Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. At Bartholomew, we recognise our moral, ethical and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of students. We will endeavour to provide a safe, secure and welcoming environment where young people are respected and valued. We will promote their health, wellbeing, and personal and social development. We will be alert to the signs of abuse and neglect and will follow our procedures to ensure that the young people in our care receive effective support, protection and justice.

We help to keep students safe by:

• Having an overarching safeguarding policy
• Having an up-to-date child protection policy
• Having other safeguarding policies, such as anti-bullying
• Having clear, safer recruitment processes in place
• Checking the suitability of all those who work in our school
• Encouraging students to tell us if something is wrong
• Adhering to health and safety regulations
• Training all our staff to recognise and respond to child welfare concerns
• Appointing designated staff who have additional training in child protection
• Working in partnership with parents and carers
• Sharing information with appropriate agencies if we have concerns
• Providing a safe environment in which our students can understand and discuss sensitive topics

If we are concerned that a child may be at risk of abuse or neglect we must follow the procedures in our child protection policy, which can be found on our Policies page.

The procedures have been written to protect all students. They comply with our statutory responsibilities and are designed to support students, families and staff. The procedures are based on the principle that the welfare of the child is the most important consideration.

In almost all circumstances, we will talk to you about any concerns and we will tell you if we feel we must refer our concerns to children’s Social & Health Care. We will also ask your consent to make a referral. In rare circumstances, where you do not agree to the referral, we may still need to refer in spite of this. However, the fact that you did not consent to the referral will be recorded.

If we think that talking to you first might in some way increase the risk to the child, we will report our concerns directly to children’s Social & Health Care and take advice from them as to how to proceed. We will only do this if we genuinely believe that this is the best way to protect your child.

All child protection records are kept separate from your child’s general school file. Records are stored in a locked cabinet, and if stored on computer they are password-protected. The only staff who have access to the records are those who need to know about the concerns in order to protect and support your child.

You are able to ask to see what information is held on your child, and we will normally agree to this. However, if we are unsure, we will first seek advice from the Local Authority Designated Officer or children’s Social & Health Care.

Child protection is a very sensitive issue and it raises many questions and a range of strong emotions. We will do everything we can to support our students and you can be assured that any action we take will be in the best interests of the child.

Mr S Jones - Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

Mr R Lloyd - Deputy DSL

Mrs R Chester - Deputy DSL

Miss B Howells - Deputy DSL

Mr J Atkinson - Deputy DSL

Mrs M Harper - Deputy DSL