Under the Education Act 2002 (section 175/157), schools must “make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children”. 

At Skegness Infant Academy, we will provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued. We are committed to Safeguarding and actively encourage a strong culture of vigilance in this area.

The academy is alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.

Parents/carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. The staff will seek, in general, to discuss concerns with the parent/carer, and where possible inform them of the referral to Social Care.  This will only be done where such discussion will not place the child at increased risk of significant harm.

In accordance with local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively.  Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service.

The site specific document attached below sets out the arrangements for Safeguarding and Child Protection at Skegness Infant Academy and should be read alongside the GAT Safeguarding Policy.

Definition

It is important to see safeguarding as the “umbrella” term for everything that is done to support children and young people, to keep them safe and promote their welfare. ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015’ defines safeguarding as:

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

The welfare of the child is paramount (Children Act 1989/2004)

• All children irrespective of their age, cultural background, disability, gender, language, racial origins, religious beliefs, sexual orientation have the right to be protected from abuse.

Teaching our pupils about safeguarding

Skegness Infant Academy promotes a culture where children feel confident to speak out if they have a concern about their own or another child’s safety. All children are either provided with a named- key-worker (e.g in EYFS) or are able to talk to a range of trusted adults that work in school.  Children can ask to speak with any trusted adult at any time or the pastoral team will arrange a regular meeting time for such conversations to take place. Skegness Infant Academy utilises a range of programs to support childrenin emotional literacy including Sex Bricks, Theraplay and ELSA. We have staff who are trained in the Nationally recognised ELSA program, which is an evidence informed emotional literacy support program, and the Theraplay program, which is a child and family play therapy programme recognised by the Association of Play Therapy. For further information please see below. 

 

Skegness Infant Academy has designed a curriculum which incorporates contextual safeguarding elements. Staff plan specific teaching and learning opportunities that support the children and the contextual needs that may impact on such children living and growing up on the East Coast of Lincolnshire through a Values-based approach. Provision is mapped using curriculum progression routes from Jigsaw, a structured programme for primary schools which supports statutory PSHE, and RSE for KS1.   

 

Provision is enhanced by accessing external agency support such as Childline or the NSPCC Learning Talk PANTS resources. Staff also deliver age-appropriate sessions regarding sun, sea and water safety; online safety and consent.

Click here to access the NSPCC website

Click here to access Childline

Sexual Abuse within Schools: Child on Child Abuse, Sexual Violence and Harassment and Harmful Sexual Behaviour.

Our position as a trust and within all our academies is clear: sexual violence and sexual harassment are never acceptable, will never be tolerated and are not an inevitable part of growing up. Such behaviour will never go unchallenged or become accepted and we remain committed to working openly and transparently to promote mutual respect. We will always act on concerns raised

Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy has guidance within it around the indicators of child-on-child abuse and harmful sexual behaviour along with our response procedures. All relevant Safeguarding Policies are available on individual academy websites.

All pupils are taught the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum.

Policies

Please see the attached documents and links below for further information.

Prevent Duty Guidance

Lincolnshire Policy for Children Missing in Education

Statutory Guidance for LAs and other groups for supporting Children who are Missing in Education

Lincolnshire Safeguarding Partnership

We are aware that a new version of Working Together to Safeguard Children was published in December 2023. Although our policies refer to the older version which was current at the start of the academic year we do of course comply with all the requirements of the new document.