Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

1. Introduction

Brighton Forest School recognises its moral and professional responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and young people using its services.

We aim to create an environment in which children:

  • feel safe, respected and included;

  • are listened to and taken seriously;

  • understand how to seek help;

  • can develop trusted relationships with safe adults;

  • can participate in adventurous outdoor learning without being exposed to avoidable harm.

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone working or volunteering at Brighton Forest School must remain alert to the possibility that a child may need help or protection and must respond promptly to any concern.

Our safeguarding approach is proactive, child-centred and informed by the principle that abuse, neglect, exploitation or unsafe professional practice can occur in any organisation.

2. Purpose and scope

This policy applies to:

  • all employees, sessional workers and Forest School leaders;

  • volunteers, students and work-experience placements;

  • contractors, visitors and activity providers;

  • directors and anyone acting on behalf of Brighton Forest School.

For the purpose of this policy, a child is anyone under the age of 18.

Safeguarding includes providing help when difficulties emerge, protecting children from maltreatment, preventing harm to children’s health or development, providing safe and effective care and taking action to enable children to have positive outcomes.

Child protection is the action taken when there is reason to believe that a particular child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.

3. Safeguarding responsibilities

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is:

Name: Harry Neale-Smith
Telephone: 07808719492
Email: hello@brightonforestschool.co.uk

The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is:

Name: Brontë Sandwell-Moore
Telephone: 07791519287
Email: brs31@live.co.uk

The Designated Safeguarding Lead will:

  • receive, record and respond to safeguarding concerns;

  • make referrals to children’s social care or other agencies when required;

  • provide advice and support to staff and volunteers;

  • maintain secure safeguarding records;

  • liaise with parents, professionals and safeguarding agencies;

  • ensure safeguarding arrangements are reviewed regularly;

  • ensure staff receive suitable safeguarding induction and training.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead does not remove the individual responsibility of any staff member to act. The Deputy DSL will act when the DSL is unavailable. If the DSL is unavailable, or a staff member believes that appropriate action has not been taken, they must contact children’s social care or the police directly.

4. Prevention and a safe organisational culture

Brighton Forest School will seek to prevent harm by:

  • checking identity, work history, references and qualifications of staff;

  • undertaking DBS and barred-list checks according to the legal eligibility of each role;

  • providing safeguarding induction and continuing training;

  • maintaining suitable adult-to-child ratios;

  • using registers, headcounts and clear site boundaries;

  • ensuring children know who they can speak to;

  • establishing clear professional boundaries;

  • supervising visitors, contractors and volunteers appropriately;

  • addressing inappropriate conduct before it develops into more serious harm;

  • considering safeguarding when planning activities, spaces, communications and staffing.

5. Types and indicators of harm

Staff must remain alert to possible:

Physical abuse

Including hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm.

Emotional abuse

Including persistent criticism, humiliation, intimidation, rejection, exposure to domestic abuse, developmentally inappropriate expectations or preventing normal social interaction.

Sexual abuse

Including contact and non-contact sexual activity, grooming, sexual exploitation, sexualised photography, exposure to sexual content and online sexual abuse.

Neglect

Including persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical or psychological needs, provide suitable food, clothing, shelter, supervision, medical care or protection from danger.

Staff must also recognise wider safeguarding issues, including:

  • child-on-child abuse;

  • sexual violence and sexual harassment;

  • bullying and discriminatory abuse;

  • domestic abuse;

  • criminal and sexual exploitation;

  • county lines;

  • trafficking and modern slavery;

  • online grooming and technology-assisted abuse;

  • radicalisation and extremist influence;

  • fabricated or induced illness;

  • forced marriage and honour-based abuse;

  • female genital mutilation;

  • serious self-harm or suicidal risk;

  • children missing from home, education or care.

This list is not exhaustive. Staff must report concerns even when they do not know which category may apply.

6. Child-on-child abuse

Brighton Forest School recognises that children can harm other children and that such behaviour must not be dismissed as “banter”, “part of growing up” or an inevitable part of group life.

