SAFEGUARDING

Everyone’s Responsibility

All member of staff is responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people. Whenever staff encounters young people and their families and carers, they have a role to play in safeguarding them.

The staff has a responsibility in identifying concerns, sharing information, and taking prompt action.

No single professional can have a full picture of a young person’s needs and circumstances, hence sharing information is vital.

The voice of the young person

All professionals are required to have an enhanced DBS certificate. They must ensure that their approach is in the interest of the young person. This means that they should consider, always, what is in the best interests of the young person.

The young person’s social, emotional, and mental health needs are paramount and go hand in hand with academic needs. At IPIE we try to understand the ‘lived experience’ of a given child in a given classroom/family/neighbourhood at this moment; this is necessary to involve the young person offer the opportunity for them to be involved in their own safeguarding. We make sure we plan for the different needs that are presented by the young person but are also aware of what is missing from the young person’s presentation as these may alert us to safeguarding issues.

Even non-verbal young people have can express preference and wishes, and it is our job as professionals to ensure that these are understood and incorporated in our plans.

Young people are given advice on how to safe online and parents are also given online safety guidelines and how to support their children or when to seek help; especially when the young person is accessing the internet support independently.

Obligatory practice for ALL staff

The following document is statutory documents that staff must take time to read and become familiar with. The statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (2019) and Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018), and departmental guidance What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused (2015). They offer clear guidance on who is individually responsible for safeguarding and what staff needs to do. Staff:

• must be able to identify concerns (Early Help / Child in Need / Child Protection / Allegations Against Professionals)

• must be familiar with internal reporting procedures and processes

• must refer concerns to children’s social care in the absence of DSLs

• must ensure that all safeguarding concerns are shared promptly

• must be able to challenge professional safeguarding decisions internally and with other agencies

• must refer a case if disagree with DSL not to refer, with respect and transparency

• must be able to whistleblow when required

All staff, must take responsibility for reading and reviewing the safeguarding policies