Everyone in the education service plays a part in keeping children and young people safe from harm and abuse. Creating a safe learning environment, identifying pupils who are suffering or at risk of harm and then taking suitable action, are vital to making sure that children are safe at home and at school.
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Role of the school in protecting your child from abuse
Your child's school should have a number of measures in place to help protect them, including:
staff who have been trained to identify signs of abuse including what to do if they or someone else is worried about a child a designated teacher responsible for dealing with child protection procedures for checking on staff before they are allowed to
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Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) lessons cover issues such as:
risky behaviour suitable and inappropriate physical contact dealing with peer pressure
Dealing with suspected cases of abuse
School staff will listen to and work closely with parents to make sure your child feels safe and protected in the school environment.
If you suspect that a child is being abused, you should report it to police or local social services. If you work in a school, you should tell the teacher responsible for child protection. They will take suitable action based on procedures set out by the local authority and local safeguarding children board, letting the authorities know where it is required.
Once the authorities are told, they will decide on the best way forward. The school's role is then limited. School staff will not take part in an investigation, though they may be called on to give information. They may also be asked to give support to the child or young person.
To discuss concerns about child abuse contact:
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Gateway Service Teams in the Health and Social Care Trusts
Preventing inappropriate relationships at
Consider the responsibilities and limits of learning support staff in ensuring the safety of children and young people in a school, in terms of:
Safeguarding is a fundamental part of our every day activities with children and young people in the most basic of things from
Ensuring children and young people’s safety and welfare in the work setting is an essential part of safeguarding. While children are at school, practitioners act in ‘loco parentis’ while their parents are away. As part of their legal and professional obligations, practitioners hold positions of trust and a duty of care to the children in their school, and therefore should always act in their best interests and ensure their safety – the welfare of the child is paramount (Children Act 1989). The Children Act 2004 came in with the Every Child Matters (ECM) guidelines and greatly impacted the way schools look at the care and welfare of pupils. Children and young people should be helped to learn and thrive and be given the opportunity to
They will then pass this information to criminal prosecution services, in the event that criminal proceedings will be taking place. The police also have the power to enter into premises if a child needs to be immediately protected from significant
Schools must have a policy about safeguarding children and this must adhere to current legislation. This policy should offer advice and have a recognised procedure for practitioners to follow in the case of suspected child abuse. If a child does approach a practitioner to confide in them about any form of abuse, the practitioner must:
Professionals working in health and social services, educational establishments, and those working for the police and the probation services are bound by statutory law such as Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013 (replacing previous 2010 Act). The statutory includes all nature and impact of child abuse and neglect, procedures to best protect a child, the different roles, processes and responsibilities of all agencies and practitioners involved. It also provided the appropriate action to be taken to safeguard and to promote wellbeing and welfare of children at risk of a possibility significant harm. The 2013 Act sets out important principles to be followed when working with children and their families. Among the other aspect of the act
It emphasises the important principles to be followed when working with children and young people: settings must provide a safe and secure environment, if any children are identified as suffering from abuse or likely to suffer the appropriate action must be taken.
Police – must be informed at the earliest opportunity when any criminal offence has been, or is suspected of having been committed against a child. The decision concerning instigation of criminal proceedings is made by the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS. This decision is made, whenever possible after consultation with other agencies. All forces have a Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU). It is their responsibility to:
It is everybody’s responsibility to safeguard children – This means every single staff member within a setting; irrelevant of what role they may have there. This also includes non-staff members, such as volunteers, student’s third-party companies (visitors, service providers etc). Each setting should therefore adopt their own safeguarding policy, of which has to be kept up to date and followed at all times.
This means keeping children safe from accidents (i.e. road safety), crime and bullying and actively promoting their well-being in a healthy, safe and supportive environment. It also encompasses issues such as pupil health and safety and bullying, about which there are specific statutory requirements, and a range of other issues, for example, arrangements for meeting the medical needs of children with medical conditions, providing first aid, school security, drugs and substance misuse.
Safeguarding is for everyone and every organisation responsibility to protect children from any harm and promote their welfare (Children Act, 2004). However, the Department of Children, School
Working Together to Safeguard Children provides guidance on what steps you should take if you suspect harm to a child wellbeing. The policy gives guidelines to follow to provide the best support. Everyone working with children needs to provide a safe environment for children to learn in and if you suspect a child is being abused or harmed then take appropriate action.
Any individual who comes into contact with children in their daily work has a duty to ensure the safety and well-being of children. Safeguarding means protecting and promoting the childs welfare and putting measures in place to prevent abuse. Child protection is protecting a child when there is reason to believe that the child has suffered or is likely to suffer from abuse or neglect. In order to ensure this happens within a school setting, there are many laws that protect the welfare and safeguarding of children:-
Safeguarding children including the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation being made against a member of staff.
Safeguarding Policy Policy Statement HIT Training Ltd is strongly committed to practices that protect children, young people and vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect or significant harm. Staffs recognise and accept their responsibility to develop the awareness of the risks and issues involved in safeguarding. The company also recognises that it has a responsibility to protect staff from unfounded allegations of abuse. The company is committed to working with existing local safeguarding or adult safeguarding Boards and other health and social care partnerships to ensure the safeguarding of its learners. The company will ensure it has one nominated person the Operations Director