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STEP Academy Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people: we expect all staff, volunteers and visitors to share this commitment.
If you have any concerns that a child has been harmed, is at risk of harm, or you receive a disclosure, please speak to our Designated Safeguarding Lead – or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads – as soon as possible.
Designated Safeguarding Lead and Child Protection Officer:
Felicity Gilmore (Head of School)
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads and Child Protection Officers:
Cara Kemp (Pastoral Care Lead); Michael McNally (Deputy Headteacher); Sade Adjiboye (Assistant Headteacher and SENDCo)
Safeguarding Governor:
Sharon Ferns
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parent/carer first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
The best way to help your child to be safe when using the internet is to talk to them and make sure that they understand a few simple rules. We teach children online safety consistently, through modules in our Computing lessons each year. In addition, we use Safer Internet Day to host workshops and sessions with parents and children. Below you can find links to our presentation, and a large variety of links to some useful websites. Also, we have now added printable guides for keeping your child safe when on popular apps.
During Online Safety week the children took part in a number of activities. We have put together a short video of some of the topics and activities that took place.
The best way to help your child to be safe when using the internet is to talk to them and make sure they understand a few simple rules which can be found in our Parent Online Safety Sheet for Parents and Carers.
Below you can find links to our Online Safety leaflet, our school rules for responsible ICT use and a large variety of links to some useful websites. Also, we have now added printable guides for keeping your child safe when using smartphones, tablets, X-Box etc.
As part of Benedict Academy’s commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government’s Prevent Strategy. As part of our annual Safeguarding training, we ensure that members of our team are aware of governmental priorities.
What is the Prevent Strategy?
The Prevent strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. As described in official documents published by Her Majesty’s Government, the Prevent Strategy:
If you are concerned that a member of staff, a Governor or potential Governor may have links to extremism or that child might be at risk of extremism, or if you have any other concern about extremism at Benedict Academy, please contact the Department for Education’s helpline on counter.extremism@education.gsi.gov.uk or 020 7340 7264. Parents/carers can also find some more information on the Educate Against Hate website by the DfE
Benedict participates in a project that runs jointly between schools and the Metropolitan Police Service: this project is known as Operation Encompass.
Operation Encompass is the notification to schools that a child (under 18) has been exposed to, or involved in, any domestic incident. This will ordinarily be done by the start of the next school day.
Operation Encompass ensures that a specially trained member of the school staff, known as a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), is informed. The DSL can then use the information that has been shared, in confidence, to ensure the well-being of the child.
The school may be able to make provisions or adjustments to assist the child and their family. We are keen to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and we believe this is extremely beneficial for all those involved.