Child-on-child abuse may include:

  • physical or emotional abuse;

  • bullying or cyberbullying;

  • sexual comments, harassment or assault;

  • coercion or controlling behaviour;

  • deliberately causing humiliation or isolation;

  • harmful initiation practices;

  • abuse within teenage relationships;

  • sharing sexual images;

  • prejudice-based or discriminatory abuse.

Reports will be taken seriously. The needs and safety of all children involved will be considered, including the child who may have caused harm. Immediate protective arrangements will be put in place where necessary.

Parents will normally be informed, but separate conversations will be held with the families involved, and information about another child will not be disclosed unnecessarily.

7. What staff must do when they have a concern

A staff member or volunteer who notices a sign of possible harm, receives information or has a concern must:

  1. Take any immediate steps needed to protect the child.

  2. Contact emergency services where there is immediate danger or urgent medical need.

  3. Report the concern to the DSL without delay.

  4. Make a clear and factual written record.

  5. Continue to observe and support the child as directed.

  6. Maintain appropriate confidentiality.

Staff must not:

  • investigate the concern themselves;

  • confront an alleged perpetrator;

  • question a child repeatedly;

  • contact parents without considering whether doing so is safe;

  • wait for further evidence;

  • ask another staff member to decide whether the concern is worth reporting;

  • discuss the matter with colleagues who do not need to know.

8. Responding when a child speaks

The adult receiving a disclosure should use the following approach:

Receive: Listen carefully and allow the child to speak at their own pace.

Reassure: Tell the child that they have done the right thing by speaking and that the concern will be taken seriously.

Respond: Remain calm. Do not express disbelief, anger or shock. Do not criticise the alleged person responsible.

Clarify: Ask only what is necessary to understand the immediate concern. Open prompts such as “Tell me what happened” or “Explain what you mean” may be used. Leading questions must be avoided.

Explain: Tell the child that the information cannot be kept secret and must be shared with someone who can help.

Record: Write down what was said as soon as possible, using the child’s own words. Record what was seen or heard, not assumptions about what may have happened.

Report: Give the record to the DSL immediately. A written record must never replace an urgent verbal report.

9. Decisions, referrals and escalation

The DSL will consider the nature and seriousness of the concern, the child’s circumstances, previous information and any immediate risks.

Possible actions include:

  • speaking further with the child in an appropriate manner;

  • seeking safeguarding advice;

  • putting immediate protective measures in place;

  • discussing support with the child and family;

  • initiating family-help or early-help support;

  • making a referral to children’s social care;

  • contacting police;

  • liaising with the child’s school or another professional;

  • recording the concern with no immediate further action but maintaining review.

Where a referral is made, the DSL will follow it up and record the response.

Any staff member may contact children’s social care directly. This must happen if:

  • the DSL is unavailable;

  • the situation is urgent;

  • the staff member believes that a referral is required but has not been made;

  • the staff member remains concerned about the response received.

Escalation procedures will be used where Brighton Forest School believes that a child remains at risk despite an agency decision.

10. Parents and carers

Brighton Forest School aims to work in partnership with parents and carers.

Parents will usually be told when a concern arises and before a referral is made. However, information may be shared without parental consent where:

  • a child may be at risk of significant harm;

  • seeking consent could increase the risk;

  • seeking consent could lead to evidence being lost or a child being pressured;

  • urgent action is required;

  • another safeguarding agency advises against informing the parent at that stage.

Consent requirements for family-help support must not be allowed to delay a child-protection referral where there is a risk of significant harm.

11. Allegations and concerns about adults

A concern about an employee, volunteer, contractor, visitor, director or other adult must be reported immediately to the Designated Manager for Allegations.

Designated Manager: Harry Neale-Smith
Alternative Manager: Brontë Sandwell-Moore

An allegation may meet the LADO threshold where an adult has:

  • behaved in a way that harmed or may have harmed a child;

  • possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child;

  • behaved towards a child in a way that indicates a risk of harm;

  • behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children.

