Safeguarding
At Holmer Green Senior School, the health, safety and well-being of children is of paramount concern to us. We listen to our pupils and take seriously what they tell us. Our aim is for children to enjoy their time as pupils in this school. We want to work in partnership with parents to help each child achieve their full potential and make a positive contribution to the world they will be part of in the future.
To promote a safe environment for pupils, our selection and recruitment procedure includes all checks on staff and regular volunteers’ suitability, including Disclosure and Barring Service checks, as recommended by Buckinghamshire County Council as governed by current legislation.
In accordance with our responsibilities under section 175/157 of the Education Act 2002 and “Keeping Children Safe in Education“ 2023, we have a Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Kerri Stone, who is a member of the Senior Leadership Team, and has received appropriate training for this role (in her absence, her deputy is Deputy Headteacher, Ms Sarah Lary). It is her responsibility to ensure that all staff in contact with children receive safeguarding awareness training on a regular basis.
Occasions do arise when our concern about a child requires us to consult other agencies. Whilst we would always aim to work in partnership with parents there may be exceptions to this when concerns are raised for the protection of a child.
On very rare occasions Social Care, whilst undertaking an investigation under S47 of the Children Act 1989, may want to speak to a child without a parents’ knowledge. This would be a decision made in collaboration with partner agencies and would only be done in situations where a child might be at immediate risk. To gain consent at this point may increase the level of risk to the child or cause evidence of a crime to be lost.
The procedures, which we follow, have been laid down by the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board, and the school has adopted a Safeguarding Policy in line with this for the safety of all. If you want to know more about our procedures, please speak to the Headteacher, Ed Hillyard, or the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Stone. Our Safeguarding Policy can be found on the Policies page
As part of Safeguarding commitment the policy for Safe Recruitment is followed.
The following Policies are available on the Policies page:
- Recruitment Policy
- Safeguarding (Child Protection) Policy
- Anti-Bullying Policy
- The Prevent Strategy
- Keeping Children Safe in Education