Safeguarding
The Good Shepherd Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We ensure that all our employment practices reflect this commitment.
Our policy statement on the recruitment of ex-offenders, can be found below. More information on the DBS filtering rule, can be found here.
Safeguarding Personnel
Liz Tedbury, Head of Inclusion, Safeguarding & Wellbeing, acts as the Designated Safeguarding Lead for the central Trust team.
Mrs Mary Lewis is the Trustee Director with specific responsibility for child protection and safeguarding.
Each school has it's own Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and at least one Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. The school DSL is the person responsible for all safeguarding within that school.
To enable their quick identification, all the Designated Safeguarding Leads in our Trust wear a black lanyard with the abbreviation 'DSL' written in yellow font.
Reporting a Concern
Immediate Risk
If it is an emergency and you are concerned that a child may be at immediate risk of harm, please contact the Police by calling: 999.
If you are not sure whether you should call the Police, click below When to Call the Police
Registering a concern about a child
If you are concerned that a child is at risk of harm or has been harmed, please contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead at the school where the child attends.
Alternatively, you can contact Children's Services directly. Please click on the hyperlink for contact details of the respective local authority: Surrey or Hampshire
Concerns relating to extremism
If you have concerns relating to extremism telephone: 02073407264 or
email: counter.extremism@education.gov.uk in a non-emergency situation.
Registering a concern about an adult who works with children
If you concern is about an adult who is working or volunteering with children, please contact the Headteacher of the school where you have a concern.
If your concern is regarding a Headteacher, a Trustee Director or a member of our central team, please contact the CEO Paul Kennedy. If your concern is regarding the CEO, please contact the Trust's Chair, James Friend.
Alternatively, you can contact the Local Authority Designated Officer. Please click on the hyperlink for contact details of the respective local authority: Surrey or Hampshire
General safeguarding enquiries
Please contact Liz Tedbury.
Our Offer
The Trust takes its safeguarding responsibilities seriously and is clear that everyone is responsible for keeping all children safe from harm or abuse. The best interests of the child are placed firmly at the centre of all that we do.
A Trust DSL provides support, guidance and training, to help schools ensure that safeguarding culture is as strong and effective as it can be.
Half-termly DSL network meetings are supplemented with high quality CPD for staff and local committee members throughout the year, alongside access to additional online training through Every. All Trust schools and the Trust DSL, use CPOMS to record and monitor any concerns about children. Schools are also provided with relevant template policies and training materials to localise, where applicable.
Supervision
We believe that those involved in safeguarding in our schools, are entitled to appropriate support and development through supervision.
What do Trust schools say about our support for safeguarding?
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100% of Trust schools strongly agree that they have received helpful safeguarding guidance and support from the Trust centre.
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100% of Trust schools strongly agree or agree that the support and guidance they have received from the Trust centre, has helped them to move safeguarding culture and compliance forward in their schools.
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100% of Trust schools said that they find the half-termly DSL network meetings extremely useful.
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The Trust received an average rating of 4.78 (out of 5) for the overall safeguarding support (and impact) that is provided to schools from the centre.
"The Trust DSL recently provided a twilight at my school. She was exceptionally well prepared and pitched the safeguarding training at exactly the right level for all staff to gain insightful understanding of this important topic." (Headteacher - September 2021)
"Thanks for an excellent and very practical session on safeguarding. Really helped with highlighting things that our local committee safeguarding champion almost certainly knows, but that may have been new to us. Will look out for more helpful sessions and encourage others!" (Local committee chair - November 2021)
Other sources of advice and support
NSPCC Child Protection Line: 0808 8005000
Childline: 0800 1111
Samaritans: 116 123
Harmful Sexual Behaviours Professionals Line: 03442250623
On the 1st April 2021, the DfE established a dedicated helpline, run by the NSPCC, to support survivors of sexual harassment and abuse in education settings: 0800 136 663 or email help@nspcc.org.uk
Stop it now - Sexual Abuse Helpline for adults: 0808 1000900
NAPAC - Supporting recovery from childhood abuse: 0808 801 0331
Tool for reporting online material that promotes terrorism or extremism: www.gov.uk/report-terrorism
Anti-Terrorist Hotline: 0800789321
Directory of Further Helplines
Policies
All staff (including supply staff and volunteers) must ensure that they are aware and understand Trust and individual school safeguarding procedures.
Raising Concerns
If you have any concerns about an adult who is working or volunteering in one of our schools, the Trust's Allegations of Abuse Against Adults Policy can be found below. This policy includes our approach to the management of 'low level' concerns.
Allegations of Abuse Against Adults Policy
Our Whistleblowing (protected disclosures) Policy
Child Protection Policy
The template child protection policy for our schools to localise can be found below:
Schools Safeguarding Policy
Template Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy (for use from September 2024)
Please visit individual school websites for localised child protection and safeguarding information.