Safeguarding and Child Protection are of paramount importance to us. It is everyone’s responsibility at Myddelton College to promote the welfare and safety of children. We aim to adopt a child-centred approach in all we do, considering at all times what is in the best interests of each pupil in our school.
Our safeguarding aims are:
- to protect children from maltreatment: neglect, abuse and harm, by identifying concerns early,
- to promote children’s mental and physical health, and development,
- to provide safe and effective care to enable our pupils to have the best outcomes possible, and
- to prevent any concerns from escalating by providing early support.
Our curriculum has been framed to be consistent with these aims and includes Personal, Social and Health Education, and Relationships and Sex Education. We wish to empower our young people to speak up for themselves confidently, to respect others and to ensure relationships are linked to positive outcomes through mutual consent.
Specific oversight of safeguarding and child protection is the responsibility of the Designated Safeguarding Person (DSP) and his deputies (DDSPs) who support other staff to carry out safeguarding duties effectively and to liaise closely with the Local Authority Children’s Social Care. It is important for the Designated Safeguarding Person and Deputies to have the most complete safeguarding picture of school life, thereby enabling them to ensure that safeguarding is embedded throughout all aspects of the school’s work.
School policies to support this include:
Safeguarding and Child Protection policy
Behaviour policy, promoting personal responsibility and challenging bullying, or Child on Child Abuse Complaints, Whistleblowing and Prevent policies.
Staff Code of Conduct, to include Low Level Concerns and Allegations Against Staff policies and safeguarding Children who go Missing from Education.
Staff receive appropriate training in safeguarding and child protection, to include online safety, so they can support pupils, listen effectively, identify and remediate problems, and respond to any disclosures appropriately.
Myddelton College is committed to working with parents and pupils to ensure the safety of all. Pupils are regularly informed that they can also talk both to School Monitors and the Independent Person Jo Davies (07851706262), and the NSPCC and ChildLine should they wish to refer any concerns, in the first instance, outside the school. Parents are encouraged to share any concerns with the school.
DSP: M Pearson (m.pearson@myddeltoncollege.co.uk or 01745 472201 ext 105)
DDSPs: L.Davies, K.Gresley-Jones, A.Brown and I.Chan
