Handforth Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 2LX

01625 466910

The Wilmslow Academy

Safeguarding

Our children have a right to be safe.
 

The Wilmslow Academy is passionate about and committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All staff, parents, carers and visitors have a responsibility to ensure our children are safe. There are three people in charge of keeping our children safe at The Wilmslow Academy. If you have any safeguarding concerns about a child who attends The Wilmslow Academy, then these are the people you can contact. They will know who to contact for the best advise and help and are experienced in using the appropriate degree of confidentiality. You can contact them either in person or by telephoning the school on 01625 466910.

Child Protection and Safeguarding policy

Child Protection and Safeguarding addendum

Child on Child Abuse policy can be found on our Policies page

                                        

 Mrs White

Head of School

        & Deputy Safeguarding Lead

Mrs Clowes

Principal

& Safeguarding Lead

                                       

Miss Jackson

Child Centred Support Officer

& Deputy Safeguarding Lead

     

 

      

As a Level One Unicef Rights respecting School, our children have the right to:

Article 12 You have the right to give your opinion, and for adults to listen and take it seriously.

Article 19 You have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, in body or mind.

Article 27 You have the right to food, clothing, a safe place to live and to have your basic needs met. You should not be disadvantaged so that you can't do many of the things other kids can do.

Article 33 You have the right to protection from harmful drugs and from the drug trade.

Article 34 You have the right to be free from sexual abuse.

Article 35 No one is allowed to kidnap or sell you.

Article 36 You have the right to protection from any kind of exploitation (being taken advantage of).

Article 37 No one is allowed to punish you in a cruel or harmful way

Article 39 You have the right to help if you've been hurt, neglected or badly treated.

 

If you need any further advice or help, then you can contact the following services:

 

Cheshire East Consultation Service

Tel: 0300 123 5012

 

Childline

Tel: 0800 1111

 

NSPCC

Tel: 0808 800 5000

 

Safer Recruiting
The Wilmslow Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare and safety of children and expect all staff to share this commitment.  Any candidate applying for employment at our school will undergo rigorous checks to ensure our children are safe at all times.  Checks continue to be carried out on staff and volunteers throughout their employment with The Wilmslow Academy.

Key members of our staffing team are trained in safer recruitment.  There is always at least one trained member of staff involved in the shortlisting, selection process and interview stage.

Our recruitment procedures are very robust and essential checks are made throughout the selection process.  As part of our recruitment and selection procedures we:
  • take up references from the applicant’s current or former employer, following up with the author of the references if there is anything that appears to be contradictory or incomplete.  The school reserves the right to contact present employers and any previous employer. Employers will be asked about disciplinary offences, including those which have expired.
  • consider whether the candidate has the necessary physical and mental fitness to teach, including whether any reasonable adjustments are required to enable the individual to provide effective and efficient teaching (as required by the Education Health Standards (England) Regulations 2003).
  • consider the flexibilities that exist to make appointments subject to the successful completion of a probationary period in order to provide the opportunity to assess an applicant’s suitability for the post over a period of time.
  • ensure Disclosure and Barring Service Forms are completed and verified before employment commences (in line with Section 115 of the Police Act 1997).
  • ensure every member of staff completes a Disqualification by Association declaration form about themselves and other adults living in their family home.
  • check eligibility to work in the UK.
All school posts are exempt under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, and so all criminal convictions must be stated, with dates.
Operation Encompass
Our school participates in a Police-led initiative called Operation Encompass, a scheme which ensures that we can better support any child where a domestic incident has been reported to Police from their home.

Following a domestic incident, the Police make contact with the school via telephone and communicate relevant information to nominated, fully-trained school staff. This ensures that we are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe, supported and listened to.

Each school has a member of staff called a key adult who is trained to liaise with the police, when required, whilst ensuring support is available to the child. Our Key Staff are Mrs Clowes (Principal), and Mrs White (Head of School)

We are committed to working in partnership with local relevant organisations to safeguard and protect children across Cheshire and provide the best possible care and support for our pupils.

You can find out more about Operation Encompass by reading the letter to parents and via the following site:http://www.operationencompass.org/ 

 

THE ASPIRE EDUCATIONAL TRUST GUIDANCE FOR SAFETY IN REMOTE ONLINE VIDEO AND TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION WITH PUPILS AND PARENTS

 

PREVENT

As part of The Wilmslow Academy's safeguarding and child protection duties, we are fully behind the Government’s PREVENT strategy.

From July 1st 2015 all schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” This duty is known as the PREVENT Duty For Schools.

At The Wilmslow Academy, we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values and enabling our pupils to challenge extremist views.

The statutory guidance refers to the importance of PREVENT awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. All our teaching staff have received training on what Prevent is about and how to deal with any issues they may see inside or outside school.

 

The Wilmslow Academy are committed to ensuring their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of all the children at the school. The staff of the school have all read the document ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education  and are aware of their own roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding. A copy of this document is shown below for your information.’