SAFEGUARDING / CHILD PROTECTION POLICY
Policy statement
The Greek School of Bishop’s Stortford (out of school club) will work with children, parents and the
community to ensure the rights and safety of children. All staff understand and implement the policy
and create a positive culture and ethos where safeguarding is an important part of everyday life in the
setting. The signs of successful safeguarding procedures are that children are protected and feel safe.
In relation to children and young people, safeguarding and promoting their welfare is defined in ‘Working
together to safeguard children’ as:
◼ protecting children from maltreatment
◼ preventing impairment of children’s health or development
◼ ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective
care
◼ taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
The Greek School of Bishop’s Stortford is committed to building a ‘culture of safety’, in which the
children in our care are protected from abuse, harm and radicalisation. The School will respond promptly
and appropriately to all incidents or concerns regarding the safety of a child that may occur. The child
protection procedures comply with all relevant legislation and with guidance.
The School’s designated SDLs are:
Markella Afenti-Sassis – Headteacher
Sofia Zacharaki – Chair of Governors
STAFF / VOLUNTEERS – Promoting awareness amongst staff / volunteers
The designated DSLs have relevant experience and receive appropriate training in safeguarding
and the Prevent Duty (Level 3). The designated persons understand current safeguarding
procedures and refresh their knowledge of safeguarding.
The staff / volunteers are qualified teachers and they work in maintained schools / educational
settings. Consequently, staff have an up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues – Level 1
and/or Level 2 training in safeguarding and prevent, are alert to the signs and symptoms of abuse,
and understand their professional duty to ensure safeguarding concerns are reported to the local
authority children’s social work term.
We provide adequate and appropriate staffing resources to meet the needs of children. The
layout of the two rooms allows for constant supervision. No child is left alone with staff or
volunteers in a one-to-one situation without being visible to others. There are always minimum two
adults in every room. Staff / volunteers do not work unsupervised.
Staff hold ‘enhanced disclosure’ checks with the DBS from their schools / educational settings as
they all work in above. Anyone who works regularly (e.g. four times per month or more) at our out
of school club and who has unsupervised access to the children, whether on a voluntary or
employed basis, must have an enhanced DBS check.
We have information about staff qualifications and training (e.g. Child protection, First Aid,
GDPR) in their educational settings.
We take security steps to ensure that we have control over who comes into the provision so that
no unauthorised person has unsupervised access to the children.
Safe recruitment practices are followed for all new staff. We make sure staff / volunteers have
relevant pre-employment checks, e.g. verification of identity, right to work, DBS check. Staff /
volunteers undertake supervised activities.
All staff / volunteers have a copy of this Safeguarding (Child Protection) policy, understand its
contents and are vigilant to signs of abuse, neglect or radicalisation. All are aware of their
statutory duties with regard to the disclosure or discovery of child abuse, and concerns about
radicalisation.
Photographs are only taken of children with their parents’ permission / completed registration
forms in Greek school file. Neither staff nor children nor visitors may use their mobile phones to
take photographs at the School.
Staff are familiar with the Safeguarding File and Logging concern form, which are kept in the
Greek school file.
Child abuse and neglect
Child abuse is any form of physical, emotional or sexual mistreatment or lack of care that leads to injury
or harm. An individual may abuse or neglect a child directly, or by failing to protect them from harm.
Some forms of child abuse and neglect are listed below.
Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child so as to cause severe and persistent
adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve making the child feel that they are
worthless, unloved, or inadequate. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment
of a child, though it may occur alone.
Physical abuse can involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, drowning, suffocating or
otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may be also caused when a parent or carer
feigns the symptoms of, or deliberately causes, ill health to a child.
Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the
child is aware of what is happening. This can involve physical contact, or non-contact activities such as
showing children sexual activities or encouraging them to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.
Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and emotional needs. It can involve a
failure to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter, to protect a child from physical and emotional
harm, to ensure adequate supervision or to allow access to medical treatment.
Signs of child abuse and neglect
Signs of possible abuse and neglect may include:
significant changes in a child’s behaviour
deterioration in a child’s general well-being
unexplained bruising or marks
comments made by a child which give cause for concern
Inappropriate behaviour displayed by a member of staff, or any other person. For example,
inappropriate sexual comments, excessive one-to-one attention beyond the requirements of their
role, or inappropriate sharing of images.
If abuse is suspected or disclosed
When a child makes a disclosure to a member of staff, that member of staff will:
reassure the child that they were not to blame and were right to speak out
listen to the child but not question them
give reassurance that the staff member will take action
record the incident as soon as possible.
If a member of staff witnesses or suspects abuse, they will record the matter straightaway using the
Logging a concern form and refer the matter to the DSL.
Peer-on-peer abuse
Children are vulnerable to abuse by their peers. Peer-on-peer abuse is taken seriously by staff and will
be subject to the same child protection procedures as other forms of abuse. Staff are aware of the
potential uses of information technology for bullying and abusive behaviour between young people.
Staff will not dismiss abusive behaviour as normal between young people. The presence of one or more of
the following in relationships between children should always trigger concern about the possibility of
peer-on-peer abuse:
Sexual activity of any kind, including sexting
One of the children is significantly more dominant than the other (eg much older)
One of the children is significantly more vulnerable than the other (eg in terms of disability,
confidence, physical strength)
There has been some use of threats, bribes or coercion to ensure compliance or secrecy.
If peer-on-peer abuse is suspected or disclosed
We will follow the same procedures as set out above for responding to child abuse.
Extremism and radicalisation
All childcare settings have a legal duty to protect children from the risk of radicalisation and being
drawn into extremism. There are many reasons why a child might be vulnerable to radicalisation, eg:
feeling alienated or alone
seeking a sense of identity or individuality
suffering from mental health issues such as depression
desire for adventure or wanting to be part of a larger cause
associating with others who hold extremist beliefs
Signs of radicalisation
Signs that a child might be at risk of radicalisation include:
changes in behaviour, for example becoming withdrawn or aggressive
claiming that terrorist attacks and violence are justified
viewing violent extremist material online
possessing or sharing violent extremist material
If a member of staff suspects that a child is at risk of becoming radicalised, they will record any
relevant information or observations on a Logging a concern form and refer the matter to the DSL. The
designated DSLs are aware of the Channel programme and how to assess it.
Anti-terrorist hotline: 0800 789 321
Logging a concern
All information about the suspected abuse or disclosure, or concern, will be recorded on the Logging a
concern form as soon as possible after the event. The record should include:
date of the disclosure, or the incident, or the observation causing concern
date and time at which the record was made
name and date of birth of the child involved
A factual report of what happened – use the child’s own words
Name, signature and job title of the person making the record.
The record will be given to the DLS who will decide on the appropriate course of action.
If a child is in immediate danger then phone the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership /
Children’s services – 0300 123 4043 / Police on 999 to report concerns. Keep possession of the
child until you are told otherwise. Inform the DSP, as soon as possible.
Allegations against staff
We follow the guidance when responding to any complaint that a member of staff, or volunteer within
the provision has abused a child. We respond to any disclosure by children or staff that abuse by a
member of staff or volunteer within the setting may have taken or is taking place, by first recording the
details of any such alleged incident. See Complaints policy.
The layout of the two rooms allows for constant supervision. No child is left alone with staff or
volunteers in a one-to-one situation without being visible to others. There are always minimum two adults
in every room. Staff / volunteers do not work unsupervised.
Last reviewed 29.8.2024
