Safeguarding Overview

At Ashbrook School, safeguarding and child protection is paramount and we are fully committed to ensuring the welfare and safety of all our children.

We believe all pupils have the right to learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment which includes the right to protection from all types of abuse; our staff are fully trained and are confident about applying the processes to prevent and reduce any such problems.

‘Where Every Child Belongs - Celebrating Diversity, Creating Unity’ is our school tagline. All staff believe in creating a strong sense of belonging. Our safeguarding focus drives forward four golden threads supporting children with their understanding and development of:

  • Healthy Respectful Relationships
  • British Values
  • Online safety
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We aim to ensure;

  • All our pupils are safe and protected from harm;
  • All pupils develop and draw in skills taught through our safeguarding curriculum, delivered through our ‘Jigsaw’ PSHE sessions;
  • Other elements of provision and policies are in place to enable pupils to feel safe and adopt safe practices;
  • Staff, pupils, governors, visitors, volunteers and parents are aware of the expected behaviours' and the school's legal responsibility in relation to the safeguarding and promotion of the welfare of all our pupils;
  • We work very closely with Children and Families Practices at the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub, who strive to offer families with the support they require. They will work with us in an integrated way to improve outcomes for our children and their families;
  • Intra-familial and extra-familial safeguarding concerns, including trends impacting our children and families are dealt with swiftly, robustly and sensitively. Information from concerns is used to support our school curriculum focus moving forwards.

Safeguarding is about ensuring that everyone is safe from harm - safe from bullying, safe from people who could abuse, safe from discrimination or harassment - and that we all feel safe in our environment.

Safeguarding is EVERYONE'S Responsibility 

Safeguarding is everyone's business. We all have a role to play in protecting children and young people from child abuse and neglect. Many people may not act because they’re worried about being wrong. You don’t have to be absolutely certain; if you’re concerned a child is being abused or their safety is at risk, speak to someone. 

If you are concerned about the safety or welfare of a child please speak to a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) immediately.

IFTL Safeguarding page https://www.iftl.co.uk/safeguarding/

 

Ashbrook's Core Safeguarding Team

Designated Safeguarding Lead: Toni Cole

Deputy Safeguarding Leads: Jamie Ainscow (Headteacher). Cheryl Ferguson will join the team at Pastoral Support Officer in January 2025.

Every Monday the safeguarding team meets to discuss all children who may be in need of additional support. We discuss the following to ensure that robust actions are agreed and taken and that parents continue to receive clear communication about our ongoing support.

  • attendance/punctuality trends and possible concerns and actions
  • any behaviour incidents (including reports of bullying)
  • training and professional development needs for staff
  • Early Help - both internal (e.g. wellbeing an nurture support) and external (where specialist support may be beneficial to the child and wider family)
  • safeguarding and child protection concerns

In addition to the 3 members of the core safeguarding team, Ashbrook School has an additional 3 designated safeguarding officers

Jane Watkins, Hayley Cobley and Lauren Almond*
(*currently on maternity leave).

All safeguarding team members are indicated on posters around the school. There is also a poster by the electronic signing in computer which indicates whether the team members are on site (green arrow) or off site (red arrow).