A specialist SEN school for secondary aged boys with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs

Safeguarding

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is a shared responsibility. However school’s play a unique role by nature of the contact that they have with children and young people on a daily basis.

Safeguarding arrangements need to include:

  • Taking all reasonable measures to ensure that risks of harm to children’s welfare are minimised and
  • Taking appropriate actions to address child welfare concerns, working to agreed local policies and procedures in full partnership with other local agencies

Where a child is suffering significant harm, or is likely to do so, action should be taken to protect that child. Action should also be taken to promote the welfare of a child in need of additional support, even if they are not suffering harm or are at immediate risk.

The role of the school

Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play in safeguarding children. School and college staff are particularly important as they are in a position to identify concerns early and provide help for children, to prevent concerns from escalating. Schools and colleges and their staff form part of the wider safeguarding system for children. This system is described in statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015. Schools and colleges should work with social care, the police, health services and other services to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.

Our Safeguarding and Child Protection policies can be found here.

Prevent Duty

Our school supports the ‘Prevent Duty’.   In order for schools and childcare providers to fulfil the Prevent duty, it is essential that staff are able to identify children who may be vulnerable to radicalisation, and know what to do when they are identified.

Protecting children from the risk of radicalisation should be seen as part of schools’ and childcare providers’ wider safeguarding duties, and is similar in nature to protecting children from other harms (e.g. drugs, gangs, neglect, sexual exploitation), whether these come from within their family or are the product of outside influences. Schools and childcare providers can also build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values and enabling them to challenge extremist views.

It is important to emphasise that the Prevent duty is not intended to stop pupils debating controversial issues. On the contrary, schools should provide a safe space in which children, young people and staff can understand the risks associated with terrorism and develop the knowledge and skills to be able to challenge extremist arguments.

For early years childcare providers, the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets standards for learning, development and care for children from 0-5, thereby assisting their personal, social and emotional development and understanding of the world. The Prevent duty is entirely consistent with schools’ and childcare providers’ existing responsibilities and should not be burdensome.

Ofsted’s revised common inspection framework for education, skills and early years, which comes into effect from 1 September 2015, makes specific reference to the need to have safeguarding arrangements to promote pupils’ welfare and prevent radicalisation and extremism. The associated handbooks for inspectors set out the expectations for different settings. The common inspection framework and handbooks are available on GOV.UK. The statutory guidance on the Prevent duty summarises the requirements on schools and childcare providers in terms of four general themes: risk assessment, working in partnership, staff training and IT policies.

Prevent Parent Pamphlet

E-Safety

LWS Academy works with staff, pupils and parents / carers to create a school community which values the use of new technologies in enhancing learning, encourages responsible use of ICT, and follows agreed policies to minimise potential e-safety risks.

We discuss, monitor and review our e-safety policy on a regular basis, linking it with other relevant policies such as Safeguarding, Pupil Behaviour and Anti-Bullying Policies. We support staff in the use of ICT as an essential tool for enhancing learning and in the embedding of e-safety across the whole school curriculum.

We ensure that pupils are aware of the potential e-safety risks associated with the use of ICT and mobile technologies, that pupils feel able and safe to report incidents and abide by the school’s e-safety policy.

We provide opportunities for parents/carers to receive e-safety education and information, to enable them to support their children in developing good e-safety behaviour.

There is also a really useful link on our website called Thinkuknow which gives support to parents / carers  and children.

Our E-Safety and Acceptable Use policy can be found here.

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Contact Info
  • LWS Academy, Montefiore Drive, Sarisbury Green, Southampton, SO31 7NL
  • 01489 582684
  • enquiries@lws.gfmat.org

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