SAFEGUARDING
& POLICIES.

GET HELP

WORRIED ABOUT SOMEONE?

If you are a young person, tell a trusted adult or your school’s safeguarding team. You can still ask for help if you are unsure what happened or someone told you to keep it secret.

• Concern about a child in Shropshire: contact children’s social care on 0345 678 9021. For an urgent social care concern outside office hours, call 0345 678 9040. Shropshire reporting information.
• Concern about someone working with children: use the Shropshire Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) route. You can contact the relevant authorities directly, including if the concern involves Academy leadership.
• Outside Shropshire: contact children’s social care in the child’s local authority. School staff should also follow their own school’s safeguarding procedure.

For general questions about Academy arrangements, contact dave@dagconsultants.co.uk. This is the existing general enquiry address, not a designated safeguarding service or an emergency reporting channel. Please do not send detailed child-protection information through a general enquiry.

BEFORE AN ACTIVITY IS AGREED.

Schools should have a written delivery agreement setting out who supervises students, who handles concerns and how the Academy and school exchange necessary information. A school’s own safeguarding responsibilities continue when it works with an external provider.

For school-hosted sessions, the agreement needs to name the school contact, clarify the school staff present and set the visitor and delivery arrangements. For Academy-led mentoring, online sessions or visits without school staff, separate Academy supervision and safeguarding arrangements are needed.

Before the proposed standalone under-18 programme starts, the Academy needs an appointed, trained safeguarding lead and cover, an adopted policy, appropriate recruitment checks, risk assessments, consent and emergency arrangements, and secure records. These arrangements and the relevant evidence should be available to the commissioning school before delivery is confirmed.

Safeguarding and suitability checks depend on the role and current rules. Being supervised by a teacher must not be treated as a blanket exemption from checks. Sponsorship does not buy access to students or exemption from safeguarding requirements.

RESPECT. BOUNDARIES. INCLUSION.

The following are the standards proposed for everyone representing the Academy: staff, speakers, mentors, volunteers, partners and visitors.

• Treat every young person with respect. Challenge bullying, harassment, discrimination and sexualised behaviour, including behaviour between young people.
• Keep contact professional and within agreed programme channels. No private social-media relationships, secret conversations or unapproved one-to-one meetings with under-18s.
• Arrange mentoring and visits in advance, with suitable supervision and clear boundaries. No unapproved lifts, home visits or personal gifts.
• Take concerns seriously and pass them on promptly. Do not investigate a child’s disclosure yourself or promise secrecy.
• Keep commercial interests separate from student welfare. No pressure to invest, sign agreements, provide unpaid work or share personal information in return for support.

Participation should be planned around young people’s needs, including disability, additional communication needs and reasonable adjustments. A concern about safety must never be dismissed as part of someone’s disability or behaviour.

PHOTOS, STORIES & INFORMATION.

Publicity should be optional and separate from taking part. The proposed policy requires an agreed lawful basis and appropriate permissions before identifiable photographs, recordings, testimonials or student stories are used. A school’s permission for its own use should not be assumed to cover the Academy or its sponsors.

Young people’s wishes and any safeguarding restrictions need to be respected. Sponsors should not receive student contact lists or permission to reuse images automatically. Routine recording of mentoring sessions should not be the default.

Initial school enquiries only need adult contact details, age groups and approximate numbers. Please leave out student names, medical details and safeguarding information. Our website enquiry privacy notice identifies D&G Consultants as the operator. Additional privacy information and secure handling arrangements must be agreed before collecting student participation or safeguarding records.

FEEDBACK & COMPLAINTS.

For a general service complaint, email dave@dagconsultants.co.uk with a short description and how you would like to be contacted. Detailed response times and an independent review route will be set out in the operational complaints procedure when adopted.

A safeguarding concern is not an ordinary service complaint. Use the reporting routes above without waiting for a complaints response. If your concern involves Dave or another senior person, you can go directly to the school’s safeguarding team, children’s social care or the LADO, as appropriate.