Safeguarding
At Waverley Junior Academy we have a Safeguarding Team but all adults in school have a responsibility to promote and safeguard the welfare of children. We constantly seek to identify and overcome barriers to learning as this is an important part of the partnership between school and families.
Our systems are designed to:
- Prevent unsuitable people working with children and young people
- Promote safe practice and challenge poor and unsafe practice
- Identify instances in which there are grounds for concern about a child’s welfare and give adults in school the route for them to take the appropriate action
There are different posters displayed around school to help advise anyone who has a safeguarding concern. These include posters with information on how to contact the Safeguarding Team, posters displaying the 9 Protected Characteristics and posters about which documents are important to guide us. Leaflets about important agendas including prevent can be found in key locations.
The document 'Keeping Children Safe in education' can be downloaded here.
School takes the appointing of new staff very seriously and follows the ‘Safer Recruitment’ advice from the Local Authority. Our staff and volunteers are all DBS checked to ensure all our pupils stay safe.
Any visitors into school report to the main office where they show identification and sign in. Visitors who are DBS checked are given a green lanyard. Visitors who are not DBS checked are given a red lanyard and remain supervised by a member of staff at all times. All lanyards include key safeguarding information.
Should you wish to discuss child protection and the safety of your child, or indeed any other topic involving your child, please feel free to contact any member of the safeguarding team:
- Designated Safeguarding Lead – Mrs Rachel Bolton, Principal
- Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads – Mrs Claire Rose & Miss Koren Foster
- Governor with Responsibility for Safeguarding - Mrs Natalie Borrington
- ACET Designated Safeguarding Lead – Rachel Denton
Our Safeguarding Policy can be found at the bottom of this page. Other important Policies can be found in the policy section of the website.
Pastoral Care
The pastoral care of our pupils is everyone’s responsibility, starting with class teachers who are supported by teaching assistants and other support staff. At Waverley Junior Academy we also have a Health & Wellbeing Manager, Jessica Clarke who supports children and their families. If you would like to speak to Miss Clarke, she can be contacted via the school office or by email: jessica.clarke@waverleyjunioracademy.org
Looked-After Children
Our designated teacher for looked-after and previously looked after children is Claire Rose. Please contact her if you have any questions; claire.rose@waverleyjunioracademy.org
Operation Encompass
Waverley Junior Academy supports and advocates ‘Operation Encompass’. Operation Encompass is a unique Police and Education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people exposed to domestic abuse. Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools before the start of the next school day, when a child or young person has been involved or exposed to a domestic abuse incident the previous evening. It enables children to arrive at school and have their needs met, by trained Child Protection staff, who have been informed of the child’s ‘experience.’ National Domestic Violence 24hr free-phone hotline: 0808 2000 247.
Prevent
Our Prevent Lead is Rachel Bolton. Please contact her if you have any questions; rachel.bolton@waverleyjunioracademy.org. Our Prevent Risk Assessment can be found at the bottom of this page.
Online Safety
Whilst the use of computers and phones to access online material can be incredibly useful and enhance a child’s education, it can also cause serious damage to mental health and relationships. The issues outlined in the document below also affect adults. Monitoring how your child accesses online material can be frustrating; it takes knowledge, time and persistence. The Online Safety Guide provides guidance relating to how children access some of the most well-known social media platforms and browsers for searching content on the Internet.
Although it is vital to stay up to date with the latest developments and to understand the contents of this document, the most effective way of ensuring your child’s safety is to talk to them openly and honestly about their lives online, without judgement. This will allow you to help them on their journey to becoming a safe user of the internet. Just like all social interaction, children will learn from their mistakes. It is important that they are able to make those mistakes in a supportive environment, with trusted adults to help them if things ever go wrong.
If someone has acted inappropriately towards your child online you can report it to CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) by clicking this link.
Contextual Safeguarding
Contextual Safeguarding is an approach to understanding, and responding to, young people’s experiences of significant harm beyond their families. It recognises the different relationships that young people form in their neighbourhoods, schools and online.
We have provided support for children, parents and carers with how to stay safe online on our E-Safety page.
At Waverley Junior Academy we are extremely lucky to have pupils from many different cultures and religions and we have developed a school culture that promotes diversity in our classrooms. Teaching children how to live in a society where every individual is unique and how to connect with peers and neighbours with diverse backgrounds and abilities is invaluable. More information can be found on our Diversity page.
It is also important to consider the potential dangers within our local area.
As Waverley Junior Academy is close to the Waverley Lakes, Ulley Reservoir and Rother Valley Country Park, it is essential we teach our children about Water Safety.
At Waverley Junior Academy we are very lucky to live and work in one of Yorkshire’s largest ever developments. However, we need to be mindful that there are a number of potential hazards that come with living near a building site and teach our pupils the importance of Construction Site Safety.
Fire Drill
Each half term the whole school takes part in a 'fire drill' to ensure all pupils and staff know how to evacuate the academy safely. These take place on different days and at different times to guarantee we are prepared for all situations.
We are very proud of our records with over 500 people out of the building and accounted for in 3 to 4 minutes each time.
