At Hannah Ball School, the health, safety and well-being of every child is our paramount concern. We listen to our pupils and take seriously what they tell us. Our aim is for children to enjoy their time as pupils in this school. We want to work in partnership with you to help your child achieve their full potential and make a positive contribution.

To promote a safe environment for pupils, our selection and recruitment policy includes all checks on staff and regular volunteers’ suitability, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, as recommended by Buckinghamshire Council in accordance with current legislation.

In accordance with our responsibilities under section 175/157 of the Education Act 2002 and ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023, we have 4 Designated Safeguarding Leads for Child Protection (Mr Hingley, Mrs Machingauta, Mrs Walsh & Mrs Mawdia) and have received appropriate training for this role. It is their responsibility to ensure that all staff in contact with children receive child protection awareness training on a regular basis. 

Occasions do arise when our concern about a child mean we have to consult other agencies. Whilst we would always aim to work in partnership with parents there may be exceptions to this when concerns are raised for the protection of a child.  On very rare occasions social care, whilst undertaking an investigation under S47 of the Children Act 1989, may want to speak to a child without a parents’ knowledge. This would be a decision made in collaboration with partner agencies and would only be done in situations where a child might be at immediate risk. To gain consent at this point may increase the level of risk to the child or cause evidence of a crime to be lost.

The procedures, which we follow, have been laid down by the local Safeguarding Children’s Board, and the school has adopted a Child Protection Policy in line with this for the safety of all. If you want to know more about our procedures, please speak to either Mrs Machingauta or Mr Hingley, or your child’s class teacher.