Safeguarding

Our Commitment to Safeguarding:

"St Aloysius’ College is committed to promoting and safeguarding the wellbeing and protection of children and young people. The College believes it is everyone’s collaborative responsibility to keep children and young people safe. The College upholds every child’s right to the care and protection that promotes their human growth and sense of personal worth and dignity."

Safeguarding Policy

Our policy sets out the College’s safeguarding principles and procedures and underlines our commitment to the wellbeing of our pupils.

You can find the full policy here.

What is Safeguarding?

The NSPCC define safeguarding as “the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.”

Safeguarding at the College involves:

• Promoting a culture of safeguarding in all that we do to ensure a safe and caring school
• Preventative work that protects our children and young people from harm and abuse
• Ensuring all our children and young people have the best outcomes for their safety and wellbeing
• Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents/carers, and other agencies to promote the safety and wellbeing of the children and young people in our care

The Scottish Government’s ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC) National Practice Model and the Wellbeing Indicators are at the heart of the College’s safeguarding work.

What is Child Protection?

Child protection is one part of the safeguarding process. It is the actions we take to protect children and young people who may be more vulnerable to, or are suffering from, significant harm.

Staff Training and Recruitment

Safeguarding is a crucial part of training and recruitment at the College, and we take extensive steps to ensure we keep our children and young people safe:

• Adherence to Safer Recruitment practices
• Rigorous pre-employment checks for all members of staff, teaching and non-teaching, including Disclosure Scotland checks and references
• Annual safeguarding training for all teaching and non-teaching staff
• Advanced safeguarding training for the Safeguarding Team, the Pastoral Team and Senior Management
• Bespoke training for key staff on statutory safeguarding matters
• Maintaining a culture that empowers staff to pursue continued professional development on emerging safeguarding trends or national initiatives

Pupil and Parent/Carer Training

We also believe it is essential to empower our pupils and parent body by delivering:

• A Personal, Social and Health Education programme (PSHE) that promotes safety and wellbeing in a range of areas such as substance misuse and online safety
• Annual safeguarding training for all S6 students, who fulfil a variety of leadership roles across the College
• Bespoke safeguarding training for S4-S6 pupils who fulfil leadership roles such as retreat leaders, Arrupe placements, after-school care etc
• Parent/carer training sessions on keeping their children safe online