Emanuel School is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children in our care. We seek to do this by providing a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment which promotes the social, physical and moral development of each pupil in the school, taking into account the child’s age, characteristics and needs.
We are determined to take all reasonable measures to address concerns about pupil welfare and to ensure that risks of harm to children’s welfare are minimised. To this end, we are committed to ensuring good levels of communication between staff, pupils, parents, agencies, police and support services provided by statutory and voluntary agencies, including Social Services. We recognise that confidentiality must wherever possible be respected in all matters relating to child protection.
Staff
We carry out checks on all staff, including references from previous employers, verification of identity and qualifications and a satisfactory disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring service, before they take up an appointment in order to comply with existing legislation and guidance. We have procedures to deal with allegations made against staff. The school has a small team of teachers with designated child protection and safeguarding responsibilities. These include making contact with Social Services should there be a significant concern, and monitoring children known or thought to be at risk of harm. Members of our governing body have also been trained in child protection issues and the Chair of governors is the link governor in this area. A regular review of policies and procedures is undertaken to take account of changes in personnel and legislation and to monitor how the school’s duties have been discharged.
Pupils and the educational experience
We want Emanuel to be a safe school. Children have a number of staff to whom they can turn when they need advice and support eg form teachers, the teachers with designated child protection responsibilities, school counsellors and the chaplain.
We have created a curriculum which fosters the personal, emotional and social development of every pupil. The life education programme considers issues of personal safety and health. The school in no way condones bullying or racist incidents; guidance is issued to staff in these areas and life education lessons cover these issues.
Our health and safety policy reflects the consideration we give to the protection of our children both within the school environment and when undertaking trips and visits away from school. We promote security on school sites through security staff and staff duties in the school.
The Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy is available to read on the policies page here.
If you have any specific pastoral or safeguarding concern, we encourage you to contact the school’s designated safeguarding lead Mr Kothakota (Deputy Head: Pastoral) or any member of the school’s safeguarding team (safeguarding@emanuel.org.uk).
Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mr R Kothakota (Deputy Head: Pupils)
Deputy DSL: Ms H Mackenzie (Head of Safeguarding)
Deputy DSL: Mrs R Chetwood (Acting Head of Lower School)
Deputy DSL: Mrs J McIsaac (Head of Middle School)
Deputy DSL: Mrs Carpenter-Merritt (Acting Head of Sixth Form)