

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The Code of Conduct addresses some matters (e.g., bullying) which are also concerns of the Child Safeguarding Policy.

More broadly, 11+ Prep School staff are expected to understand the definition(s) of child safeguarding and of bullying, physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Its staff are expected to identify and report to the relevant authorities any instances of harm that they suspect is occurring or they know to be occurring.

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11+ Prep School communicates its safeguarding policies and procedures to all staff. This is done as part of induction, at supervision for relevant roles, and as a standing item in staff meetings.

 

Its safeguarding procedures are kept on local staff PCs and in a shared space in the cloud.

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3.4. Prevention of Harm

3.4.1 General Prevention of Harm Measures

 

• 11 Plus Prep School ensures all staff have access to, are familiar with, and know their responsibilities within the safeguarding policy

• 11 Plus Prep School designs and all its programmes and activities so that the protection and safety of the child paramount.

• 11 Plus Prep School implement stringent safeguarding procedures when recruiting, managing and deploying staff and associated personnel

• 11 Plus Prep School ensures staff receive training on safeguarding at a level commensurate with their role in the organization

• 11 Plus Prep School follows up on reports of safeguarding concerns promptly and according to due process

 

3.4.2 Online Prevention of Harm Measures

11+ Prep School shall not permit bullying, either by staff or fellow students, in an online lesson. Any instances of bullying during online lessons will be dealt with swiftly, according to our Code of Conduct.

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11+ Prep School will not tolerate obscene or offensive language in its online classroom. Any child using obscene or offensive language during online lessons will be dealt with swiftly, according to our Code of Conduct.

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If, during an online lessons, 11+ Prep School staff suspect that a child is attending the online lesson from a place where the support of a parent, carer or other responsible adult is not immediately to hand, we will make efforts to contact (via phone, email and/or instant messenger) the appropriate adult to verify whether a child is currently in a safe environment and close to adult supervision. If 11+ Prep School cannot verify that a child is currently in a safe environment and close to adult supervision, its staff will alert the appropriate authorities.

 

 

3.4.2.1 Parental obligations during online lessons

As per our Code of Conduct, we expect parents/carers to remain, wherever possible, in a separate room from their child during online lessons. This is to ensure that the presence of the parent/carer is not disrupting their own child’s learning, or the other children’s learning, or the tutor’s ability to teach.

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However, the parent/carer must remain within calling distance of their child if and when their child needs assistance.

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That is to say, 11+ Prep School expects the parent/carer not to use 11+ Plus Prep School in any childminding capacity. The parent/carer, or another responsible adult, must always be near their child, i.e., within the same household during lesson time.

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If 11+ Prep School suspects that a child has been left without a parent/carer or other responsible adult, in the same household during lesson time, we shall treat this as a safeguarding concern and notify the relevant authorities.

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3.4.3 On-premise prevention of harm measures

11+ Prep School will not permit bullying, either by staff or fellow students, when delivering on-premise services. Any instances of bullying during on-premise services will be dealt with swiftly, according to our Code of Conduct.

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11+ Prep School will not tolerate obscene or offensive language when delivering on-premise services. Any instances of obscene or offensive language used during on-premise services will be dealt with swiftly, according to our Code of Conduct.

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At the end of delivering on-premise services, 11+ Prep School staff will take responsibility for a child until his or her parent, carer or other authorised adult collects them from the premise. 11+ Prep School will only release children to the care of an adult who has been verified as an authorised adult; 11+ Prep School will refuse to release children into the care of any adult that collects them from the premises if that adult cannot verify their identity, fails to produce documentation that verifies their identity, or if 11+ Prep School has any suspicions about the identity of the adult collecting the child. In such circumstances, 11+ Prep School staff will alert the appropriate authorities.

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3.5 Further particulars of safeguarding practice

Further to the above (3.3.1), 11 Plus Prep School practically applies its moral obligation to keep children safe in the following ways:

• valuing, listening to and respecting children

• having an appointed child protection lead for children and young people

• adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers

• developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures

• providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently

• recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made

• recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance

• sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families via leaflets, posters, group work and one-to-one discussions

• making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern

• using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately

• using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately

• creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise

• ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance

• building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns

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3.6 Staff moral & legal responsibilities

11+ Prep School staff and associated personnel must not:

• Engage in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 18

• Sexually abuse or exploit children

• Subject a child to physical, emotional or psychological abuse, or neglect

• Engage in any commercially exploitative activities with children including child labour or trafficking

• Use offensive, sexually explicit, racially/ethnically discriminatory, or religiously blasphemous, language

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3.6.1 Offensive language exception

Some classic children’s literature contains language that may be considered offensive to modern ears. In such cases, 11+ Prep School staff consider this language contextual (i.e., language that needs to be tolerated within the context of the story or the time it was written) and may exercise its discretion to teach or recommend such literature. We would ask that if parents are concerned about the contents of any children’s literature taught in lesson that they contact the safeguarding officer.

 

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4 Safeguarding Officer

 

4.1 Nominated child protection lead/safeguarding officer

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Nominated child protection lead Name: Maxine Zhang,

Email address: contact

 

4.1 Reporting of safeguarding concerns

Staff members of 11+ Prep School, or parents or carers, who have a complaint or concern relating to safeguarding, should report it immediately to the 11+ Plus Prep School Safeguarding Office, Maxine Zhang.

 

4.2 Response to safeguarding concerns

11+ Prep School will follow up safeguarding reports and concerns according to policy and procedure, and legal and statutory obligations.

11+ Prep School will apply appropriate disciplinary measures to staff found in breach of policy.

 

4.3 Confidentiality of safeguarding concerns

It is essential that confidentiality in maintained at all stages of the process when dealing with safeguarding concerns.  Information relating to the concern and subsequent case management should be shared on a need-to-know basis only, and should be kept secure at all times.

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5.1 Policy Review

This policy was last reviewed on: 21st July 2022

Signed: MAXINE ZHANG

Date: 21st July 2022