Welcome Pack for West Midlands and National Based Schools

Coventry Alternative Provision recognise the importance of keeping our students safe whilst in our care. We do this by having a highly dedicated team of professionals who are trained as Designated Safeguarding Leads and Deputy Safeguarding Leads, who provide advice and guidance to the Training Providers.

As CAP lead on the delivery of Alternative Provision with Schools and Training Providers, it is important to maintain clear communication with the safeguarding teams within these organisations.

CAP Safeguarding Team

• Faye Parklen
• Donna Wood 
• Jemma Walton 
• Lynette Whitehouse

Reporting a concern

If you have concerns regarding any of your students or if you want to discuss any other safeguarding concerns, please contact one of our DSLs (details below).

Please record all incidents of safeguarding on CPOMs

Effective safeguarding

It is important to remember that safeguarding and child protection are not the same.
Safeguarding is what we do for all children and young people to keep them safe whilst in our care. Child protection describes the policy and procedures specifically for those young people who are at risk of serious harm or have been seriously harmed.

As we are a collaborative service working in partnership with many organisations, schools and agencies, it is imperative that our young people are safeguarded and that all safeguarding concerns are reported in the correct way.

All providers have demonstrated how their organisation adheres to all safeguarding requirements and confirmation is received each academic year that staff have completed safeguarding training.

If a safeguarding concern or disclosure arises, CPOMs must be completed and relevant individuals alerted to incident.

These forms must be completed with accurate, detailed information.

The DSL of the provider should have made contact with the School DSL to advise them of any concern as soon as possible and information will be available on CPOMs

If a referral to MASH or any other agency is required as a result of the concern or disclosure, provider staff must do this if they are the organisation raising the concern or receiving the disclosure.

We have provided a Helpline Directory which was produced by Andrew Hall - Safeguarding Specialist for your reference if you are unsure of what support to offer.

LADO

Reports are made when an adult who works with children has alleged to have abused their position of trust within their setting, this includes both employment or in a voluntary capacity.

If you have concerns about another professional's conduct in regards to the safety of young people or children, this should be reported to CAP Service Lead who will investigate and gather information initially. For more information please refer to our Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) web page.

Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)

The aim of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is to bring together key professionals from across the city to facilitate early, high-quality information sharing, analysis and decision-making to deliver quality outcomes for children, young people and families.

As a result, decisions will be made quicker and support targeted towards the most urgent cases. Indeed, more effective co-ordination between agencies will also lead to an improved service for children and their families, as well as allowing agencies to enhance risk management and mitigation.

Any concerns regarding the safety and welfare of young people must be reported to the MASH service.

Child Exploitation Indicator Tool

As professionals working with young people it is important that we are aware of signs of child exploitation and abuse. A full breakdown of different types of exploitation.

Coventry City Council's Social Care has put together lots of information on how to recognise the signs and what to do if you have concerns.

If at any time you do have concerns around a young person in regards to exploitation, you must complete the Child Exploitation Indicator Tool.

Once this form has been completed please see below where to send it;

• if the child is open to Children's Services, please send the tool to the social worker and the Horizon team cse.horizon@coventry.gov.uk
• if the child is not open or if the professional completing the indicator tool doesn’t know, please email it to MASH mash@coventry.gov.uk together with a Multi-agency referral and initial information (MARF) form

Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) form

If you have any intel, it may be vital to the police with ongoing investigations.

All concerns/knowledge must be reported via completion of this Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) form.

Please provide as much information as you can, only provide what you know or have heard, do not elaborate or second guess. If needed you can submit more than one form.

Your details will not be shared with the police team investigating the intel. Once completed this must be sent to West Midlands Police at fib@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk