SAFEGUARDING

King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its students.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who encounters children and their families has a role to play in order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, including identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action.

We believe that:

All young people have the right to be protected from harm;
Young people need to be safe and to feel safe in school;
Young people need support which matches their individual needs, including those who may have experienced abuse;
All young people have the right to speak freely and voice their values and beliefs;
All young people must be encouraged to respect each other’s values and support each other;
All young people have the right to be supported to meet their emotional, and social needs as well as their educational needs – a happy, healthy, sociable young person will achieve better educationally;
Schools can, and do, contribute to the prevention of abuse, victimisation, bullying, exploitation, extreme behaviours, discriminatory views and risk-taking behaviours; and
All staff and visitors have an important role to play in safeguarding children and protecting them from abuse.

Staff are vigilant and are confident in applying our Safeguarding and Child Protection procedures to avert and alleviate any such problems.

Safeguarding is defined as:

Protecting children from maltreatment;
Preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

Safeguarding includes child protection, mental health, health care plans, health and safety, site security, safety on school trips, anti-bullying work and so much more.

The school’s key members of staff are:

Miss Jane Glendenning, Designated Safeguarding Lead, Director of Pastoral Care Years 7-11: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Foundation Leader in Education for Safeguarding and Wellbeing: Tuesday and Thursday.
Mr Nick Heppel, Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), Director of Sixth Form. Lead DSL Tuesday and Thursday.

Deputy DSLs are:

Mrs Alice Pettit, Assistant Head
Mrs Charlotte Osborn, Associate Assistant Head
Mr Steven Ramsey, Deputy Head
Mrs Claire Toy, Family Liaison Officer
Mrs Raj Ubhi, KS3 Pastoral Leader
Dr Mary Perrins, KS4 Pastoral Leader
Mrs Janet Samuels, KS5 Pastoral Leader

We will fulfil our local and national responsibilities as laid out in the following documents:-
- Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfE December 2023)
- Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory guidance for schools and colleges (DfE September 2023)
- The Education Act 2002 s175 / s157
- SEND Code of practice:0-25 years
- West Midlands Child Protection Procedures
- Birmingham Safeguarding Children Partnership threshold guidance Right Help Right Time
- The Prevent Duty (DfE January 2024)
- Equality Act 2010: Advice for schools

The Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy is available to parents and students below. All staff receive annual Safeguarding and Child Protection and Prevent update training and are aware of the procedures for passing on concerns within school.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Our first priority is your child’s welfare and, therefore, there may be occasions when our concerns about your child means that we have to consult other agencies even before we contact you. The procedures we follow have been laid down by Birmingham Safeguarding Children Partnership and as a result, we may also have to provide your child’s data to statutory bodies where it is considered necessary and within General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (May 2018).

Whilst it is our responsibility to monitor students’ behaviour in school, inappropriate behaviour towards another student or malicious or abusive online activity towards another person that takes place outside school is a matter for the police: it is your right to seek external advice and support. The quickest and most effective way to do this is by contacting Live Chat | West Midlands Police Alternatively you can ring Childline on 0800 1111.

Anyone can, and must, report concerns that a child:

is being contacted online and spoken to in a sexual way;
has shared, or is being blackmailed to share an indecent image(s) of themselves online;
is arranging to meet someone they have met online;
is being groomed online

Contact the National Crime Agency online Safety Centre with concerns around child sexual exploitation at www.ceop.police.uk Further guidance is also available at www.Thinkuknow.co.uk

Other safeguarding concerns that have specific reporting procedures are:

Forced marriage – contact fco.gov.uk or call 020 7008 0151
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – contact NSPCC FGM Helpline 0800 028 3550. Call 101 to report.
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) – report sexual exploitation by calling 999 if the child is at immediate risk or 101 if you think a crime has been committed. Call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

If any members of the school or local community have concerns about the welfare of a child in the school, please pass them on to the School Safeguarding and Child Protection Team as listed above.