Safeguarding

"Safeguarding is the name given to individuals and organisations working together to protect and promote the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults."

Ark Kings Academy is committed to safeguarding, which underpins our core values of Wisdom, Resilience, and Kindness. We pledge to go above and beyond the minimum requirements for child safety in our school, and we expect that all of our staff will do the same. We have a number of policies and processes in place, such as our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, that support our commitment to safeguarding (which can be viewed below). On our Policies page, you may view all of our other policies.

Ark Kings Academy is clear of its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all pupils by protecting them from abuse—emotional, sexual, and physical—as well as from neglect and bullying. We understand that the topic of child abuse can be extremely sensitive and challenging. Understanding the emotions at play is crucial, but we avoid letting them cloud our judgement while deciding what course of action to pursue.

All students have a right to be safeguarded from abuse, regardless of their age, gender, handicap, culture, language, racial origin, religious belief, or sexual identity, in our opinion. The welfare of the student is always of the utmost importance. All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately in accordance with our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

All staff are trained regularly on Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures. All applicants for employment at Ark Trust and our schools are fully vetted in accordance with DfE Guidelines Safeguarding Children: Safer Recruitment and Selection in Education Settings.

Operation Encompass is a police and education early information safeguarding partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support to children experiencing domestic abuse.

Operation Encompass ensures that there is a simple telephone call or notification to a school’s trained Designated Safeguarding Lead prior to the start of the next school day after an incident of police attended domestic abuse where there are children related to either of the adult parties involved.

Information is shared with a school’s Key Designated Safeguarding Lead prior to the start of the next school day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident. This sharing of information enables appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.

Children are negatively impacted by experiencing domestic abuse and without early intervention and support this negative impact can last through a child’s life course. Domestic abuse can impact upon social, psychological, physical, emotional and behavioural outcomes with an often negative impact upon a child’s academic success. Experiencing domestic abuse has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience.

Operation Encompass aims, by directly connecting police and schools, to secure better outcomes for children , to enable schools to better understand the impact living with domestic abuse has upon children, to help schools to better understand a child’s lived experience and to therefore be able to support and nurture each child , making a child’s day better and giving them a better tomorrow.

At Ark Kings Academy, pupils always have member of staff they can talk to if they have any problems or concerns. These range from their Class Teacher or Form Tutor to a Subject Teacher, Support staff, the Welfare team or any member of staff. All of our staff, no matter what role, are all safeguard trained and will listen to your child.

Ark Kings Academy work with many safeguarding partners and these offer additional reporting, help and avdvice for pupils and parents. Here are links and other ways of seeking help and advice: