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WHAT IS SAFEGUARDING?

 

The phrases ‘child protection’ and ‘safeguarding’ are often used interchangeably, but safeguarding has a distinctive meaning.

The key statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ explains what safeguarding is:

 

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as:

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

 

Put simply, safeguarding is:

• Child protection
• Supporting vulnerable children
• Safe care, at home, in school and in the community
• Taking action

 

It might be useful to think of safeguarding as being the filing cabinet and child protection simply one drawer within the cabinet. Safeguarding is most successful when all aspects are integrated together.

 

 

Planning for Safeguarding

Successful safeguarding does not happen by chance, but by careful planning.

Three key elements include;

• a clear safeguarding ethos,
• a policy that sets out clear expectations and processes, and
• high-quality training that ensures staff know what to do and do it consistently across the school.

 

Our Safeguarding Principles

As a staff team, we have developed our own set of Safeguarding Principles, based on the Keeping Children Safe in Education document. You can see these on the 'policies' page or by clicking here.