Introduction

Background and legal Framework

This document should be read in conjunction with the Newfriars College Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and links to the following policies, guidance and legislation:

• Safer Recruitment Policy
• Code of Conduct Policy
• Behaviour Policy
• Whistleblowing Policy
• Equality and Diversity Policy
• Health and Safety Policy
• Acceptable Use Agreement
• Prevent Risk Assessment 
• Prevent Procedure
• Newfriars College Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

Purpose 

This document sets out Newfriars College guidance on responding to concerns regarding the safeguarding and protection of children and young people aged under 18 years and adults at risk of neglect or abuse. The document and the associated procedures provide guidance to all staff who may have concerns of this nature within the context of their work. 

Scope

This document applies to all staff, volunteers and students. Staff from other organisations working with people on our premises or with college learners, will also be expected to follow the guidance in this document.

 Statement

Newfriars College regards the protection of children and adults at risk as a priority and is committed to safeguarding these groups. 

The principles of this document are as follows:

• The protection of children, young people and adults at risk is everyone’s responsibility. Staff should not assume someone else will take action.
• Newfriars College will follow statutory and specialist guidelines in working with children, young people and adults at risk
• Newfriars College will seek to support all those affected by abuse
• Newfriars College will seek to prevent vulnerable people from radicalisation or undue influence that may cause harm to themselves or others
• Newfriars College will review its Safeguarding Policy annually
• Ensuring all learners, staff and stakeholders know who they can approach in the organisation if they are worried or in difficulty

Newfriars College recognises its duty to safeguard students encompasses specific safeguarding issues including Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) forced Marriage, radicalisation, mental health, peer on peer abuse, upskirting, the importance of online safety including the sharing of nude and semi-nude images and videos.

Where there is a safeguarding concern, students wishes and feelings will be taken into account (where appropriate) when determining what action to take and what services to provide. 

All concerns including low level concerns (that do not meet the threshold for harm) will be treated seriously and investigated appropriately. 

The Chair of the Academy Council will liaise with the local authority on safeguarding issues in the event of an allegation being made against the Head Teacher.

The Head Teacher is DSL trained as is the Deputy Head.  The Assistant Head has specific responsibility for Safeguarding within the organisation and will liaise with the Safeguarding Lead within the Shaw Education Trust for updates, training, advice and guidance.  The Welfare Manager is Deputy DSL and, alongside the DSL they will provide advice and support to other staff on welfare and safeguarding matters. During core working hours the DSL, DDSL will be available. Outside of these hours any safeguarding concerns can be reported via MyConcern or, in the event of a threat of immediate harm, should be reported to the police by dialling 999.

Staff members who have concerns about a student, should raise these with the DSL, DDSL who will decide whether to make an alert to the Local Authority Safeguarding Team. However, any staff member can refer their concerns about a child to children’s social care directly. Where an allegation or suspicion of abuse has been reported to the relevant Local Authority Safeguarding Team, Newfriars College will work in partnership with them to determine the next steps.  

The Police will be contacted where a safeguarding concern could lead to potential wilful neglect or ill treatment of someone who lacks capacity. This includes all concerns around care and support needs. 

Any student that raises or is involved in a safeguarding concern who has capacity, will be offered appropriate support to decide whom they wish to be informed (i.e. parents / carers).

In the event of a safeguarding concern, parents / carers of service-users who lack capacity will be contacted at the earliest, most appropriate time - unless the parent / carer is directly implicated in the concern. Communication with parents / carers will be regular, open and transparent.  

Early Help

Early Help will be achieved through Tutors engaging with a range of agencies to coordinate Education Health Care plans or where a child may be at risk of modern slavery, being radicalised or exploited, if a young carer or showing signs of being drawn into anti-social behaviour, including gang involvement and association with organised crime groups. Newfriars College will engage other services where necessary.

