Safeguarding
Child Protection
The safety and well-being of your children are our top priority and we are committed to working with other agencies to ensure all children are kept free from harm. A copy of our Child Protection policy can be viewed under policies.
We have four Designated Safeguarding Officers (DSLs) in school who would be happy to talk to you about any safeguarding concerns you may have.
Ms Smailes, Miss Powell, Ms Pullar and Mr Cumpstey
We also have a dedicated Safeguarding contact on the School Community Council and a Safeguarding Director at Schoolsworks Academy, both of who can be contacted via the school Office.
You can access the school DSLs directly through dsl@rustington.academy or you can phone the office to make an appointment to meet with us.
We are one of the schools taking part in Operation Encompass. This is a liaison between the school and the Police – the Police notify the school when a child has been involved in or exposed to domestic abuse. This information enables us to support both the child and their family.
Behaviour and safety
We take great pride in our children’s behaviour. We like to think that our strong home-school partnership plays a major part in encouraging the highest standards of learning behaviour. Our school’s Restorative Behaviour Policy, Life Skills Curriculum and Core Values ensure we have a consistent focus on positive values and a clear model of expected conduct.
Anti Bullying
Bullying is not an acceptable or inevitable part of growing up and it will not be tolerated. Our Anti-Bullying Policy sets out all we do to prevent bullying, as well as responding appropriately when we suspect that negative behaviour is being targeted at individuals or groups. We hold an Anti Bullying Week every year and we hope everyone in our school community feels able to speak up and speak out against bullying.
Online Safety
We try to keep your children safe from cyber-bullying, protect them from harmful or illegal content and teach them to be responsible cyber-citizens. In this increasingly digital world, these essential life-skills cannot be overlooked or taken for granted. We recommend the Childnet resources for parents as a very useful starting point when discussing online safety at home.
We send monthly information to parents to keep you informed of the latest information about keeping your child safe online.
You can access the latest articles here https://rustington.academy/E-safety
GDPR
The ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR) changed how we can use your personal data and keep it safe, and it also strengthened your rights over your own data.
The change was to make sure sensitive or private information about yourselves and your children stays safe. Whilst it is similar to the current Data Protection Act in many ways, there are a few differences.:
Any request for information regarding a child, parent or member of staff, cannot be given without us being confident of the identity of the person asking for it, that means that you may be asked for information that verifies who you are if you ask for information over the phone or by email.
A video explaining GDPR can be found on YouTube via the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua_LzUJ_wu8
We have updated our privacy notice, a copy of which can be found at the bottom of this page. You may also be interested to read Schoolsworks policies for Data Protection, ICT and Acceptable Use, Photo Policy, Staff and Pupil privacy, which can be found following https://www.schoolsworks.org/ .If you unable to access the policies online, you may request a copy from the school office.
If you have any questions about how the GDPR affects you, or how our school is preparing, you can contact Louise Pope, our Data Protection Officer, by calling 01903 729988, or emailing her at dpo@schoolsworks.org.