Safeguarding & Staying Safe Online

Goffs achieves Platinum Award for Excellence in Safeguarding

Following a Safeguarding Inspection, we are happy to announce that we have received the Platinum Award for Safeguard. Please see below some comments from the report:

The academy has robust and effective safeguarding arrangements in place. Leaders are focused on pupils’ safety and staff have an excellent understanding of safeguarding. As a result, pupils feel safe, well cared for and suitably supervised.”

“Staff are trained in safeguarding as appropriate, and fortnightly safeguarding debriefings ensure that staff have remarkably high levels of understanding and what safeguarding entails through the provision of close focus on different areas of safeguarding”

“All pupils stated that they felt safe in the academy because staff cared about their safety, and they knew who to speak to if they had a problem. Mainly, they would talk to a member of the safeguarding team or their class tutor, or another ‘trusted adult’. They said that bullying was rare and if it happened, staff were effective in dealing with these incidents. They all felt that behaviour issues were dealt with promptly and effectively. The girls said that any sexualised behaviour or inappropriate language use, were taken seriously by staff and addressed.”

Safeguarding

“Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as: protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.” – DfE Keeping Children Safe in Education

Goffs Academy recognises the contribution it makes in partnership with other local agencies in safeguarding children. All staff, including volunteers, have a full and active part to play in protecting our students from harm and keeping them safe.

We believe that our school should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment which promotes the social, physical and moral development of the individual child. Our emphasis is on prevention and early intervention to minimise any risk to our students.

Goffs Academy follows the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) procedures and acts on advice taken from the government document, Keeping Children Safe in Education.

If you or your child are ever concerned about safety then please contact your childs' Director of Learning or member of the safeguarding team. Alternatively, you can click here to report a safeguarding concern or use the "Report Safeguarding" button at the top of the page.

Parents should be aware that the school is required to take any reasonable action to safeguard its pupils. In cases where the school has reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill- treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse, the Principal is obliged to follow the Child Protection procedures established by the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership.

When the school refers a concern about a child to the Social Services Department, it is not accusing the parents of abuse but requesting that further investigation takes place to establish whether a child is at risk.

Child Protection Policy

Staying Safe Online

The Internet is an integral part of children's lives. It opens up so many educational and social opportunities, giving them access to a world of information and experiences.

As you would protect your child in the real world, you will want to make sure that they are safe whatever they are doing. Like learning to cross the road, online safety skills are skills for life. If your child understands the risks and can make sensible and informed choices online, they can get the most from the Internet and stay safe whilst doing so – particularly from those people who might seek them out to harm them.

How can you protect your child online?

Simply put – if you understand the Internet and understand what the risks are, there are a number of things you can do that will make your child safer online. Below you will find a list of some websites you can visit to find out more information.

In school, we have a very clear Data Security and E-Safety Policy and each year, all students are educated on how to stay safe online (click here yo access our student E-Safety page).

For those parents who are concerned about their children’s safety or the Internet, the following sites provide useful advice:

www.thinkuknow.co.uk – a site run by CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre) with up to date information for children of different ages and parents.
http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/parents-guide-to-technology - A guide to answer questions and introduce some of the most popular communication devices, highlighting the safety tools available and empowering parents with the knowledge they need to support their children to use these technologies safely and responsibly.
http://www.swgfl.org.uk/safe - provides online safety advice for parents, children and schools
http://www.chatdanger.com - offers information related to potential danger using chat related services both on computers and mobile phones

There are a number of information leaflets and links attached below that will give further guidance.

Reporting concern to School

If you have any problems at School, at Home or with your family or friends in relation to E-safety , please let us know. We are here to support you and we will do whatever we can to help and keep students safe.

CLICK HERE TO REPORT IT

CEOP

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre is the UK’s national child protection agency (visit www.ceop.police.uk for more information). CEOP believe the start of the new school year is the perfect time to speak to your child about how they use the internet and how they can stay safe online.

Through the ClickCEOP advice and help centre, members of the public can access guidance on a broad range of topics to help protect their children, or alternatively report a concern directly to CEOP.

When should I report to CEOP?

CEOP children stay safe online. Has someone acted inappropriately towards you online, or to a child or young person you know? It may be sexual chat, being asked to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable or someone being insistent on meeting up. You can report it to CEOP below.