Safety and Care
Child protection and safeguarding
All children are vulnerable to abuse, particularly those with special needs and disabilities. Every effort is made when recruiting staff to ensure they are appropriately qualified and suitable to work with vulnerable children. All staff undergo robust checks of their identity and qualifications, and a check with the Criminal Record Bureau prior to confirmation of their post. It is the duty of each member of staff to protect the wellbeing of each child and young person. Clear procedures are in place for reporting any issues of concern. Staff have a professional duty to share information about safeguarding concerns with other professionals and must act following the local interagency Safeguarding Board’s guidelines. The Head of Service is required to report cases of suspected abuse to the local Children’s Services Department.
Training in child protection is given to all staff as part of their induction, and is followed up with further and regular refresher courses. A full Safeguarding Policy detailing procedures at Gretton is made available to all parents and carers on the policies section of our web site.
Care and control
Many pupils and young people at Gretton have challenging behaviour in some form or another. Behaviour management is tailored to meet each individual’s needs and there is close collaboration between staff groups to ensure a consistency of approach. Programmes are devised with the help of our psychological support team and are regularly discussed with parents. Pupils are given clear boundaries in a kind and firm manner, using praise and reinforcement of appropriate behaviour as the main tools in our positive approach to care and control. Sanctions are used rarely and always recorded in the incident book.All staff receive training in the management of challenging and inappropriate behaviour using the Team Teach strategies. Restraint is used as a last resort and only when a child is in danger of hurting themselves, other children or adults, or causing excessive damage to the school premises. Procedures for managing behaviour are clearly laid down, in line with government guidelines. A record is kept of each incident in the school office. Additional information on Team Teach and our practice is available on request.
On very rare occasions, the Head of Service may exclude a pupil if there is an unacceptable risk of danger to themselves, other pupils, staff, or of damaging property to such an extent that the pupil cannot be managed safely within the school environment or within available resources. Exclusion is a matter of last resort. A full exclusion policy and procedure is available from the school office.