Harrodian is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Safeguarding Policies
The School seeks to develop and improve our safeguarding policies and procedures continuously and to promote a culture of excellence in safeguarding amongst all of our staff and volunteers.
We listen to our pupils and take seriously what they tell us. All school staff are trained in Child Protection, and children are made aware of the adults they can talk to if they have any concerns. Staff are trained to look out for signs of physical/emotional harm or neglect and are required to report these to the Safeguarding Leads.
The procedures which we follow have been laid down by the Local Authority Safeguarding Team and the School has a Safeguarding Policy in line with this, for the safety of all. On rare occasions, our concern about a child may mean that we have to consult other agencies. We will ensure that all concerns are discussed with parents/carers first, before any referrals are made, unless we believe that such a discussion may be contrary to a child’s welfare.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that form the foundations of our safeguarding commitment and these can be accessed HERE.
Where to go for help
We have appointed Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) across the three sections of the school and they are:
Posters displayed around the School also highlight staff members that Harrodian pupils can talk to if they have any pastoral or safeguarding concerns.
Online Safety
For concerns relating to online safety, please read our Harrodian Online Safety policy on our policies page here and/or access the following links below, including CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command):
UK Safer Internet Centre - Advice for Parents & Carers click here
Childnet International - Essential Advice for Parents & Carers click here
When the School is closed
In periods of time when the school is closed, you may find yourself in need of safeguarding advice. If the safeguarding advice that you require is not urgent, please draw on one or some of the services listed below.
Achieving for Children (AfC) single point of access (SPA)
Anyone can tell SPA about a child, young person or parent/carer who needs support in the boroughs of Kingston and Richmond. This could be a concern about how the child is developing, issues that the parent or carer is experiencing, or you suspect a child is being neglected or subjected to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.
SPA can be contacted on the Single Point of Access (SPA) website.
If a child is in immediate danger, the police should be contacted on 999.
If it is not an emergency, but there is a concern that a child is at risk, SPA should be contacted by phone on 020 8547 5008. If it is outside of office hours and urgent, the SPA duty social worker can be spoken to on 020 8770 5000.
If a child needs support but lives in a London borough other than Kingston and Richmond, please contact Alison Heller on mobile number 07950 166 773 or email aheller@harrodian.com, Head Designated Safeguarding Lead for appropriate contact details.
In addition, this government website will help you to identify which local council to report child abuse to and their contact details: Report child abuse to a local council - GOV.UK
Local authority designated officer (LADO)
Every local authority has a legal responsibility to have a LADO who is responsible for organising the response to concerns/allegations that an adult who works with children may have caused them or could cause them harm. They will be informed within one working day of any allegations that come to our attention. The LADO will give advice and guidance to employers, such as the Headmaster and Safeguarding Governors, to make sure that any allegation is dealt with fairly and quickly, ensuring that the child is protected effectively.
The LADO can be contacted by:
Email: LADO@achievingforchildren.org.uk
Telephone: 07774 332675 or 0208 891 7370
Online: Submit LADO referral form
Early Help: Intervention and Resources for Parents
‘Early Help’ is support given to a child, young person or family when a problem first emerges. It can be provided at any stage in a child or young person’s life.
Please see the bottom of the page for a downloadable pdf with all the details.