Batchwood School: Passion Belief Courage

Safeguarding

In England, the law states that people who work with children have a duty to keep them safe. It is my role as the Designated Safeguarding Lead, and that of our team of Deputy DSPs, to ensure this is happening by all staff in Batchwood School.

This safeguarding legislation is set out in The Children Act (1989) and (2004). It also features in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (to which the UK is a signatory) and sets out the rights of children to be free from abuse. The Government also provides guidance in its documents Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) and Keeping Children Safe in Education (2019).

At Batchwood School, safeguarding means:

  • Providing trustworthy staff members that students can come to with any concerns
  • Protecting students from maltreatment
  • Preventing impairment of students’ health or development
  • Ensuring that students are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
  • Taking clear actions to enable all students to have the best outcome

At Batchwood, we take Safeguarding seriously because we know it can have a huge impact on learning. With this in mind, we have policies in place for safeguarding and child protection in order to:

  • Protect students from harm and abuse
  • Enable staff and volunteers to know what to do if they are worried

We believe that everybody is responsible for safeguarding and we take great pride in this work.

In the school’s Pastoral Hub, we work together to provide a safe space for students to come to with any concerns or worries they may have. We always record these accurately and act on them when needed in a prompt manner. In The Hub you can find myself (Assistant Headteacher and SENCo), Sally Smiles (Deputy DSL and Attendance), Robin Hunter (Assistant Psychologist) and Marg Robin (Assistant to SENCo). All staff in The Hub, along with Ross Whitaker (Deputy Headteacher) and Jonathan Kemp (Headteacher) are fully trained DSPs and we endeavour to deal with all issues in a confident and discreet manner.

If you have any concerns about a student (or if you are a student yourself) please do not hesitate to contact us in The Pastoral Hub on 01727 868021, or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Jo Murphy
Designated Safeguarding Lead

Sally Smiles
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead