Safeguarding and Child Protection

'Safeguarding’ is defined in Keeping Children Safe in Education as;

• protecting children from maltreatment;
• preventing impairment of children’s mental health and physical health or development;
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

‘Child Protection’ is the intervention that occurs when children have been significantly harmed or are at risk of significant harm.

‘Child’ refers to everyone under the age of 18.

‘Parent’ refers to birth parents and other adults in a parenting role for example adoptive parents, step parents and foster carers.

‘Staff’ or ‘members of staff’ refers to all teaching, non-teaching, support, supply, peripatetic, contract staff, governors, volunteers and trustees working in or on behalf of Grace Academy Coventry.

We recognise that safeguarding and child protection is an essential part of our duty of care to all students and all staff 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 everyone has a role to play in protecting children. We recognise that our school 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 the wishes of, and at all times, what is in the best interests of each child.

Grace Academy Coventry 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.
• Working with other agencies is essential to promote safeguarding and protect children from harm.
• Early help and providing support to families and/or children as soon as a problem emerges is essential to improving outcomes for children and families.

Please visit the polices page for the Safeguarding policy and the annex. 

The purpose of this policy is to;

• Promote safeguarding and child protection and to demonstrate Grace Academy Coventry’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 Grace Academy Coventry’s safeguarding and child protection procedures;
• Ensure that staff understand, can recognise and can respond to the indicators of abuse;
• 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.

If you have any questions or queries regarding any aspect of Safeguarding, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Designated Safeguarding Lead, Lester Martin on 02476 589 000.

Our school is required to identify a Prevent Single Point of Contact (SPOC) who will be the lead within the organisation for safeguarding in relation to protecting individuals from radicalisation and involvement in terrorism. The SPOC for Grace Academy Coventry is Lester Martin.

We now have an email address for students to message at any time if they have any concerns: 

Our new email address is canwetalk@graceacademy.org.uk

All messages will immediately receive an auto-response message that reads:

'All emails sent to "Can We Talk" will be read within 48 hours of receiving it. However, if you are at risk or require immediate help, then you should contact the police on 999.'

This confirms that the message has been received and will be acted upon. 

 

These links may also be useful outside school hours:

MASH Telephone number: 02476 788 555

MASH online referral form: http://www.coventry.gov.uk/safeguardingchildren

Out of hours Emergency Duty Team: 02476 832 222

Other recommended numbers:

Childline Tel: 0800 1111

Visit: https://www.childline.org.uk

If it is about a member of staff please contact the Coventry Safeguarding Children Partnership (LADO): 

Email: lado@coventry.gov.uk

Tel: 024 7697 5483

Visit: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/cscpcontacts 

 

Prevent Strategy

What is the Prevent Strategy?

• Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorists or extremist causes.
• The Prevent Strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing, violent Islamist groups and other causes.

How Does the Prevent Strategy Apply to Schools?

• From July 2015 all schools (as well as other organisations) have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism.
• This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from any other harm. 
• Importantly, we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues at an appropriate level so they better understand how to protect themselves. 

What does this mean in practice at Grace Academy?

Many of the things we already do in the Academy to help our students become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent Strategy.  These include:

• having a strong vision which pervades our school;
• focussing on core values;
• exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity;
• challenging prejudice and racist comments;
• developing critical thinking skills and a strong, positive self-identity;
• promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values, such as democracy.

We will also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example, by using filters on the internet to ensure students cannot access extremist or terrorist material and by vetting visitors who come into the Academy to work with students. 

Is my child too young to learn about extremism?

The Prevent Strategy is not just about discussing extremism itself, it is also about teaching children values such as tolerance and Mutual Respect.  This is what we focus on at Grace Academy.  

The Academy will ensure any discussions are suitable for the age and the maturity of the students involved. 

Is extremism a risk in our area?

Extremism can take many forms, including political, religious and misogynistic extremism.  Some of these may be a bigger threat in our area than others.  

We will endeavour to give our students the skills to protect them from any extremist views they may encounter, now or later in their lives. 

Further information

Contact the Academy – if you have any questions or concerns about the Prevent Strategy and what it means for your child, please do not hesitate to contact the us. 

See our policies - you will find more details in our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy which is available on our website.  We also have information about spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and British Values under our Vision and Values and also our PSHE  (Curriculum) section.  

Key Terms

Extremism - vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values

Ideology - a set of beliefs

Terrorism - a violent action against people or property, designed to create fear and advance a political, religious or ideological cause

Radicalisation - the process by which a person comes to support extremism and terrorism