Safeguarding is all the actions we take daily to keep students and staff safe. We have 3 people whose job it is make sure this is happening.

These peoples are DSL’s:

• Geraldine Carter is the Designated Safeguarding Lead for the School; she will make sure her deputies are performing their roles accordingly.
• Claire Kennard is a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Officer.
• Nick Hurst is the proprietor Designated Safeguarding Lead.

On a day-to-day basis please report to:

1. Geraldine
2. Claire
3. Nick

Nick is now the designated Safeguarding Lead for the organisation. This means he holds overall responsibility for all safeguarding matters, including managing allegations against staff, ensuring training is current and relevant, and maintaining accurate records on CPOMs.

Nick can also be contacted directly with concerns if no one else is available.

However, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

 

Information of concern MUST be passed immediately to one of those 3 people. It takes priority over everything else. It needs to be done quickly so that we can act upon it.  The decision on how important this information is the DSLs.

This means anything new, out of the ordinary, extension of known issues or disclosures of harm. Or anything that raises concerns. Or anything to do with staff or student safety Report it.

At Running Deer, we use a system called CPOMs to record safeguarding concerns. This stands of Child Protection Online Monitoring system. Written records must be made as soon as possible, they must be clear, factual and in the students’ words- no matter how rude!  

This may be the only time they say something, or it might be the final puzzle piece. It’s vital that these records are of high quality as you may reply on them many years in the future.

CPOMs should not be relied upon to report issues. The line management structure should not be used to report concerns.

Safeguarding shouldn’t be discussed openly at go around or in peer groups. it creates issues of corroboration, independence, and confirmation bias.

You might not hear/get any feedback on what’s happened, but you can always ask and challenge outcomes.

Do not assume that it won’t happen here or that it “can’t possibly be our kids or families”.

This complacency is where mistakes and accidents happen - which is why we need to chase the highest standards possible all the while.

Safeguarding Checklist

1. Is this something I need to share ASAP is anyone at risk? Even if it appears small and insignificant.
2. Have I insured the student is ready for me to pass it on?
3. Have I passed it on to a DSL?
4. Have I put it on CPOMs?
5. Have I done everything I can to make sure that if something goes wrong, I’ve done all I can.

 

Because safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.