Safeguarding
Meet the Team
Safeguarding Statement
The Governing Body and staff of Whitby School take very seriously their duty to safeguard young people and vulnerable adults. All staff follow a range of policies and procedures which include safeguarding measures as a high priority in all areas of their duties and responsibilities.
What is Safeguarding?
Every person who works with our young people understand their responsibility in keeping children safe and should be confident in how they will do that.
Our school community has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are our pupils. This means that we have Safeguarding and Child Protection policies and procedures in place. All staff, including our volunteers and supply staff, must ensure that they are aware of our procedures.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will always ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with their parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that this is not in the child’s best interests or a child is at significant risk or in immediate danger.
Safeguarding means:
- protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
- preventing harm to children’s health or development
- ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
- taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.
Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.
Prevent Strategy
As part of our ongoing safeguarding and child protection duties we fully support the government’s Prevent Strategy. All staff have received ‘Prevent’ training and understand about and how to deal with any issues they may see inside or outside school.
Official government document about Prevent
Operation Encompass
The school is part of a project that runs jointly between schools and North Yorkshire Police.
Operation Encompass is the reporting of police attended domestic abuse incidents to schools, prior to the start of the next school day, where there are children in the home.
Operation Encompass will ensure that a member of the school staff, who is also a safeguarding leader, known as a Key Adult, is trained to allow them to liaise with the police and to use the information that has been shared in confidence, while ensuring that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have experienced a domestic abuse incident.
Report it
CEOP: The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command
Has someone done something online that has made you or a child or young person you know, feel worried or unsafe?
Make a report to one of CEOP's experienced Child Protection Advisors:
Worried about a child? Make a referral
If it is out of school hours and you are unable to speak to a Designated Safeguarding Lead about concerns you have about a child then you could use the following contacts:
Where there are significant immediate concerns about the safety of a child, you should contact the police on 999.
Everyone has a responsibility to refer a child when it is believed or suspected that a child:
- has suffered significant harm and /or
- is likely to suffer significant harm and/or
- has developmental and welfare needs which are likely only to be met through provision of family support services (with agreement of the child’s parent)
- if you believe the situation is urgent but does not require the police, please call 0300 131 2 131 to make a telephone contact with the MAST team at North Yorkshire.
Should your call be outside of business hours (Monday-Friday/9.00am-5.00pm) please still call 0300 131 2 131 to speak to the Emergency Duty Team.
Resources
North Yorkshire Universal Referral Form (editable word document)
Private tutors
Sometimes parents look for extra help for their children in key subjects such as Maths, English, French/Spanish. This help may include going to private tutors. This can work very well but the wrong support can do more harm than good.
You need to be able to trust that the person providing the tutoring, especially if you are paying for that support, is competent and safe. We would be happy to help you find the right support if this is something you would like to do.
Quick tips
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ask for references to be provided – preferably from previous employers/headteachers
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check they have a recent DBS Clearance and are registered with the DBS for annual updates
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never leave your child alone with a Tutor.
Essential Reading:
Please refer to all the links below regarding safeguarding at Whitby School – together, these documents encompass the school’s Safeguarding Policy: