Keeping Children Safe

At Mill Water School we believe that:

    • Children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind
    • We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to work in a way that protects them.

We recognise that:

    • the welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and, in all the decisions we take, all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from all types of harm or abuse
    • some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues
    • working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:

    • valuing, listening to and respecting them
    • appointing a designated safeguarding lead for children and young people, a deputy and a safeguarding governor
    • adopting safeguarding and child protection best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers
    • developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures
    • providing effective management for staff and volunteers through support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently
    • recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
    • recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance. More information about this is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/for-organisations
    • sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families via newsletters, leaflets, posters, group work and one-to-one discussions
    • making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern
    • using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, such as the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
    • using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately
    • creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise
    • ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place
    • ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance
    • building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.

The Devon Children and Families Partnership website gives helpful advice and information on a wide range of safeguarding issues.