Safeguarding
Safeguarding at City Academy Whitehawk
‘Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Safeguarding means:
providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical 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 (Keeping Children Safe in Education, DfE)
At City Academy Whitehawk our pupils’ welfare is our paramount concern. Our whole school approach to safeguarding is based upon an understanding of the local context and an attitude of ‘it could happen here’.
Our school is a community and all those directly connected, staff, volunteers, governors, parents, families and pupils, have an essential role to play in making it safe and secure.
Safeguarding is not an isolated activity which is undertaken by a select few within only certain areas of school practice. Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility and everyone at our school who has contact with children and families must play an active role in keeping children safe from harm. In that respect we take a whole school approach to safeguarding, ensuring that it is at the forefront of all our work, that it underpins all of our policies and processes and that everything we do is always with the best interests of the children at heart.
City Academy Whitehawk has dedicated, trained members of staff who work to safeguard our children. If you have concerns about a child during term time, please contact our Designated Safeguarding Leads.
If any member of our school community has any safeguarding concerns, we ask that they speak to Ms Escott, Mr. McMorrin, Mr. Woods or Miss Rackham (for Early Years).
If you are a member of the wider community with a concern for a child's welfare, you can contact Children's Services on 01273 290400 or you are welcome to speak to us. If you have an urgent concern for a child's welfare you should notify the police by calling 999
Children can also speak to Childline if they have any concerns. The number is 0800 1111.
To ensure the safety of our children, all new visitors to the school are given an information leaflet to read and understand the expectations in our school.
Please visit our policies page to find our Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy and other safeguarding related policies.
