Safeguarding

Keeping Your Child Safe

Bexhill Academy is fully committed to safeguarding our children and this is at the forefront of everything we do in school. Safeguarding means keeping your child happy, healthy and safe. All staff receive annual safeguarding training and are aware of how to keep our pupils safe and what signs to look out for. Our pupils are encouraged to share any concerns and we have robust policies and processes in place that underpin what we do. These can be accessed below.

We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism and work closely with statutory and voluntary sectors to ensure we fulfil our safeguarding duties.

We are an Operation Encompass School. Operation Encompass directly connects the police with schools to ensure better outcomes for children who are subject or witness to police-attended incidents of domestic abuse. Find out more here

The designated safeguarding officers in school are : 

Mrs Ruth Walth (Headteacher)
Mrs Heather Blakeman (Child and Family Officer)
Mr Gareth Hill (Deputy Head)

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We have a duty of care at Bexhill Academy and keeping children happy and safe it a priority for us.  If you have any concerns about the health and safety of one of our pupils then you must report it to a member of staff.  If the concern is serious, you must report it to a member of staff above as soon as possible.

The CEO of WISE Academies is Mrs Z Carr and she can be contacted at z.carr@wiseacademies.co.uk if you feel this can't be discussed with the relevant people.

All visitors must sign in at the school office and wear an ID badge while on the premises.

Child Protection

In cases where the school has reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill- treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse, the Designated Safeguarding Lead (or deputy) may report this concern to Children’s Services and/or other appropriate agencies. In most cases, any referrals would be discussed with parents first.

Please remember that when the school does refer a concern about a child to the Children’s Services, it is not accusing the parents of abuse but requesting that further investigation takes place to establish whether a child is at risk. We have a duty of care o act in a certain way if concerns arise.

If you are unable to report concerns to one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads in school (for instance when school is closed) you can ring Sunderland’s  Children’s Services directly for advice and to make a referral (Together For Children):

If you have a concern about the safety of a CHILD or YOUNG PERSON (aged under 18) then you should talk to someone immediately, you can contact us on:

  • 0191 520 5560 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30am to 4:30pm Friday
  • Or the Out of Hours Team on 0191 520 5552 (also available 24 hours Saturday and Sunday)
  • In an emergency always call 999

The following link will provide you with more information: https://www.togetherforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/concerned

Recruitment

When recruiting staff we carefully check that all staff and volunteers are safe to work with our children. A number of checks are made including DBS checks, references, ID and employment history.

We keep a Single Central Record of all this information and this is regularly monitored.

Visitors and volunteers are rigorously checked in much the same way staff are before they can have any unsupervised access to our children.

Any contractors on site have to read the Safeguarding Information Leaflet before being signed into the building.

All adults in school wear an appropriate ID badge. Children understand that adults wearing a green badge are safe to work with 1-1.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is of paramount importance and is everyone’s responsibility. 

It is the responsibility of every member of staff, volunteer and regular visitor to our school to ensure that they carry out the requirements of this policy and, at all times, work in a way that will safeguard and promote the welfare of all of the pupils at this school. This includes the responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn. 

We recognise that staff at our school play a particularly important role as they are in a position to identify concerns early and provide help for children to prevent concerns from escalating. All staff are advised to maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’ where safeguarding is concerned. When concerned about the welfare of a child, staff members must always act in the best interests of the child. 

Our school will establish and maintain an ethos where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk, are listened to and are safe. Children will be able to talk freely to any member of staff at our school if they are worried or concerned about something. 

All staff and regular visitors will, through training and induction, know how to recognise indicators of concern, how to respond to a disclosure from a child and how to record and report this information. We will not make promises to any child and we will not keep secrets. Every child will know what the adult will have to do with any information they have chosen to disclose. 

Throughout our curriculum we will provide activities and opportunities for children to develop the skills they need to identify risks and stay safe. This will also be extended to include material that will encourage our children to develop essential life skills. 

We work in partnership and establish effective working relationships with parents, carers and colleagues from other agencies in line with Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) and Local Safeguarding Partners’ Procedures.  All recruitment practices are in line with Safer recruitment recommendations.

We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism and work closely with statutory and voluntary sectors to ensure we fulfill our safeguarding duties.

We are an Operation Encompass School. Operation Encompass directly connects the police with schools to ensure better outcomes for children who are subject or witness to police-attended incidents of domestic abuse. Find out more here

Further information regarding the legislation schools follow to keep children safe can be found below:

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023

Curriculum and Policies

We adapt our curriculum and respond to local priorities in meeting our safeguarding duty.  You can view our curriculum from the menu at the top of the page.

The following safeguarding policies can be found in our policy section (follow link to policies):

Safeguarding and Child Protection

Uncollected children

Anti Bullying

Child Protection Supervision

Attendance

Behaviour and discipline

Whistleblowing 

Missing child in school

Intimate care

Keeping Children Safe in Education 22

Online Safety

Managing medication

Working together to Safeguard Children

ICT and acceptable use

SMSC Policy
   

Relationship and Sex Education