Peer on Peer Abuse

In line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (2021), Newfriars College have a duty to protect students against Peer on Peer abuse. There are many forms of abuse that can occur between peers, such as; physical abuse, sexually harmful behaviour/sexual abuse, sexual harassment and sexual violence, bullying (including banter), cyber bullying, sexting, up skirting initiation/hazing and prejudiced behaviour. 

Newfriars College have a zero-tolerance approach to peer on peer abuse. It is recognised that even if there are no reported cases of peer on peer abuse, this does not mean it is not happening within the organisation. 

All concerns around peer on peer abuse must be reported to the Safeguarding Team using MyConcern or in person if a threat of abuse remains imminent.

Where appropriate, the Local Authority Safeguarding Team will be notified. 

Safer Recruitment

Newfriars College will exercise care in the appointment of all those working with children, young people and adults at risk, working to ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ and ‘Keeping Learners Safe’ by ensuring that everyone working with children and adults at risk:

• has undergone pre-employment checks in line with current legislation including an appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service check 
• is adequately trained and supervised
• understands and follows the Newfriars College Safeguarding Policy and Procedures
• understands and follows Newfriars College Code of Conduct
• understands the Prevent Procedures
• is registered with their relevant professional body (if appropriate)

All staff including volunteers will undertake safeguarding training on a regular basis and demonstrate their knowledge in their practice.

All staff working within Newfriars College will attend Prevent Training and embed the strategy into their everyday work.

Newfriars College will promote safeguarding through improving the personal knowledge of students of their own safety and by ensuring they are and feel safe.

Roles & Responsibilities

Implementation

Newfriars College Academy Council is responsible for the implementation and supervision of this document. A nominated member of the Council will lead on safeguarding and the Council will receive regular reports on safeguarding matters.

All safeguarding procedures will be implemented by all staff and volunteers. 

The Safeguarding Team/SLT/nominated Council member will undertake a review of safeguarding cases.

The Safeguarding Team/SLT/nominated Council member will undertake a review of safeguarding practice.

Support, Advice and Communication 

Information and advice regarding this document can be obtained from the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Staff requiring personal support due to a disclosure or investigation will receive support from the Safeguarding Team and Human Resources department where necessary.

The Safeguarding Team undergo termly Supervision with the nominated Council member in line with the SET Safeguarding Leads Supervision Guidance.

This document will be available on the Newfriars College website.

Review

This document will be reviewed annually by the Designated Safeguarding Lead to respond to changes in legislation and current practice and the outcome of reviews undertaken by the Safeguarding Team.

Appendix 1:

Preventing Extremism & Radicalisation Procedure

Introduction  

Newfriars College is committed to providing a secure environment for students where they feel safe and are kept safe. All staff at Newfriars College recognise that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility irrespective of the role they undertake or whether their role has direct contact or responsibility for students or not.  

Newfriars College Ethos and Practice  

When operating this procedure Newfriars College uses the following accepted Governmental definition of extremism which is: 

‘Vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs; and/or calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas’.   

There is no place for extremist views of any kind in our organisation, whether from internal sources – service, staff, or external sources. Our students see our organisation as a safe place where they can explore controversial issues safely and where our staff encourage and facilitate this – we have a duty to ensure this happens.  

As an organisation we recognise that extremism and exposure to extremist materials and influences can lead to poor outcomes for our students and so should be addressed as a safeguarding concern. We also recognise that if we fail to challenge extremist views we are failing to protect our students.  

Extremists of all persuasions aim to develop destructive relationships between different communities by promoting division, fear and mistrust of others based on ignorance or prejudice and thereby limiting the life chances of our students. Education is a powerful weapon against this; equipping young people with the knowledge, skills and critical thinking, to challenge and debate in an informed way.  Therefore, at Newfriars College we will provide a broad and balanced curriculum, delivered by skilled professionals, so that our students are enriched, understand and become tolerant of difference and diversity and also to ensure that they thrive, feel valued and not marginalised.  