The designated manager will:

  1. Secure the immediate safety of the child.

  2. Record the information without conducting a detailed investigation.

  3. Preserve relevant evidence and records.

  4. Contact the LADO promptly for advice.

  5. Follow instructions from the LADO, police or children’s social care.

  6. Consider appropriate risk-management arrangements concerning the adult.

  7. Ensure appropriate support is available for the child and the adult concerned.

  8. Maintain confidentiality and avoid speculative discussion.

Suspension will not be automatic. Any interim arrangements will be based on an assessment of risk and advice from the relevant agencies.

Brighton & Hove’s current LADO process asks the responsible officer to complete the LADO referral or consultation form and email it to ladoenquiries@brighton-hove.gov.uk. The LADO is based within Front Door for Families and can be contacted through 01273 290400.

12. Low-level concerns

A low-level concern is any concern that an adult may have acted inconsistently with the code of conduct, even where the behaviour does not appear to meet the LADO threshold.

Examples may include:

  • inappropriate over-familiarity;

  • favouritism;

  • unnecessary physical contact;

  • humiliating or intimidating language;

  • one-to-one contact contrary to agreed procedures;

  • inappropriate messaging or social-media contact;

  • use of a personal device to photograph children;

  • behaviour that could reasonably be interpreted as seeking an inappropriate relationship.

All low-level concerns must be reported, recorded and reviewed. The purpose is to identify unsafe practice, offer appropriate guidance and recognise patterns before more serious harm occurs.

13. Whistleblowing

Staff and volunteers must report unsafe, inappropriate or unlawful practice.

Where a person feels unable to report internally, believes a concern has been ignored or considers that senior management is involved, they should contact the LADO, children’s social care, police or another appropriate external authority.

No person will be penalised for raising a genuine concern in good faith.

14. Professional boundaries in the outdoor setting

Staff and volunteers must:

  • remain within their professional role;

  • avoid secrecy with children;

  • not exchange personal contact details with children;

  • not add or follow children through personal social-media accounts;

  • not arrange private meetings with children outside the provision;

  • not transport a child alone unless specifically authorised and risk assessed;

  • keep one-to-one interactions visible or interruptible wherever possible;

  • ensure another adult knows when a private pastoral conversation is taking place;

  • follow agreed procedures when supporting children with toileting or changing;

  • never use a personal phone to photograph or film children;

  • report accidental, unusual or misunderstood physical contact;

  • avoid discussing their own sexual relationships, substance use or other inappropriate personal information with children.

Physical contact may sometimes be appropriate for first aid, reassurance, practical instruction or preventing immediate harm. Any contact must be necessary, proportionate, appropriate to the child and capable of being openly explained.

15. Photography, online communication and personal data

Photographs and recordings will only be made:

  • for an agreed organisational purpose;

  • using authorised equipment;

  • where the appropriate consent and safeguarding checks are in place;

  • in a manner that preserves children’s dignity;

  • with secure storage and controlled access.

Children will not be identified publicly by full name alongside an image unless there is a clear, lawful reason and specific permission.

Safeguarding concerns received electronically must be transferred promptly into the organisation’s secure safeguarding record and must not remain solely on a personal device or informal messaging thread.

16. Safeguarding records

Safeguarding records will:

  • be made promptly;

  • contain clear, factual and relevant information;

  • identify the author and date;

  • include decisions, actions and reasons;

  • record referrals, advice and outcomes;

  • be stored securely with restricted access;

  • be retained and transferred in accordance with legal and organisational requirements.

Safeguarding records will be kept separately from ordinary attendance, behaviour and accident records, although relevant cross-references may be made.

17. Local contacts

For either version, the following contact box can be included:

Immediate danger or emergency: 999

Brighton & Hove Front Door for Families
 Telephone: 01273 290400
Email: FrontDoorForFamilies@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Opening hours: 9am–5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am–4.30pm Friday

Emergency Duty Service outside normal hours
 Telephone: 01273 335905
Brighton & Hove also lists 01273 335906 as an additional out-of-hours number.

Brighton & Hove LADO
 Telephone: 01273 290400
Email: ladoenquiries@brighton-hove.gov.uk

These are the current published Brighton & Hove safeguarding contact details.