Safeguarding

White House Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

To find out more please read our policies below

Safeguarding in the curriculum

White House Academy is committed to ensuring the welfare and safety of all our children in school. We believe that pupils have a right to learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment which includes the right to protection from all types of abuse; where staff are vigilant for signs of any pupil in distress and are confident about applying the/our safeguarding processes to avert and alleviate any such problems.

Safeguarding is about ensuring that everyone is safe from harm – safe from bullying, safe from people who could abuse, safe from discrimination or harassment – and that we all feel safe in our environment.

To this end, we are committed to educating our children and parents about the potential risks they may be vulnerable to, such as extremism, domestic violence, sexting, cyber-bullying and safer use of the internet.

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 parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare

If you are ever concerned about the safety or well-being of someone at our school, please talk to one of the school’s Designated Safeguarding Officers.

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 White House 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.

All staff have received Child Protection and Safeguarding training, which included themes such as Keeping Safe in Education 2023, FGM, The Prevent Agenda in September 2023.

Prevent Strategy

As part of White House Academy’s commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government’s Prevent Strategy. As part of our annual Safeguarding trainings, 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:

• responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views
• provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support
• works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health)

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 White House 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

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Operation Encompass

The school’s participation in Operation Encompass will:

• be known and understood by all staff including school governors;

• form part of the school’s safeguarding policy;

• be part of the safeguarding information on the school website;

• form part of the school’s communication with new families;

• be visible in school through the use of the Operation Encompass posters;

• lead to training for all staff about domestic abuse, the impact on children and the simple ways in which schools can support these children;

• support staff and children by using the resources available on the Operation Encompass website www.operationencompass.org.