An introduction to Safeguarding at The Elizabethan Academy

At the Elizabethan, safeguarding is taken very seriously and is central to our approach of keeping students safe and also supporting the well-being of students and staff.

We achieve this by focusing on the following:

• Regular online staff training and knowledge tests
• A trained and designated safeguarding team that comprises members from Management, SEN and Pastoral Departments
• Clear procedures for what to do in various circumstances
• Having whole school policies that are regularly reviewed
• Digital surveys for students regarding bullying so that we can have feedback and make changes based on their concerns
• Giving guidance to students on the safe use of Social Media
• Training staff in First Aid for Mental Health
• We nominate and train well-being champions and organise well-being events
• We organise CRB training for key staff – it is about responding to people in a non-judgemental way, treating them with respect and dignity whilst supporting them to stay safe
• Keeping students and parents informed by Student briefings and Parental newsletters
• Conducting DBS checks on future employees and visitors
• Induction training for new staff and volunteers as well as continuous refresher training

We have purchased some digital tools that we utilise to support our approach to safeguarding:

• “Whisper” is a tool on our website that anyone can use for reporting concerns. In particular, issues that affect the safety and well-being of pupils and staff.  It can be used by pupils, parents or staff to report an issue to the School anonymously.
• “MyConcern” is a website that we use to record and manage the reporting of concerns.
• We use “RMSafetyNet” for our Internet filtering so that when students browse the Internet we can ensure that different year groups have access to on-line resources that are relevant to their needs and are protected from harmful content this allows us to meet the statutory requirements for appropriate filtering as set out in the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) guidance. Of course, all Internet access is monitored and logged for future investigation. We have the following groupings to enable the most relevant protection to different year groups:
  • Year 7 & 8
  • Years 9 – 11
  • Staff & Sixth form
• We use “RMBuzz” to safely filter webpages on laptops that are loaned to students for use at home so that they are still protected from harmful web content when they are off-site and using their home internet.
• We use the “R;pple” browser extension to protect students and staff from suicide and self-harm  - it provides a ‘safety net’ for those who are in crisis and offers hope in their darkest hour and redirects web traffic to safe information on Suicide if certain keywords are triggered.
• We use SafetyNet alerts which automatically send notifications to Safeguarding staff should students attempt access to harmful (e.g. self-harm, suicide for example) or sensitive web-content content, highlighting any non-compliant browsing activity.
• We have installed CCTV cameras to view the open areas of the toilets, where students can congregate, so that we can protect students from child-on-child bullying in line with KCSIE 2022 and also protect them from becoming addicted to Vaping.

Who is the Designated Safeguarding Team?

• The Principal - Mr T Crowther: Designated Safeguarding Officer
• Vice Principal - Miss A Clark: Designated Safeguarding Lead
• Assistant Principal: Mr L Dainty: Designated Safeguarding Office for Sixth Form
• Mrs S Wheatley, Mr F Ciardulli & Mrs D Ager: Designated Safeguarding Deputy Lead
• Mrs N Mason, Mrs S Glaister, Mrs A Foulds, Ms S Withall & Miss T Lilley: Designated Safeguarding Officers

* Please note that the "Social Media Guidance for Students" is in appendix 2 of the Online Safety Policy in our Policies section along with our "Whole School Policy for Child Protection to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children".