The Teacher Development Support organisation fully recognizes its responsibilities for child protection.

Our policy applies to all staff, directors and volunteers working in the organisation. There are five main elements to our policy:

• Ensuring we practice safe recruitment in checking the suitability of staff and volunteers to work with children.
• Raising awareness of child protection issues and equipping children with the skills needed to keep them safe.
• Developing and then implementing procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse.
• Supporting pupils who have been abused in accordance with his/her agreed child protection plan.
• Establishing a safe environment in which children can learn and develop

Child protection is the responsibility of all staff. We will therefore:

• Establish and maintain an environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk, and are listened to.
• Ensure children know that there are adults whom they can approach if they are worried.
• Include opportunities in the curriculum for children to develop the skills they need to recognize and stay safe from abuse.

Roles and Responsibilities

All adults working with or on behalf of children have a responsibility to protect them. There are, however, key people who have specific responsibilities under child protection procedures. The names of those carrying out these responsibilities for the current year are listed below :

• Mr Sopheak NGO, headmaster
• Mrs Vandy Kahn, teacher

It is the role of the leadership team to ensure that the named Persons for Child Protection are properly supported to carry out this task and that they are given time to fulfil the duties that their role demands.

The leadership team will ensure that the Named Persons for Child Protection attend the required training and that they refresh their training every two years.

All other staff must be offered an appropriate level of training and must undergo refresher training every three years.

It is the role of the Named Persons for Child Protection to ensure that the child protection procedures are followed within the organisation, and to make appropriate, timely referrals to the organisation’s leadership and authorities when appropriate. Additionally, it is the role of the Named Persons for Child Protection to ensure all staff employed including temporary staff and volunteers are aware of the internal procedures, to advise staff and to offer support to those requiring this. The Named Persons for Child Protection provide an annual report for the organisation’s leadership detailing any changes to the policy and procedures; training undertaken by all staff and other relevant issues.

The role of the organisation’s leadership is to ensure that the organisation has an effective policy, that locally agreed procedures are in place, and that the policy and structures supporting Safeguarding children are reviewed annually. The organisation’s leadership must not be given details relating to individual child protection cases or situations to ensure confidentiality is not breached.

This policy will be published on the organisation’s website will inform parents and carers about our organisation’s duties and responsibilities under child protection procedures.

Safe Recruitment

The organisation’s leadership team are responsible for ensuring that the organisation follows safe recruitment processes, including:

• Ensuring the headteacher or other staff responsible for recruitment completes safer recruitment training.
• Ensuring the upkeep of a Single Central Record of all staff and regular volunteers in accordance with government guidance

 Ethos

The Teacher Development Support organisation recognizes the importance of creating an ethos within the organisation that will help children feel safe and confident that they will be listened to.

‘We recognize that children who are abused or witness violence are likely to have low self- esteem and may find it difficult to develop a sense of self-worth. They may feel helplessness, humiliation and some sense of blame. Our organisation may be the only stable, secure and predictable element in their lives’.

The Teacher Development Support organisation will endeavour to support all students through:

• Ensuring the content of the curriculum includes social and emotional aspects of learning.
• Ensuring that child protection is included in the curriculum to help children recognize when they do not feel safe and to identify who they should tell.
• Promoting a positive, supportive, and secure environment where pupils can develop a sense of being valued.
• A behaviour policy which is aimed at supporting vulnerable students in the school.
• The organisation will ensure that the student knows that some behaviour is unacceptable but they are valued and not to be blamed for any abuse which has occurred.

Confidentiality

All staff are aware that they must not promise to keep, ‘secrets’ with children and that if children disclose abuse this must be passed on to the Named Persons for Child Protection as soon as possible and the child should be told who their disclosure will be shared with.

Staff will be informed of relevant information in respect of individual cases regarding child protection on a ”need to know basis” only.

Record Keeping

Child Protection records are kept centrally and securely by the Named Persons for Child Protection. Staff are aware that they must make a record of child protection issues and events as soon as possible and that these records must be signed and dated. Child protection records must not be made in the child’s curriculum file.

Working with other agencies

NGO’s are not investigating agencies and it essential that child protection issues are addressed through agreed procedures however NGO’s continue to play a role after referral and need to develop strong links with partner agencies particularly social care.

The Teacher Development Support organisation recognizes the importance of multi-agency working and will ensure that staff are able to attend all relevant meetings including case conferences, core groups and strategy meetings.

Allegations against members of staff

The Teacher Development Support organisation recognizes that it is possible for staff and volunteers to behave in a manner that causes harm to children and takes any allegation made against members of staff or volunteers seriously. The local arrangements for managing allegations are understood and followed. All staff know who to talk to if they are concerned about the behaviour of an adult.

The use of the organisation premises by other organizations

Where services or activities are provided separately by another body, using the órganisation’s premises, the organisation’s leadership will seek assurance that the body concerned has appropriate policies and procedures in place in regard to Safeguarding children and child protection.

Cross reference to other organisational policies

The Teacher Development Support organisation recognizes that a number of other policies and procedures developed and operated by school form part of the wider agenda of Safeguarding and Promoting Children’s Welfare and this policy should be read in conjunction with the policies listed below:

• Code Of Conduct for Volunteers
• Volunteer Policy

Policy Review

The Organisation’s leadership is responsible for ensuring the annual review of this policy and that the list of key contacts is kept up to date.