Safeguarding
School Safeguarding Statement
At Jigsaw CABAS® School we are fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and we expect all staff, volunteers and the wider community to share this commitment. For pupils to feel that they are able to do their best and achieve their true potential, it is important that they feel safe and supported in our school environment.
We ensure that our pupils feel secure, are encouraged to communicate, are listened to and are safe. Throughout our curriculum, we provide activities and opportunities that equip our children to stay safe and develop essential life skills.
We aim to ‘prevent’, ‘protect’ and ‘support’ all our pupils by addressing child protection in the curriculum, including online safety, and by empowering and enabling staff to be vigilant for vulnerable pupils through regular, ongoing training and the dissemination of information.
Our Governors are involved in overseeing and guiding our Safeguarding procedures and work to ensure the highest standards of safety, awareness and support for our pupils, staff and families.
Where there is any concern about the wellbeing/safeguarding of a pupil in school this is referred to the pupil’s Local Authority Multi Agency Partnership (MAP) team for advice, support and further action where required. 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.
All staff in school, including volunteers and outside agencies under-go relevant DBS checks (Disclosure and Barring).
A safeguarding audit each year ensures our systems meet statutory guidelines and, in many cases, go beyond basic requirements. We receive advice and guidance from the Local Authority and our staff are trained on a regular basis on up to date topics relating to safeguarding and child protection.
Keeping pupils and staff safe online is an essential part of safeguarding at Jigsaw. We have security measures and procedures in place designed to prevent accidental or deliberate access to unsuitable content. Internal and external monitoring takes place alongside close supervision of the pupils to help safeguard them from potential dangers or access to inappropriate or unsuitable content.
All online safety concerns are reported, recorded and managed in line with our Online Safety Policy, and online safety is incorporated into the curriculum to explain to pupils how to stay safe when online. In addition to the individualised curriculum for the pupils based around keeping safe when online, specific topics related to online safety may be incorporated into school assemblies and themed weeks such as Safer Internet Week and Anti-Bullying Week. A valuable resource to support online safety, including helpful Guides and Resources can be found at: https://saferinternet.org.uk
Jigsaw also subscribes to the National Online Safety (NOS) hub to deliver training and awareness on topics surrounding online safety and we recommend that parents sign up to this platform – it is an excellent knowledge base and provides training and webinar resources tailored to different age groups. If you are a Jigsaw parent, please visit the sign on page at: https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/the-jigsaw-school
We actively support the Government’s Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism, and training for all new staff includes an online course which can be viewed by clicking here. As part of our Prevent duty, the school provides pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum that helps protect pupils against extremism and promotes community cohesion.
This scheme is run jointly between local schools, the police and local authorities and is designed to provide early reporting on any domestic incidents that occur outside of school and that might have an impact on a child in school. Operation Encompass ensures, in the case of Jigsaw School, that the Designated Safeguarding Lead (Key Adult) or Deputy Safeguarding Lead (Deputy Key Adult) is informed the next morning if there has been a domestic incident or if a child has been reported as missing. Through sharing this information with the DSL or DDSL the school can ensure the child is supported in the most appropriate way whilst at school. For more information about Operation Encompass visit: https://www.operationencompass.org/
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, which can be viewed on the Reports & Policies page of this website.