Schools

Safeguarding Policy

Introduction

Chalk is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults we work with, ensuring they feel supported and valued in a safe environment free from any form of discrimination and where safeguarding concerns are addressed appropriately. We are committed to ensuring that all individuals, regardless of age, disability, gender, race, marital status, religion or belief system, sexual orientation or identity, have the right to protection from any form of harm, abuse or exploitation.

We ensure that Chalk staff have a solid understanding of child protection and safeguarding by providing thorough guidance and training. All Chalk employees and candidates are expected to follow this policy (which complies with REC and DfE guidance) and are made aware that safeguarding is the responsibility of everyone involved, including them.

Compliance

The following steps are completed by all candidates registered to Chalk to ensure they are fully compliant and able to work with young people safely:

• Prevent duty training completed and certificate viewed.
• Must have a safeguarding certificate dated within 12 months, otherwise safeguarding training to be completed.
• Minimum of two references obtained covering a minimum of the past two years. This must include most recent employment and at least one from a role working with young people or vulnerable adults.
• Full 10-year employment and education history obtained, covering any gaps of three months or more.
• Enhanced DBS certificate for ‘child’ or ‘child and adult’ workforce. This must either be registered on the Update Service or issued through Chalk and within 12 months.
• DBS Update Service checks are renewed every six months.
• Children’s Barred list (list 99) checked through enhanced DBS.
• Prohibition checked via the Teacher Regulation Agency’s (TRA) Teacher Service and renewed every six months.
• QTS check completed for teachers via Teacher Service and renewed annually.
• QTLS confirmed through Society for Education and Training (SET) for FE qualified teachers and renewed annually.
• All original documents to confirm identity, right to work, proof of address, national insurance and qualifications seen and checked.
• Risk assessment carried out in the instance that a candidate has a conviction/caution on their DBS and then signed off by the Head of Compliance.
• Vetting phone call followed by face-to-face interview to confirm suitability (completed via video call during COVID-19 restrictions to ensure safety of employees and candidates).
• Candidates provided with ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ guidance issued by DfE.
• Continual feedback, support and training offered to candidates.

Reporting Procedure

In the event of a suspected safeguarding incident, or with any concerns surrounding the welfare of a child, staff are obligated to immediately report this to the Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO) of the school they are working in. If a disclosure is made by a young person, candidates must take this seriously and should not agree to keep this confidential.

Chalk strives to ensure that any allegation made against its candidates in an education setting is dealt with fairly and quickly, in a way that provides effective protection for the child involved, and at the same time supports the person who is the subject of the allegation.

Any safeguarding concerns involving Chalk staff will be dealt with by our Head of Compliance, following Chalk policies and procedures. We will liaise with the school and the Local Authority Designated Officer where necessary. In this instance, the worker will be asked to prepare a written statement of their account of the incident and they will not be placed out to work until the issue has been satisfactorily resolved.