Our Safeguarding Principles

Living “Stronger Together”

Child-Centred Empowerment

Safeguarding action is always driven by the best interests of the child, enabling them to build the agency needed to reach their full potential.
In Practice:
Actively listening to pupil experiences and valuing their feelings.
Integrating essential life and online safety skills into a broad curriculum.
Empowering children to aspire and navigate the world safely to remove barriers to their well-being.

Shared & Universal Responsibility

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is the shared duty of our entire trust community.
In Practice:
Ensuring all staff, leaders, directors, and local governors understand their safeguarding roles.
Delivering regular, high-quality training to recognize early signs of vulnerability, abuse, or neglect.
Creating a vigilant, inclusive network where every child feels heard, safe, and supported.

Safeguarding Culture & Absolute Accountability

Maintaining an environment of total safety requires uncompromising integrity, transparency, and continuous review.
In Practice:
Enforcing strict safer recruitment practices and adhering to data protection standards.
Maintaining clear procedures for handling allegations against staff.
Prioritising physical estate safety and conducting regular safeguarding audits across all sites.

Prevention & Early Intervention

Grounded in hope, our approach prioritizes early action to prevent harm and offer children a secure, positive future.
In Practice:
Utilising early help frameworks and secure premises to protect pupils.
Using CPOMS to track subtle indicators long before a crisis occurs.
Delivering timely, proactive and proportional support so every child has the stable foundation needed to flourish.

Protection through Unified Collaboration

Protecting children cannot happen in isolation; we are stronger together through unified partnerships.
In Practice:
Partnering actively with parents, Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCBs), Social Care, Police, and Health Services.
Working alongside external specialist partners (e.g., Clennell Education Solutions).
Sharing best practices across the Trust via our Strategic Safeguarding Leads Group to build an unbreakable safety net.

St Lawrence Multi Academy Trust
Safeguarding Policy Statement

Introduction

The Department for Education’s Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance sets out the legal duties and expectations for schools to ensure children and young people are safeguarded.
Individual academies are deemed ‘relevant partners’ of their local authority in law and have a duty to co-operate with their local authority’s Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) arrangements. The Board of Directors takes strategic responsibility to maintain high-quality safeguarding practice across all operations and ensure local compliance, this is designated to Headteachers and Local governing Boards. St Lawrence Multi Academy Trust appoints a Safeguarding Director, a DSL in the executive team and works with Clennells (an external safeguarding company) to audit practice, share good practice and develop overarching safeguarding policies and procedures.

Policy Statement

The St Lawrence Multi Academy Trust Board of Directors, as the proprietor of its academies, ensures the following key measures are in place across all locations:

Leadership & Roles

  • Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and Deputy DSLs : Every school has a DSL with overall accountability for internal safeguarding. Appointed to act as key points of contact for pupils, parents, colleagues, and the community. They oversee Looked After Children (LAC), early help interventions, and e-safety, while building staff capacity to keep children safe and recognize vulnerable adults’ needs.
  • Designated Teachers: Every school appoints a Designated Teacher for looked after and previously looked after children.
  • Governance Monitoring: The Trust Board and Local Governing Committees monitor and review safeguarding responsibilities ongoingly, each LGb has a link safeguarding governor.
  • Strategic Collaboration: A termly Strategic Safeguarding Leads Group, featuring representatives across the Trust, works to drive consistency and best practice.

Core Safeguarding & Operational Practices

  • Comprehensive Scope: Safeguarding arrangements cover all potential issues, including Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and radicalisation prevention.
  • Safer Recruitment & Training: Approved safer recruitment practices are followed. Staff, directors, and local governors receive relevant, approved safeguarding training.
  • Recording Systems: Schools utilise CPOMS to record, track, and review child protection and safeguarding concerns.
  • Multi-Agency Working: Information is shared as appropriate with external professionals and we co-operate fully with LSCB procedures and requests.
  • Curriculum Integration: Children are taught essential self-safeguarding and online safety skills through a broad, balanced curriculum.
  • Missing Children: Clear, appropriate safeguarding procedures are triggered if a child goes missing from education.
  • External Expertise: The Trust collaborates with external safeguarding partners (e.g., Clennell Education Solutions) to manage complex or sensitive cases.

Policies, Conduct & Culture

  • Codes & Procedures: Robust policies cover child protection, managing allegations against staff, code of conduct, and reporting to external bodies, as required.
  • Listening Culture: A supportive environment is cultivated that listens to children and vulnerable adults, centering their wishes and feelings.
  • Staff Support & Data Protection: Appropriate induction, supervision, and ongoing support are provided to staff. Strict Data Protection arrangements are adhered to across the Trust.

Trust-Level Oversight & Responsibilities

St Lawrence Multi Academy Trust actively supports its individual academies by:

  1. Auditing Quality: Monitoring safeguarding practices and child outcomes via a Risk Management and Annual Safeguarding Audit and Action Plan.
  2. Estate Safety: Prioritising vital capital works and structural upgrades identified through building condition surveys and safeguarding audits.
  3. Monitoring Vulnerable Groups: Working alongside Local Governing Committees to track the performance of children in need, those subject to social care interventions, or looked-after children, ensuring target support is provided.
  4. Reporting Outcomes: Formally reporting on progress and outcomes for all vulnerable children across the Trust.

Implementation

This Trust-wide statement is supplemented by tailored, individual safeguarding policies for each academy within St Lawrence Multi Academy Trust. The Trust coordinates a model policy, which individual schools adapt to reflect their local context, ensure effective implementation, and meet specific LSCB statutory requirements.

 

Trust Safeguarding Lead

Jo Everitt – [email protected]

Safeguarding Lead Director

David Esmond – [email protected]