Welcome to the Safeguarding Hub

Are you Feeling Unsafe?

Press this if you are worried and feel unsafe or if you want to talk to a child safety officer.

Are you Being Bullied?

Press this if you are being or feel you are being bullied, in or out of school or online.

Do you Need a Chat?

Press this if you would like to contact a member of staff.

Newsletters

Quick Links

Help Menu

Nothing is more important to us than the safety and welfare of our students. We take rigorous steps to ensure that children stay safe and do not come to any harm. We work closely with parents/carers and a range of professional external agencies to secure this.

We have worked hard to ensure this section of the website has information, advice and guidance available to you and to your child at any point in the day.

If you have any concerns, no matter how small they may seem, about the safety or welfare of any child, please contact the school’s Designated Lead for Safeguarding: Mr James Cope jcope@thediscoveryacademy.co.uk

The Discovery Academy will always adhere to the most up to date guidance to ensure young people are safe from harm at all times. Our policy is regularly updated to reflect the most recent guidance for keeping children safe in education.

The latest guidance can be found below or at:

Keeping Children Safe in Education – Publications – GOV.UK

Safeguarding Statement of Intent

Alpha Academies Trust is wholly committed to ensuring that all children and adults are cared for in a safe and secure environment.  To fulfil this commitment, a number of safeguarding arrangements are in place.

Policy and Procedures

We will ensure all policies and procedures in respect of safeguarding children are up to date and in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education. The policies are accessible to all staff through the website. Policies and procedures are reviewed and revised by the Alpha Board of Trustees on a regular basis.

Board of Trustees Responsibilities

The Trust Senior Strategic Lead for Safeguarding reports to the Inclusion, Community and Engagement Committee on all Safeguarding issues. Alpha Academies Trust works with the local Safeguarding Children Board of Stoke On Trent.

Disclosure & Barring Checks

Alpha meets statutory requirements in relation to the Disclosure & Barring Service – all staff and volunteers who work with Alpha Academies Trust who meet the ‘regulated activity test’ (Freedoms Act 2012) are required to undergo an enhanced DBS check prior to employment.

Safeguarding Leads/Child Protection Officers

The Board of Trustees for Alpha Academies Trust has ultimate responsibility for Safeguarding issues.  Operationally, this responsibility is delegated to the Senior Strategic Lead, who leads on policy issues in relation to the safeguarding of children across the Trust. Within each Academy in the Trust, there are Designated Safeguarding Leads and Child Protection Officers who are responsible for Child Protection issues within their relevant location. They are clear about their role, receiving sufficient, relevant support and training to undertake their roles, which involves close contact with outside agencies including social services, the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and relevant health care organisations.

Provision

Mental Health

All academies have Mental Health 1st Aiders and Mental Health and Wellbeing provision. The Trust has a Wellbeing Entitlement for all staff and students. The Trust has a Psychotherapeutic Practitioner who operates a therapeutic model for students. All students have access to Welfare teams in each Academy. The Trust has a thorough curriculum which teaches how to keep safe throughout.

Looked After Children
At Discovery we work closely with the multi-agency teams around our looked after children to ensure they are given the best support we can offer.
Prior to any LAC student joining our Academy, our team liaise fully with the students’ SW, the virtual school representative and carers to ensure we have all the necessary information to enable us to offer the most appropriate support. We offer transition visits if these are appropriate and needed.
Each student has a designated member of our team who attends their termly PEP, champions their needs within the Academy, monitors their progress, attainment and wellbeing in school and offers day to day support. Our LAC students access the full curriculum and have opportunity to contribute fully to the wider academy through a range of clubs, educational visits, student leadership – they are actively encouraged to be involved in as much as they can during their time with us.
Our pastoral, safeguarding, attendance and wider curriculum teams work closely within school to ensure that the LAC students’ needs are fully known, shared with all relevant staff and that appropriate actions are taken to support.  The emotional wellbeing and welfare of students is paramount and with this in mind, we work closely with external agencies who offer bespoke, specialist support, including Yellow House CAMHS, educational and clinical psychologists. This networking allows our staff to implement the recommended strategies and ways of working whilst also seeking expert advice and support.
The Designated Teacher for Looked After and Previously Looked After children is Lesley Guard.

Training

All eligible staff and volunteers are required to undertake relevant safeguarding training and this is regularly reviewed by each DSL to ensure it is up to date. A training database for all staff and volunteers is maintained, while training needs are reviewed throughout the organisation by audit. Safeguarding briefings to all staff in the Trust are sent out half termly.

Audit

Alpha has robust audit checklists to ensure that safeguarding systems and processes are working. The audit includes: the monitoring of Academies Single Central Record, the monitoring of policies and procedures including, ‘Allegations against Professionals’ and the monitoring of training for all employees and volunteers, guidance and support. A further audit from all Academies in the Trust is created and sent to the Local Authority.

If you are at risk or in immediate danger, please dial 999.

If you would like to talk to a trained counsellor, please ring Childline – this is free and they are available until 3am each day.

0800 1111

Meet our Safeguarding Team

Miss P Rippingham-Smith

Trust Safeguarding Lead

Mr J Beeley

Trust Head of Mental Health

Mr J Cope

Vice Principal | Designated Safeguarding Lead | Mental Health Lead

Mr D Wallbank

Safeguarding Manager

Mrs R Cope

Deputy Safeguarding Officer

Mrs A Hayes

Deputy Safeguarding Lead

Mrs C Williams

Attendance & Safeguarding Officer

Miss R Luby

Assistant Principal | Safeguarding Officer

Mrs L Guard

Head of Extended Learning | Safeguarding Officer

Mrs D Sherwin

Safeguarding Officer

Mr A Brammer

Anti-Bullying Coordinator

This is a GOOD school

| Ofsted 2019

Why Discovery?

Our academy prides itself on the relationship between the academy and home, with an emphasis for students on belonging and being proud to be part of the Discovery Family.

Our Curriculum

We achieve the academy purpose through an unwavering focus on our students’ results and progress within their learning, and by offering the absolute best teaching and support.

Latest News

Here you can find a collection of our latest news. We aim to keep all stakeholders as up-to-date as possible.

ClassCharts Parent

We use ClassCharts

Class Charts is behaviour management software used by teachers to record and track student achievement and behaviour.

You can download Class Charts from the below links.

IRIS Parentmail

We use IRIS ParentMail

All of our Academy information at your fingertips. Keeping track of school activities and news as well as endless forms to complete and things to pay for.

You can download IRIS ParentMail from the below links.

If you require a paper copy of any of the pages / documents published on this website, please click here and complete the form stating which page(s) / document(s) you require along with your name and address.