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Student Studying - Safeguarding Children at Community Academies Trust

Safeguarding Children

‘Community Academies Trust schools are safe places to learn, work and to visit . . . There is a stronger culture of safeguarding evident which is underpinned by established policies and procedures and there is a genuine desire by all to keep students safe and support those at risk of harm.’

Independent Safeguarding Review

At Community Academies Trust we take our responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children very seriously, ensuring our daily practice goes beyond the statutory safeguarding standards so that all children receive the highest level of care at all times. Safeguarding is integral to the work of CAT, underpinning our core values as detailed in our Ensuring Excellence document.

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It is our belief that all children and young people have a fundamental right to attend school and develop fully, having their individual needs met, while at all times being protected from abuse, neglect or exploitation.  

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All staff in each of our schools and in our central team know they have a personal responsibility to provide a safe environment for children in which they can learn and thrive. At CAT, we ensure that all adults receive appropriate high-quality training to enable every member of our community, including governors, trustees and volunteers to carry out this safeguarding responsibility effectively.

It is a fundamental expectation of Community Academies Trust that all who work in and for our schools share our commitment to safeguarding and understand that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

‘The Trust is providing excellent safeguarding support, training and resources to its schools. It is reassuring to visit a Trust with such a strong focus on every aspect of safeguarding.’ 

Independent Safeguarding Review

Governance of safeguarding

  • Safeguarding Trustee - TBC

  • Director of Safeguarding and Behaviour-  Jo Howell

  • Specific named safeguarding governor in every school

 

Strategic leadership of safeguarding

  • CEO - Philip Hamilton

  • Director of Safeguarding and Behaviour - Jo Howell

  • Director of Primary Schools - Ally Brown

  • Strategic Lead for Secondary Schools - Maura Favell

  • All headteachers and DSLs in each of our schools

 

Equality

At Community Academies Trust, we emphasise that all children have a right to be protected from abuse, irrespective of ethnicity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or gender identity. Each of our schools take allegations of abuse seriously, responding rapidly and in accordance with local procedures as detailed in the Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.

 

Mental health and well-being

With the ever-increasing needs in mental health and well-being, nationally and locally, Community Academy Trust schools have co-created a Mental Health and Well-being Minimum Offer document which details our guaranteed universal, targeted and specialist support offer, available to all children in all of our schools.

 

Safeguarding Curriculum

Each CAT school has a robust safeguarding spiral curriculum which is taught via PSHE, RSHE and Computing lessons. This is supplemented by follow up and further embedding in Assemblies, theme days and theme weeks, as well as via the daily culture of safeguarding vigilance and strong relationships which flourish in our schools.

 

Policies

All members of staff in our trust have a responsibility to read and understand our safeguarding-related policies.

These include:

  • Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy, including their school-specific Appendix, which can be found on each school’s website;

  • Whistle-blowing Policy;

  • Staff Code of Conduct;

  • Behaviour/Relationships Policy;

  • Online Safety Policy;

 

All staff annually read at least Part 1 and Annex B of Keeping Children Safe in Education.

 

Safer Recruitment

All applicants for employment at CAT and in all our schools are fully vetted in line with DfE requirements, as detailed in Keeping Children Safe in Education and the Safer Recruitment Consortium’s Guidance for safer working practice for those working with children and young people in education settings. 

 

All adults in CAT are made aware of the NSPCC Whistle-blowing Advice Line on 0800 028 0285, which provides support to employees who need to raise a concern about the way in which the organisation has handled child protection concern with regards to a colleague.

As part of Community Academies Trust  every school has comprehensive safeguarding support which as a minimum includes:

  • The CAT Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and Executive Summary, tailored to Trust schools and in line with specific Local Authority procedures;

  • Support, where required, in the creation of a school- specific Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy Appendix;

  • Provision of model and template policies on themes such as Child-on-Child Abuse, Staff Code of Conduct and Attendance;

  • Support in implementing  Trust-wide initiatives such as the Mental Health and Well-being Minimum Offer and the You Matter, We Care pupil voice initiative.

  • Support in advising upon and reviewing other safeguarding-related policies;

  • Termly safeguarding and behaviour audits and

  • reviews, with associated action plans, where required;

  • Formal, robust post-visit report, with recommendations, for the school, Governors and trustees;

  • Annual HR audit and report, with a focus on safer recruitment procedures and including reviews of the Single Central Record;

  • Advice line support and guidance for DSLs, Safeguarding Governors and Headteachers on all aspects of safeguarding;

  • Regular communication via email and meetings sharing latest guidance, updates and best practice information;

  • Rapid emergency reviews, ensuring swift

  • co-ordinated response to any safeguarding incident in school;

  • Collaboration with external agencies including all local authority safeguarding managers/leads and other local, regional and national agencies to ensure consistent approaches and best practice are in place;

  • A wide range of training opportunities via the Trust’s Institute of Education, including:

    • nationally-accredited Safer Recruitment training; 

    • safeguarding governor training; 

    • safeguarding for non-school-based staff;

    • suspensions, exclusions and behaviour management training.

  • Additional professional learning opportunities offered via the Institute of Education to further enhance safeguarding provision, including specialist networks, whole trust events, workshops and webinars.

Independent Safeguarding Review

‘Schools report that the support they receive [from the Trust] is excellent and they feel more confident in their role as a result of this.’  

Centralised Support for Schools

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