Safeguarding

"Safeguarding is effective. pupils are cared for well and taught, systematically, how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations." School Ofsted Report, June 2019

In England the law states that people who work with children have to keep them safe. 

This safeguarding legislation is set out in The Children Act, (1989) and (2004). 

It also features in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (to which the UK is a signatory) and sets out the rights of children to be free from abuse. 

The Government also provides guidance in its document Working Together to Safeguard Children.

At the academy, safeguarding means:

• protecting students from maltreatment
• preventing impairment of students’ health or development
• ensuring that students are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
• taking action to enable all students to have the best outcome

We take Safeguarding seriously because we know it can have a huge impact on learning. With this in mind, we have policies and procedures in place for safeguarding and child protection in order to:

• protect students from harm and abuse
• enable staff and volunteers to know what to do if they are worried

We feel everybody is responsible for safeguarding and we take great pride in this work.

Our designated safeguarding lead is Lisa Davies, Headteacher. Please contact her in the first instance if you have any immediate concerns about the safety or well-being of students in the school, or don’t know who else to contact.

• Lisa Davies - Headteacher ldavies@harpendenacademy.co.uk 

The deputy designated safeguarding leads are:

• Erin Curnow – Co-Headteacher ecurnow@harpendenacademy.co.uk
• Kate Watson - KS2 Lead kwatson@harpendenacademy.co.uk
• Ceiri Withers - EYFS Lead cwithers@harpendenacademy.co.uk
• Gemma Moss - SENCo gmoss@harpendenacademy.co.uk

Operation Encompass

• Harpenden Academy is part of Operation Encompass. This is a police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse.
• Operation Encompass means that the police will share information about Domestic Abuse incidents with our school prior to the start of the next school day when they have been called to a domestic incident.
• The Operation Encompass information is stored in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information.
• The key adults with access to Operation Encompass are our DSL, Mrs Davies, or one of our Deputy DSLs, Mrs Curnow, Mrs Watson or Mrs Withers
• When a notification is received, we are aware that we must do nothing that puts the child/ren or the non abusing adult at risk.

Support for Parents and Carers – Families First Portal

What is Families First?

Families First is the term used in Hertfordshire for services that work together to support families who need extra help. These are also known as early help services.  We all experience difficulties at some point. Families First can help you find early help and information to prevent issues from getting worse.  If you need more help than your usual support network – for example your health visitor, school, doctor or family centre – Families First can work with you and your family to create a package of support.

Who is it for?

Families First is available to all Hertfordshire families with children under 18 (25 if they have a learning need or disability).

Issues they can help with:

• parenting
• mental and physical health problems
• drug or alcohol dependency
• domestic abuse
• school related concerns – such as your child is not attending school
• debt problems
• risk of becoming homeless.

If you would like to access any support, please access this website for further links and information:

https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/microsites/families-first/families-first.aspx#parents