Safeguarding
Safeguarding aims
The aims of safeguarding at the Academy are prevention, protection and support to ensure our students are safe from:
- maltreatment, neglect, violence and sexual abuse
- accidental injury and death
- factors that impair their mental and physical health or development
- discrimination and bullying in the Academy and the community.
- becoming victims of crime and or involved in anti-social behaviour and criminal activity.
- becoming victims of exploitation
In doing so we will create a culture of vigilance so that any concerns are identified, recorded and managed swiftly so students achieve the best outcomes.
The definition for Safeguarding, as outlined in Working together to safeguard children (2023) is:
- 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.
We will ensure our staff, other professionals, parents/carers and students work together to know about keeping children safe. They will understand the importance of following procedures and listening to each other, especially when there are concerns about safety.
The Academy will work hard to reduce the kinds of harm that children can suffer, including abuse, bullying, discrimination and avoidable injuries and death. As part of this we will seek the views of children and the people who care for them, so that the Academy is a place where all our students are safe and feel valued.
The safeguarding team
All staff in the Academy are trained to receive disclosures sensitively and report them quickly to ensure that we can put the right support in place. Our ethos is to always act in the best interests of the child. Staff and students are supported by the Safeguarding Team:
- The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Ms Rosalind Kramer
- The Academy’s Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSL) are:
- Ms Anna Baniuk (Secondary phase)
- Mr Yusuf Mirza (Secondary phase)
- Mr Sean Bonnett-Johnson (Sixth Form)
- Ms Elin Gardner (Primary phase)
- Ms Chanel Springer (Primary phase)
- The Prevent Lead for the Academy is Ms Rosalind Kramer
Out of hours
If you suspect a child or young person is at immediate risk of harm, call the Police on 999. To make a report to social care after 5pm during the week or at the weekend please call the Local Authority emergency out-of-hours line:
Newham Local Authority Children’s Social Services (MASH) Tel: 0203 373 4600 (Monday – Friday, 09:00 – 17:00) / Out of Hours Tel: 0208 430 2000 / Email: mash@newham.gov.uk
NSPCC Tel: 0808 800 5000 / Email: help@nspcc.org.uk
Childline (18 or under) Tel: 0800 1111
Monitoring and review
We regularly review safeguarding concerns and procedures to ensure that our practices are robust and address the needs within the Academy. Our students tell us how we are doing through ‘Student Voice’ surveys and focus groups and we are audited by the Harris Federation and local authority partners. Senior leaders within the Academy review support needed for our most vulnerable students through regular Triage meetings and our lead Governor with responsibility for safeguarding meets with the DSL termly to review trends, education, and support.
Reporting concerns
Students can report safeguarding concerns to any member of staff in the Academy. They can email the Safeguarding Team on safeguarding@chobhamacademy.org.uk or report a worry or concern using the SHARP system at https://chobhamacademy.thesharpsystem.com/
Parents and members of the local community with a concern about a student can contact the Safeguarding Team via the Academy telephone number, by email on safeguarding@chobhamacademy.org.uk and through the SHARP system https://chobhamacademy.thesharpsystem.com/
If you have a safeguarding concern about a member of school staff, you should report this directly to Francesca Perry, Executive Principal francesca.perry@harrisfederation.org.uk
If you have a safeguarding concern about the Executive Principal, Vice Principals, Harris Federation staff or Governors you should report your concern directly to Rebecca Hickey, Director of Secondary Education at Harris Federation rebecca.hickey@harrisfederation.org.uk
Members of the public are also able to make direct referrals to Social Care. Below are details of Children’s Services in our local area.
Newham residents
- Newham MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) 0203 373 4600
- Emergency duty team (out of hours) 020 8430 2000
- Email mash@newham.gov.uk
Waltham Forest residents
- Waltham Forest MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) 020 8496 2310
- Emergency duty team (out of hours) 020 8496 3000
- Email MASHrequests@walthamforest.gov.uk
Contextual safeguarding
‘Contextual safeguarding’ is an approach to understanding, and responding to, young people's experiences of significant harm beyond their families. It recognises that the different relationships that young people form in their neighbourhoods, schools and online can feature violence and abuse.
Diagram: Contexts of Adolescent Safety & Vulnerability (Firmin 2013)
The local context
At the Academy we place our approach to safeguarding within the context of the priorities and strategies of the London boroughs of Newham and Waltham Forest. They identify the key safeguarding concerns affecting young people as being:
- Domestic abuse
- Neglect
- Exploitation and gang violence
- Serious youth violence
Sources: Newham Safeguarding Children Partnership's 2022-2023 annual report
Waltham Forest Safeguarding Children Board (WFSCB) annual report for 2022-2023
Our Academy
The main areas of concern affecting our students reflect the wider safeguarding concerns in the local community.
Our key priorities, based on reported safeguarding incidents are:
- supporting students with their mental health needs,
- responding to issues within the home and family; including poverty, neglect and domestic violence.
- supporting and educating the victims and perpetrators of child-on-child abuse; including online abuse.
Our curriculum and staff training provides varied opportunities for staff and students to recognise the signs and indicators of harm and abuse and how to stay safe.
We have a universal offer of information and resources available to every student as well as more targeted support and intervention to address specific needs or issues.
We work in partnership with statutory and voluntary agencies to support our students and their families at the earliest possible opportunity.
Key resources for families
The following organisations have information and guidance for children and parents, on a range of different areas of child safety and wellbeing.
Early help and support for families
Mental health support
Online safety
- Report concerns about online interactions to CEOP's Child Protection Advisors: https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
- Think you Know
- NSPCC Online Safety
- UK Safer Internet Centre
