The safeguarding team at Ark St Alban's Academy are all trained designated safeguarding leads.

In addition, there are mental health first aid trained team members and team members who lead our work in managing the provision for children who are looked after and for children in need of Early Help. The safeguarding team can be contacted using the the email address safeguarding@arkstalbans.org.

Our Approach

At Ark St Alban’s Academy we want every child to be happy, healthy and safe.

At our school we have a culture of safeguarding and we know our pupils well. Our staff are able to identify emerging concerns and know when a pupil or their family may benefit from early help. They are trained to recognise the indicators of abuse and neglect. We all recognise that all young people are vulnerable to a range of safeguarding issues and that taking action to keep children safe is everyone’s responsibility.

Our Character Curriculum

We teach every child about a number of topics over the course of the year which are designed to help keep them safe. This takes place through our Chracter programme which incldues weekly Character lessons, assemblies and tutor time activities.

The curriculum teaches our pupils how to stay safe, lead healthy lives and make well informed choices about their futures. It involves the explicit teaching of character, values, worship, health and relationships & sex education. 

National Online Safety 

Our school has received a National Online Safety Certified School Accreditation for its whole school community approach to protecting children in the online world. National Online Safety is a multi-award winning digital training provider with extensive resources in online safety, developed in line with the Department of Education’s statutory requirements.

You can access National Online Safety online via any device, including via the smartphone app.

To download the app, please go to:

  • iPhone Link
  • Android Link
  • Alternatively, search for ‘National Online Safety’ in the App Store/Google Play Store.

 

Anti-Bullying Alliance

Ark St Alban's Academy is now an official member of the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA). To learn more about our work on Anti-Bullying click here.

 

SENSO

Each pupil at our academy is provided with their own laptop. In order to keep pupils safe online, every laptop is fitted with software which monitors exactly what pupils type. Any alerts are flagged through software called ‘SENSO’, and all alerts are then followed up by the safeguarding team. 

Operation Encompass

As an academy, we are part of ‘Operation Encompass’, which aims to tackle incidents of domestic violence. Please see here for more information:
Operation Encompass

External Agencies

We work with a number of different external agencies to provide additional support for our young people. 

  • Birmingham Children’s Trust
  • Birmingham Safeguarding Children Partnership
  • Children’s Advice and Support Services (CASS)
  • Forward Thinking Birmingham
  • Police Partership
  • Place 2Be 
  • Early Help Locality Hubs

What to do if you are worried about a child

To contact the safeguarding team directly during term time, please email safeguarding@arkstalbans.org. Emerging concerns can also be raised with the relevant Head of Year (using the Contact Us page).