Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.   Pioneer School is committed to protect all children in the school's care, regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Safeguarding means:

• protecting children from abuse and maltreatment

• preventing harm to children’s health or development

• ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care

• taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.

Safeguarding children and child protection guidance and legislation applies to all children up to the age of 18.  We recognise that there are additional safeguarding risks and vulnerability factors for LGBTQ+ children and young people.

In order to ensure the safety of all children in our care, we are required to follow the Child Protection Procedures as agreed by the Local Education Authority. We will endeavour to share with parents/guardians any concerns we may have regarding any injuries noted or other specific issues regarding the welfare of their child. We will keep a record of any concerns raised and will share them with the parents/guardians if it is appropriate to do so. When the child moves schools, these records will be transferred to the new school.  We will not keep copies of them.

We do have a duty to refer to Social Care if we suspect a child is at risk of significant harm. If we make a referral to Social Care we will inform the parents/guardians concerned; unless to do so would place the child at increased risk of significant harm.   We would only share details of a child or young person's sexuality or gender identity if it is relevant to a specific child protection concern.  Our first concern will always be the welfare of the child. 

Pioneer School Designated Safeguarding Team

                                       Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) - Joanne Allain, Principal                                                  Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) - Stuart Munday, Vice Principal

                                   Karen Mander, Assistant Vice Principal                                                              Laura Phillips, Phase Leader                                                                          Caroline Watson, Phase Leader

Pioneer School Prevent Strategy

As part of Pioneer School's commitment to safeguarding and child protection we support the government’s Prevent Strategy, and take guidance from the teaching approaches to help to build resilience to extremism. 

What is the Prevent Strategy?

The Prevent strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. The prevent strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing, religious extremists and other causes. Many of the things we already do in school to help children become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy.

These include:

·         Exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity

·         Promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy

·         Developing critical thinking skills and a strong, positive self-identity

·         Challenging prejudices and racist comments

·         Protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example by using filters on the Internet to make sure they can’t access extremist and terrorist material, or by vetting visitors who come into school to work with pupils.

At Pioneer School, we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values. British values include:

·         Democracy

·         The rule of law

·         Individual liberty and mutual respect

·         Tolerance of different faiths and beliefs

Please see our British values guidance on our web site.

 The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. At our school all teaching and support staff have completed training.

Mental Health Rap