Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

Policy Statement

Vanguard UK recognises its moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children. We acknowledge that “it could happen here”. We make every effort to ensure that students and adults feel safe, secure, valued and respected, and are confident to speak up if they are worried, knowing they will be listened to and taken seriously.

The purpose of this policy is to provide staff, volunteers, and homestays with the framework they need to keep children safe and secure whilst they are in our care. The policy also informs parents, agents, and partner schools how we will safeguard their children whilst they are in our care.

This policy is based on guidance from the most recent versions of Keeping Children Safe in Education  (KCSIE) and Working Together to Safeguard Children, and draws on guidance from the NSPCC website.

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Key Safeguarding Contact Details

Child Protection Principles

The following principles underpin our provisions and practices in relation to safeguarding and child protection:

• Vanguard UK will provide a safe and secure environment for all students;
• Homestays and transfer companies provide a safe and secure environment for all students;
• All students feel safe, secure and protected from harm;
• All students know who to turn to for help, advice or support, can access services confidentially, quickly and easily and have access to 24-hour support;
• The director of the company has overall responsibility and accountability for the safeguarding and welfare of the students;
• All staff, homestays and volunteers share in the responsibility to protect students from harm, remain vigilant in identifying safeguarding and child protection issues and to follow policies and procedures relating to safeguarding and child protection;
• Students and staff have effective means by which they can raise child protection concerns or report issues;
• Staff have at least one reliable means to contact all students quickly and directly;
• Staff are aware of the medical or learning needs of individual students via the Student Record and these are shared with the homestay on a need to know basis;
• In cases where the whereabouts of a student under Vanguard UK is not known or the student is believed to be at risk of harm, procedures to locate the student by the safest and quickest means possible, or secure the safety of the student will be invoked immediately by following the Missing Student policy;
• The company has procedures in place that enable child protection concerns and incidents to be dealt with promptly and effectively and in line with relevant legislation.

Vanguard UK is committed to the protection of all children in its care. We are committed to safeguarding student welfare and undertake rigorous checks on all who work with us and we expect all staff, volunteers and homestays to share this commitment.

Safeguarding students is the responsibility of us all, including full-time, part-time, contracted, agency and volunteer staff including those who do not have cause to come into direct or regular contact with students in order to carry out their daily duties. It also applies to those who provide homestay accommodation for our students and third-party contractors.

Where there is a safeguarding concern Vanguard UK will ensure the child’s wishes and feelings are taken into account when determining what action to take and what services to provide. We provide clear information for students in the student handbook. We check that students understand the information and are comfortable about how they can raise a concern. We explain how concerns will be treated seriously, and that students can safely express their views and give feedback.

All staff and homestays should be aware that children may not feel ready or know how to tell someone that they are being abused, exploited, or neglected, and/or they may not recognise their experiences as harmful. This should not prevent staff from having a professional curiosity and speaking to the DSL if they have concerns about a child.

It is important that staff and homestays determine how best to build trusted relationships with children and young people which facilitate communication

The safety and welfare of children, or Child Protection, means protecting children from physical, emotional or sexual abuse or neglect where there is an identified risk. Safeguarding is the minimisation of the risk to children from all forms of child abuse including for example:

· Child sexual exploitation

· Child on child abuse

· Radicalisation and extremism

· Female genital mutilation

· Physical, emotional, sexual abuse or neglect

· Domestic abuse

· Online abuse

· Bullying and cyber bullying

We aim to ensure that the students in our care experience at all times a caring and secure environment in which they feel safe, respected and valued.

In pursuit of this aim, Vanguard UK undertakes the following:

1. We ensure that we lead from the top by ensuring that our director Hao Zhang has the appropriate safeguarding knowledge and involvement in the procedures we have in place. This includes having oversight of arrangements.

2. Training is provided for all staff and homestays to a level appropriate for their role (see training section below);

3. We promote an environment of trust, openness and clear communication between students, school and Vanguard UK staff and our Homestays, so that student welfare, safety and pastoral care is recognised as the top priority;

4. We respond to any reported allegation or suspicion of child abuse in accordance with the Vanguard UK procedures as outlined below;

5. We ensure that all guardianship personnel, homestays and personnel offering outsourced services who come into direct contact with students in our care, are recruited using safer recruitment practices and are formally screened through the completion of an enhanced DBS check;

6. We maintain links with the appropriate agencies who have a statutory responsibility to deal with child welfare and child protection concerns.

If you have any reason to believe that a child in your care is suffering from any form of abuse or neglect then please report it immediately in confidence to the DSL using the contact details listed in this policy.