Safeguarding
Guildford County School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We recognise that all adults, including temporary staff, volunteers and governors, have a full and active part to play in protecting our students from harm, and that the child or young person’s welfare is our paramount concern.
We believe that Guildford County School should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment that promotes the social, emotional, physical and moral development of the individual child or young person.
We have a Safeguarding Policy and procedures in place. All staff (including supply staff, volunteers and governors) must ensure that they are aware of these procedures. All staff are trained in relation to child protection and other issues surrounding safeguarding.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child or young person’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our students are discussed with his/her parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child or young person’s welfare.
The Governor in charge of Safeguarding is Adrian Woodman (awoodman@guildfordcounty.co.uk).
If you are concerned about a child or young person’s welfare, please record your concern and any observations or conversation heard, and report it to the DSL as soon as possible the same day. Staff should refer to the Safeguarding policy and guidance in the staff handbook. We take safeguarding concerns seriously and will react in line with national and local guidance, following our policy.
We provide a secure site for our children and visitors are asked to adhere to our rules. Visitors should enter only through the main entrance and sign in at Reception.
All students have the right to be treated with respect and all members of the school community have a responsibility to show respect to others and report or challenge unsafe or bullying behaviour. Students are encouraged to speak to their Tutor, Head of Year, or any other member of staff they feel comfortable talking to if they have any worries or concerns about themselves or other people. Alternatively this can be done by emailing me@guildfordcounty.co.uk
Online safety: Each of the main social media applications have ‘report abuse’ buttons but you can also contact the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) using the link below.
The Government has issued a handy short factsheet for parents about using social media which can be found by clicking here
The Childline website is an excellent source of information on all types of bullying and it can be found by clicking here
