Safeguarding

We recognise our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in our care, and put their best interests at the centre of our work. Everyone in our community - our staff team, our governors, parents & families and pupils themselves - has an essential role to play in making our school safe and secure.

Our school ethos, including our pillars of instilling values and developing self-discipline, create an environment ensuring our pupils feel safe, secure and respected. We encourage them to talk openly about anything that worries them, and enable them to feel confident that they will be listened to.

Adults in our school take all welfare concerns seriously and are alert to the signs of abuse and neglect. All team members follow our safeguarding procedures to ensure that children receive effective support, protection and justice.

Our school’s core safeguarding principles are:

• That school is an important part of the wider safeguarding system for children
• It is a whole school responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children as its paramount concern
• All children (defined as those up to the age of 18) regardless of age, gender, ability, culture, race, language, religion or sexual identity, have equal rights to protection
• All children have a right to be heard and to have their wishes and feelings taken into account
• All staff understand safe professional practice (including specific role requirements) and adhere to our code of conduct and other associated policies
• All staff have a responsibility to recognise vulnerability in children and act on any concern in accordance with this guidance

There are four main elements to our safeguarding policy:

• Prevention (this includes creating a positive, supportive, safe school culture, offering pastoral care and a well-thought-through Values and Character curriculum programme as well as rigorous safer recruitment procedures)
• Protection (by following all agreed procedures, ensuring all staff are trained and supported to respond appropriately and sensitively to safeguarding concerns)
• Support (for all pupils, parents and staff, and where appropriate, specific intervention for those who may be at risk of harm; this includes our own mentoring programmes, Place2Be counselling provision and support from external agencies)
• Working with parents and other agencies (to ensure appropriate communications and actions are undertaken)

You can click below to read our current Safeguarding Policy, which includes detailed guidance on our provision and practice:

If you have a concern that a child or children are being harmed, at risk of harm, or you receive a disclosure (intentionally or unintentionally) you must report it immediately, marked for the attention of one of our designated safeguarding leads.

If you are contacting our school to do this, please use info@arkpioneer.org or call us on 02037874090, noting you have a safeguarding referral. The office will direct this to the member of staff on duty at that time. There is further guidance on reporting concerns in our policy (see link above).

Below you can find a link to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection site, where you can make a referral should you be concerned about safeguarding online:

Place2Be is a children’s mental health charity with over 30 years’ experience working with pupils, families and staff in UK schools.

They provide mental health support in schools through one-to-one and group counselling using tried and tested methods backed by research.