Safeguarding and Child Protection
Are you a pupil or ex-pupil at Foxwood and are you worried about something? Do you think you might need our help? Please click here to send us an email so that we can get back to you.
Please click here to meet the Safeguarding Hub team
Working together to safeguard and protect the Foxwood community.
Our first priority is the welfare of your child and of the whole family. The Academy will take any reasonable action to ensure the safety of its students. All staff share this commitment. We have consistent, effective safeguarding procedures in place to support families, students and staff at school. Our approach is to listen to what children/young people have to say and to take seriously what they tell us. We take care to meet the needs of those who find communication difficult to enable them to share any concerns they may have. We are proud of our strong links with families with whom we can work together to ensure that children and young people are safe and able to thrive. Concerns about a student are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the student's welfare. In this case the Academy is obliged to follow Child Protection procedures.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
- protecting children from maltreatment;
- preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development;
- ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
- taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Safeguarding at Foxwood Academy is a key priority and all staff receive focused, high quality training to develop their understanding and awareness of safeguarding and child protection. The Academy follows the procedures set out by the Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership while recognising the importance of every students' personal context. Our policies and procedures are informed by national and local legislation and law which includes (but is not limited to) Keeping Children Safe in Education, Working Together to Safeguard Children, Equality Act 2010, Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 and Education Regulations 2014.
Systems
Staff use Safeguard My School (SMS) as the platform for which all safeguarding and child protection concerns are recorded. In order to support effective, targeted safeguarding which recognises a student's personal and contextual risk factors, we also maintain a Vulnerability Matrix which helps to ensure all staff have an accurate understanding of the 'whole child'.
Scope
The following safeguarding areas in and around the Academy are monitored:
- Ethos: Ensuring safeguarding principles and practices are clearly evident.
- Policy: Adherence to Keeping Children Safe in Education, updated annually.
- Risk: Levels of risk to students and adults in a variety of situations are assessed, actioned and monitored.
- Curriculum: Breadth of safeguarding issues and adherence to the latest government guidelines are in place.
- Safer Recruitment: Ensuring checks are made during the recruitment process.
- Safer perimeters: Staff, partners from other sectors such as the NHS, volunteers and visitors are welcomed and checked before entry into the Academy.
- Training: All staff working within the Academy when children are present, receive the appropriate safeguarding training.
- Transition Planning: Next destinations are planned and monitored after our young people leave the Academy. All staff are required to read and understand Part 1 and Annex A of the latest annual version which outlines safeguarding principles and details forms of abuse.
- Community: Working alongside parents/carers, health and care professionals, police and other relevant agencies to keep families safe.
E-Safety
Mr James Hutchinson (Head Teacher) is the Designated Lead for E-Safety. The link below will take you to up-to-date E-Safety news and a ‘Contact Us’ page if you have any concerns or questions.
Prevent & Radicalisation
Foxwood Academy is committed to keeping children, young people and adults safe from all forms of extremism. All staff and visitors are expected to uphold principles of British Values including individual liberty and mutual respect, rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. This is in line with DfE guidance to minimise the threat of extremism.
Academy Safeguarding Team
If you want to know more about our procedures, please speak to one of the following:
 Mrs Angie Potter |
Head of Care, Mental Health Lead & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead Out of hours emergency contact 07468692386 |
 Mr James Hutchinson |
Headteacher & Designated Safeguarding Lead |
 Mr Matt Joyce |
Deputy Headteacher Senior Designated Safeguarding Lead Designated Teacher for Looked after Children |
 Mrs Katie Gazeley |
Teaching Assistant & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead |
 Mrs Ruby Ul-Haq |
Office Manager & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead |
If you have a concern….
If you are concerned that a child/young person may be subject to ill-treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse OR if you are being abused:
- Tell someone you trust
- Member of the public - call 0300 500 80 80 between 08:30 - 17:00
- Professionals working within Nottinghamshire County Council - call 0300 500 80 90
- If you require an urgent response outside of office hours - call the Social Care Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 0300 456 4546
- In an emergency dial 999.
- To report a crime, call 101.
- Out of hours school emergency contact - Angie Potter on 07468692386
Online child exploitation and online abuse is a national growing concern. CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) report that referrals are increasing. Our children and young people are vulnerable and could be susceptible to online abusers. If you are concerned about your young person’s online activity, please speak to the DSLs at the Academy or phone CEOP on 0370 496 7622.
Useful Links for Parents
Please see the guide for parents from the Internet Watch Foundation below. There is also a link to a short video which sends a powerful message regarding the issue of online abuse. Please watch this first before showing it to your child/young person to judge whether its contents is suitable.
Before sending your child to an out-of-school setting, you will want to know they will be safe. There is no single legal framework that governs how these settings operate, and they are not inspected or assessed by a single regulator. This means there is no single responsible body with complete oversight of these settings, or the quality and safety of their provision. In this guide you will find questions you may wish to ask a provider, examples of the types of good answers you should expect to hear back, and ‘red flags’ (danger signs) you may wish to look out for when choosing a provider. You'll find references to SEN on page 9.
Other Relevant Contacts
- NSPCC Helpline: 0808 5000
- Child Line: 0800 1111
Relevant Policies can be found under the General Policies section in the Academy Policies page