Safeguarding

Safeguarding Team

E-ACT Parkwood Academy is committed to keeping students safe, both in academy and out in the wider community.

The government has launched a new online tool for parents that provides advice and tips on preparing children for adult life.

This website provides regularly updated articles on a range of topics including having a healthy body image, spotting early warning signs of self-harm, internet safety and managing money in a digital world. If you would like to know more click here.

If you are concerned about your child, particularly around the issues highlighted above, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s year leader, year manager or tutor.

The academy’s designated safeguarding Lead is Sarah Husband.

Other Useful Websites

ACT – Action Counters Terrorism

The safety and welfare of all our students is of the utmost importance to us. Please contact the academy directly if you have a concern about the welfare of a child – our safeguarding leads are listed below.

The Academy’s Duty of Care to keep all students safe

The Academy aims to ensure that appropriate action is taken in a timely manner to safeguard and promote children’s welfare
Thar all staff are aware of and understand fully their statutory responsibilities with respect to safeguarding
Staff are appropriately trained in recognising and reporting safeguarding issues
Safeguarding and child protection is everyone’s responsibility

The Academy’s Open Door Policy so that Students can access support and guidance at all times

At E-ACT Parkwood Academy we adopt an open door policy to ensure that all students feel supported at all times and we aim to support all barriers to learning through our inclusive approach.

The Academies work with external agencies and professionals for specialised support where needed

As an Sheffield located E-ACT Academy we work with a wide range of external agencies such as Sheffield’s MASH Team (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub), MIND, Healthy Young Minds, Inspiring Youth Project and many more services to ensure we provide a fully inclusive holistic approach for each child as and when required.

As part of our safeguarding arrangements we have a two-way information sharing agreement in place with South Yorkshire Police. The agreement is compliant with Crime & Disorder Act 1998 (s.115) and the Data Protection Act 1998 (s.29.3;s.35.2.), and focuses on preventing young people from becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour as a victim or an offender.

Sheffield City Council

We work very closely with Sheffield City Council on matters of safeguarding:

Emily Pickles
Schools Safeguarding Advisor
07734743258

Academy contact

The safety and welfare of all our students is of utmost importance to us. Please contact the academy directly if you have a concern about the welfare of a child:

Sarah Husband
Designated Safeguarding Lead
sarah.husband@pwa.e-act.org.uk

Adele Johnson
E-ACT Regional Safeguarding Lead North
Adele.johnson@e-act.org.uk

CHILD PROTECTION & SAFEGUARDING POLICY

KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE IN EDUCATION 2023

Resources

Working Together to Safeguard Children

Operation Encompass:

Background:

Operation Encompass is a national initiative which enhances communication between the police and schools where a child is at risk from domestic abuse. As at April 2018 Operation Encompass was in place in 33 out of 43 police forces in England and Wales and has been recognised by the inspection bodies of both police and education.

Operation Encompass is a process used to inform schools when the police have attended an incident of domestic abuse, where domestic abuse incidents have occurred in the homes of their pupils since the previous school day.

The purpose of the information sharing is to ensure schools have more information to support safeguarding of children. By knowing that the child has had this experience the school is in a better position to understand and be supportive of the child’s needs and possible behaviours.

Operation Encompass will complement existing safeguarding procedures

How will it work?

Schools will all have an identified key adult or adults, in most schools this will be the existing safeguarding lead. Police will share information with the SSH team, providing a list of children of school age each morning who have been affected by domestic abuse incident the previous day. Staff from the SSH Team will identify the school the child attends and e-mail the school before 9am, and inform the Head teacher or a Designated Safeguarding Lead that a child at their school has been affected by a DV incident. The school will be informed simply that there was an incident and the name of the child. Basic information will be given at that point. The staff in contact with those pupils will then be in an informed position to support them in a way that is right for that particular child or young person, either with silent or overt support

What is the school professional meant to do with this knowledge?

The single most critical factor in how children cope with exposure to domestic violence is the presence of at least one loving and supportive adult in their life. Children without any support, who are isolated or lack nurturing adults in their lives, are more negatively affected by their exposure to domestic abuse. By knowing that the child has had this experience the school is in a better position to be supportive and understanding of the child’s needs and possible behaviours. The Head teacher or DSL will share this information on a need to know basis e.g. the form teacher.

The initial approach is that the sharing of information should not, in itself, provoke a proactive response to individual children by the school/professional, but informs their response to any presenting behaviour. Some schools will have the staff and resources to reassure the child that they know. This can be a real relief to a child as it can give them a tacit permission to talk about how they feel and what has been happening to them. The key aim of this process however, is to ensure that the child is offered sensitivity and understanding following a distressing incident.

Parkwood Academy have signed up to this initiative as we committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of our students.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Sarah Husband

USEFUL LINKS

Online safety:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/online-mobile-safety/staying-safe-online/

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/support-tools/home-activity-worksheets

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/internet-safety/z8w8bqt

Domestic Abuse

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/getting-help-for-domestic-violence/

https://www.victimsupport.org.uk/crime-info/types-crime/domestic-abuse/