Furthermore, we are aware that our students can be exposed to extremist influences or prejudiced views from an early age which emanate from a variety of sources and media, including via the internet, and at times students may themselves reflect or display views that may be discriminatory, prejudiced or extremist, including using derogatory language.  

Any prejudice, discrimination or extremist views, including derogatory language, displayed by students or staff will always be challenged and where appropriate dealt with in line with the Newfriars College Behaviour Policy for students and the Newfriars College Code of Conduct Policy for staff. 

As part of wider safeguarding responsibilities Newfriars College staff will be alert to:  

• Disclosures by students of their exposure to the extremist actions, views or materials of others outside of the organisation, such as in their homes or community groups, especially where students have not actively sought these out;  
• Students accessing extremist material online, including through social networking sites;  
• Parental / care giver reports of changes in behaviour, friendship or actions and requests for assistance;  
• Partner organisations, local authority services, police reports of issues affecting students in other settings;  
• Students voicing opinions drawn from extremist ideologies and narratives;  
• Use of extremist or ‘hate’ terms to exclude others or incite violence;  
• Intolerance of difference, whether secular or religious or, in line with Newfriars College equality policy, views based on, but not exclusive to, gender, disability, homophobia, race, colour or culture;  
• Attempts to impose extremist views or practices on others; such as Anti-Western or Anti-British views. 

Teaching Approaches  

We will all strive to eradicate the myths and assumptions that can lead to some students becoming alienated and disempowered, especially where the narrow approaches service-users may experience elsewhere may make it harder for them to challenge or question these radical influences. 

We will ensure that all of our teaching approaches help our students build resilience to extremism and give students a positive sense of identity through the development of critical thinking skills. We will ensure that all of our staff are equipped to recognise extremism and are skilled and confident enough to challenge it.  

We will be flexible enough to adapt our teaching approaches, as appropriate, so as to address specific issues so as to become even more relevant to the current issues of extremism and radicalisation. In doing so we will apply the following methodologies:

• Making a connection with students through good teaching and a person-centred approach;  
• Facilitating a ‘safe space’ for dialogue, and  
• Equipping our students with the appropriate skills, knowledge, understanding and awareness for resilience.  

Therefore, this approach will be embedded within the ethos of our organisation so that students know and understand what safe and acceptable behaviour is in the context of extremism and radicalisation. This will work in conjunction with our organisation’s approach to the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development of students.

Our goal is to build mutual respect and understanding and to promote the use of dialogue not violence as a form of conflict resolution. We will achieve this by using a curriculum that includes:  

• Personal Social Development programmes (including Citizenship, British Values and RSE);  
• Open discussion and debate;  

We will also work with local partners, families and communities in our efforts to ensure our college understands and embraces our local context and values in challenging extremist views and to assist in the broadening of our service-users’ experiences and horizons. We will help support service-users who may be vulnerable to such influences as part of our wider safeguarding responsibilities and where we believe a student is being directly affected by extremist materials or influences we will ensure that that student is offered mentoring. Additionally in such instances our College will seek external support from the Local Authority and/or local partnership structures working to prevent extremism.  

Our organisation will closely follow any locally agreed procedure as set out by the Local Authority for safeguarding individuals vulnerable to extremism and radicalisation.   The Safeguarding Team will attend regular Counter Terrorism briefings and will update the Prevent Risk Assessment as appropriate.

Whistle Blowing  

Where there are concerns of extremism or radicalisation staff will be encouraged to make use of our internal systems to Whistleblow or raise any issue in confidence.  

Safeguarding  

Please refer to the Newfriars College Safeguarding Policy for the full procedural framework on our Safeguarding and Child Protection duties.  

Staff will be alert to the fact that whilst Extremism and Radicalisation is broadly a safeguarding issue there may be some instances where a student may be at direct risk of harm or neglect. For example; this could be due to a student displaying risky behaviours in terms of the activities they are involved in or the groups they are associated with or staff may be aware of information about a student’s family that may equally place a student at risk of harm. (These examples are for illustration and are not definitive or exhaustive).