Safeguarding & child protection policy

A&J School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of every pupil. We work on the principle that:

• Every child has the right to be safe and protected from harm.
• Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility, not only the DSL's.
• Operating online does not reduce a school's safeguarding obligations — it sharpens them.
• We listen to children. Concerns raised by a pupil are taken seriously, recorded, and acted upon.
• We work in partnership with parents/carers, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), Children's Services, the police, and other safeguarding partners as the situation requires.

This policy applies to every pupil at A&J School and to every member of staff, governor, contractor, and volunteer with access to pupils. It is written under and complies with:

• Keeping Children Safe in Education (statutory guidance, current version);
• Working Together to Safeguard Children (statutory guidance);
• The Children Act 1989 and 2004;
• The Education Act 2002, section 175;
• The Sexual Offences Act 2003, the Prevent Duty (Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015), and the Online Safety Act 2023.

The policy is reviewed annually by the school's senior leadership team and out-of-cycle if statutory guidance changes.

The school has a named Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and at least one deputy DSL. Both have completed safeguarding training to UK statutory standards (refreshed every two years, with annual updates). They are the first point of contact for any safeguarding concern.

How to contact the DSL. Pupils, parents, and staff can contact the DSL directly. In urgent cases parents should also contact local emergency services in their country of residence. Email admissions@aandj.school for the DSL's direct line.

As an online school, our safeguarding arrangements are designed for the online environment from the start, rather than retrofitted from a physical school's procedures.

• Recorded lessons. Every live lesson is recorded and stored on the school's own learning platform. Recordings are accessible to the DSL and to parents on request.
• Secure conferencing. Lessons take place on a secure, authenticated platform with waiting rooms, host controls, and end-to-end encryption for content where supported. Pupils log in with school-issued credentials only.
• One-to-one sessions. One-to-one tutorials and pastoral meetings are recorded and visible to a designated member of senior staff. Two-staff presence is required for any one-to-one with a pupil under 13 or for any pupil where the support plan specifies it.
• Communication channels. Staff communicate with pupils only via school-managed channels (school email, the learning platform). Personal messaging apps, social media DMs, and personal email are prohibited.
• Identity, image, and data hygiene. Pupils' images are not published externally without explicit parental consent. The school's learning platform applies strict access controls, audit logging, and least-privilege staff access.

Staff are trained to recognise the categories of abuse defined in Keeping Children Safe in Education: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and the additional categories of online abuse (including child sexual exploitation, peer-on-peer abuse, sexting and youth-produced sexual imagery, harmful sexual behaviour, online radicalisation, and serious mental-health concerns including self-harm and suicidal ideation).

Any member of staff with a concern about a pupil's welfare reports it to the DSL the same day, in writing, using the school's safeguarding recording system. The DSL decides on the appropriate next step — internal monitoring, parental conversation, referral to local Children's Services, or escalation to the LADO or police as appropriate.

Concerns about a member of staff are reported directly to the Headteacher and, where the alleged conduct meets the harm threshold, to the LADO in the relevant local authority within one working day.

Many of our pupils live outside the UK. Where a safeguarding concern requires external referral, the DSL works in partnership with parents/carers, with the relevant safeguarding authority in the pupil's country of residence, and where appropriate with the British Consulate or Embassy. The DSL maintains a country-by-country record of equivalent safeguarding bodies and crisis lines.

We follow safer recruitment principles consistent with Keeping Children Safe in Education: identity, qualification, and right-to-work checks; enhanced DBS checks with a barred list check for regulated activity; references covering the previous five years of employment; verification of any safeguarding-related events; and a Section 128 check for senior leadership posts.

All staff complete safeguarding induction before contact with pupils, annual refresher training, and additional training where their role requires it (DSL, deputy DSL, online safety, and Prevent). Records are maintained centrally on the Single Central Record.

Parents, pupils, or staff who feel a safeguarding concern has not been adequately addressed should escalate in writing to the Headteacher. If the concern relates to the Headteacher or the DSL, escalate to the LADO in the relevant local authority and to the Department for Education's safeguarding team. Concerns about online conduct can also be reported to the UK Safer Internet Centre and CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command).

This policy is reviewed annually by the school's senior leadership and ratified by the Director. Out-of-cycle reviews follow any material change in statutory guidance or any significant safeguarding event. A summary of safeguarding activity is reported to the Director each term, and an annual safeguarding audit is conducted by an external safeguarding consultant.