Adult Education Service Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy

Introduction

2.1 We recognise that safeguarding, child protection, and promoting the welfare of children is an essential part of our duty of care to all students. As such, all staff and governors have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn. We understand that safeguarding, child protection and promoting the welfare of all children is everyone’s responsibility and that everyone has a role to play in protecting children. We recognise that our service is part of a wider safeguarding system for children and work closely with other agencies to promote the welfare of children. We maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’ and will consider what is in the best interests of each child in line and upholding the Human Rights Act 1998 and Equality Act 2010.

2.2 The purpose of this policy is to -

  • Promote safeguarding and child protection and to demonstrate Coventry Adult Education Service’s commitment to keeping children safe
  • Provide all members of staff with the information required to meet their safeguarding duty and protect children from harm
  • Provide stakeholders with clear information relating to Coventry Adult Education Service’s safeguarding and child protection procedures
  • Ensure that staff understand, can recognise, and can respond to the indicators of abuse, exploitation, or neglect
  • Ensure that all staff are aware of their mandatory reporting duty in relation to Section 5B of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003; and
  • Ensure that children are protected from maltreatment or harm

2.3 Coventry Adult Education Service is committed to the following principles

  • All children have the right to be protected from harm
  • Children should feel safe and secure and cannot learn unless they do so.
  • All staff are responsible for keeping children safe and have a responsibility to act if they think a child is at risk of harm
  • All staff take on a responsibility to promote children’s welfare
  • Providing support to families and/or children as soon as a problem emerges is essential to improving outcomes for children and families

2.4 Safeguarding aims

2.4.1 The safeguarding aims of Coventry Adult Education Service, in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (September 2022) are to -

  • work to identify children who are suffering or likely to suffer abuse, exploitation or neglect and act to protect them
  • work with relevant services and agencies to ensure that children are protected from harm
  • provide a learning environment for children which is safe and secure
  • teach children how to keep themselves safe and provide structures for them to raise concerns if they are worried or at risk of harm
  • support children’s mental health and wellbeing
  • ensure that we adhere to safer recruitment guidance and legislation, deal promptly with allegations of abuse against staff and take bullying and harassment seriously
  • train staff effectively in all safeguarding issues (including online safety) and in their responsibilities for identifying and protecting children that are or may be at risk of harm
  • have a designated safeguarding lead and designated deputies, who will provide support to staff, students, and families
  • recognise that all children may be vulnerable to abuse, but be aware that some children have increased vulnerabilities due to special educational needs or disabilities or particular protected characteristics (LGBTQ+, etc)
  • maintain a robust recording system for any safeguarding or child protection information
  • ensure that everyone in Coventry Adult Education Service understands the safeguarding procedures; and to
  • regularly review policies and procedures to ensure that children are protected to the best of our ability.

2.5 This policy adheres to the following documents

2.6 We continue to work closely with the Local Authority and the Coventry Safeguarding Children Partnership to safeguard children during the Coronavirus outbreak.

2.7 Please note that there are a number of other documents (statutory and non-statutory) that inform our policy and practice. A list of these can be found in Annex B of Keeping Children Safe in Education (September 2022).

2.8 This policy should be read in conjunction with the following abridged outline policy:

Coventry Adult Education Service Procedures for the implementation of Safeguarding and Prevent includes the following:

  1. Position statement
  2. The scope of the policy
  3. Safer recruitment policy
  4. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance
  5. Safeguarding
  6. Safeguarding children – procedure
  7. Safeguarding adults with care and support needs – procedure
  8. Prevention of radicalisation, extremism, and terrorism
  9. Female genital mutilation (FGM)
  10. Domestic violence/abuse and other safeguarding issues – procedure
  11. Housing and homelessness
  12. Concerns about the behaviour of a member of staff or volunteer working with children, young people or vulnerable adults
  13. Important information for all staff – stay safe
  14. Equality and Diversity
  15. Anti-bullying policy
  16. Promotion of the safeguarding policy to learners and learner feedback
  17. E-safety
  18. Staff induction
  19. Staff training
  20. Code of Conduct for staff
  21. Health and Safety

Specific links to all CCC and CAES policies can be found in Appendix A.

2.9 Scope

2.9.1 This policy applies to all teaching, non-teaching, support, supply, peripatetic, contract staff, governors, volunteers, and trustees working in or on behalf of Coventry Adult Education Service.  All references in this document to ‘staff’ or ‘members of staff’ should be interpreted as relating to the aforementioned, unless otherwise stated.

2.9.2 Rather than duplicating content from Keeping Children Safe in Education (September 2022) in this policy, it should be understood that Coventry Adult Education Service will always refer to this document as the benchmark for all safeguarding practice.

View a print version