Safeguarding

Safeguarding at Isca Academy

Isca Academy puts safeguarding at the heart of everything we do and every single member of our team knows that it is everyone's responsibility to keep our children safe. Through the Education Act 2002, Keeping Children Safe In Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, we always work to put our children's safeguarding and wellbeing first.

We aim to create and maintain a safe learning environment for children and young people, and identify where there are child welfare concerns and take action to address them, in partnership with other organisations where appropriate. The school’s responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children is of paramount importance. Our policy and annexes will be reviewed annually, unless an incident or new legislation or guidance suggests the need for an interim review.

Child protection statement

We recognise our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all students. We endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where students are respected and valued. We are alert to the signs of abuse and neglect and follow our internal procedures to ensure that students receive effective support, protection and justice.
Child Protection and safeguarding procedures apply to all staff, volunteers and governors and any adult visiting the school site and are consistent with those of the local safeguarding children board (LSCB). Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play in safeguarding children. School staff form part of the wider safeguarding system for children.

Our school Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy can be read here.

Our Senior Designated Leads for Child Protection are:

Vicki Joyce Headteacher
James Bass Deputy Headteacher/Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Alicia Ranson Designated Deputy Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)
Cameron Hutter Deputy Safeguarding Officer (DSO)

The nominated child protection governor is Victoria Hatfield.

The Devon Safeguarding Board website has further information for parents, children and those working with them, and can be found at http://www.devonsafeguardingchildren.org/

Student Safeguarding Reporting Form

It can be very hard for children and young people to speak out about issues that affect their safety and wellbeing or that of their friends. Often they fear there may be negative consequences if they tell someone.
Some may delay telling someone about their concerns for a long time, while others never tell anyone, even if they want to.
It is vital that children and young people are able to speak out and that whoever they tell takes them seriously and acts on what they’ve been told.
For this reason Isca Academy have created a Student Safeguarding Reporting Form here, which they can use from now.

Need help when school is closed?

See our poster for information about where to find help out of school hours.

NSPCC Helpline

The Department for Education has commissioned the NSPCC to launch a new helpline called Report Abuse in Education. The helpline comes after numerous anonymised testimonials of sexual harassment and abuse in schools and colleges were recently shared to the Everyone’s Invited website.
The newly launched helpline will provide support to:

children and young people who want to share current and non-recent experiences of sexual abuse and harassment
children and young people who want to talk about being involved in or witnessing any incidents
anyone who works or volunteers in a school setting and needs support and guidance
adults who have experienced non-recent abuse
parents and carers who are concerned about their own child or other children.

Following the troubling testimonies of sexual harassment and abuse documented on the Everyone’s Invited website, we’re here to help.
The NSPCC has a new helpline to support children and young people, and offer guidance to adults and staff working with pupils.
The helpline can be contacted on 0800 136 663, or by emailing help@nspcc.org.uk.

Links for specific safeguarding issues

Professional organisations are available to provide up-to-date guidance and practical support on specific safeguarding issues. Teachers can also access up-to-date government guidance on the issues listed below via the GOV.UK website:

Our Trust of Schools