At the Three Saints Academy Trust, children are taught about how to keep themselves and others safe, including online. We recognise that effective safeguarding education should be tailored to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of individual children, including children who are victims of abuse, and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
Our safeguarding curriculum is fully inclusive and developed to be age and stage of development appropriate (especially when considering the needs of children with SEND and other vulnerabilities).
We have regard to the relevant statutory guidance ie Keeping Children Safe in Education, and provision is constantly reviewed and developed in line with national and local context and issues that arise.
Whilst safeguarding is taught, revisited and reinforced across the entire curriculum as well as our wider provision, it typically features most heavily within regularly timetabled Personal, Social, Health and Emotional Education, Relationships, Sex and Health Education, Computing and Science lessons. We use evidence-based government approved programmes to deliver these subjects (e.g. Jigsaw PSHE & RSHE and TEACH Computing). Assembly time, national focus days and visitors enhance our safeguarding curriculum.
The safeguarding curriculum encompasses a range of topics, taught using a spiral curriculum so that topics are revisited throughout the school at age and developmentally appropriate levels, deepening children's understanding of key issues and themes which will help keep them safe. These topics include:
At an age-appropriate stage, other issues tackled by our RSHE programme include:
Extensive work is done throughout the school around online safety, which incorporates how many of the above safeguarding concerns can also be prevalent online. Robust filtering and monitoring procedures are in place to support online safety with all school devices.
In addition to this, there is a focus in all schools on safety in the community and reacting to local issues that arise, raising awareness of issues such as road safety, rail safety, water safety, dog safety. Working with external services to ensure children develop essential life skills is also an important part of the safeguarding curriculum. Sessions such as First Aid and Bikeability are planned annually to enable children to keep themselves safe in and out of school.
Regular parent/carer workshops and family learning sessions take place to ensure clear communication and to develop a shared understanding with families about safeguarding, in addition to tailored support where needed.
This comprehensive safeguarding curriculum, which develops and builds on children's knowledge and understanding throughout the school, lays the groundwork for the more in-depth studies in the next phase of education. For example, work done around consent and healthy relationships from Reception to Y6 ensures children have a clear understanding about their rights when it comes to their bodies and what they can expect from relationships. This leads onto more complex issues such as sexual abuse, harmful sexual behaviours and domestic violence.
Our safeguarding curriculum ensures that all of our children have the knowledge and understanding of key issues to keep themselves safe. Linked to the work done as a Rights Respecting School, children understanding what they should expect in terms of their wellbeing and safety, ensure they are able to raise concerns when this is not happening.