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Safeguarding

Safeguarding at Homewood School & Sixth Form Centre

Homewood School & Sixth Form Centre is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We expect all staff, volunteers, and visitors to share this unwavering commitment.

Through ongoing, rigorous staff training, we ensure robust safeguarding procedures are embedded across our school to support students, families, and staff. We make every effort to provide a safe, secure, and supportive learning environment where every child feels valued, protected, and empowered to succeed. This includes proactive measures to protect students from abuse, neglect, exploitation, online harms, and peer-on-peer risks.

We enforce a comprehensive Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy that applies to all permanent and temporary staff members, volunteers, Governors, and site visitors. In line with the statutory guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), our safeguarding practices continuously adapt to address emerging risks.

Safeguarding Leadership and Governance

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), Deputy DSLs and Assistant DSLs undergo continuous professional development to ensure their expertise remains up-to-date with changing statutory legislation, regional multi-agency guidance, and local contextual risks. They lead on identifying concerns early, taking proportionate action, and co-ordinating multi-agency support when required.

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Vicki English

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSL): Hannah Scarisbrick

Assistant Designated Safeguarding Leads (ADSLs): Rhianna Dunbar-Gowdy, Steph King, Jeremy Single, Mel Spackman, Sue Taberer, Sharon Williams

Safeguarding Link Governor: Gillian Guthrie

Tenterden Schools Trust Safeguarding Link: Fred Corbett

Our DSL team works alongside our 5 Family Liaison Officers (FLOs) to ensure all safeguarding and welfare concerns are managed efficiently, consistently, and with the highest degree of confidentiality and professional care.

Staff Training and Responsibilities

All staff - teaching and associate - receive mandatory, up-to-date safeguarding induction and annual refresher training. Staff are trained to recognise early indicators of risk, understand contextual safeguarding factors, manage low-level concerns, and report any causes for concern immediately via our secure safeguarding management system.

The DSL team regularly updates school staff, leadership, and the Local Governing Body (LGB) on statutory policy updates, local risk profiles, and preventative safeguarding measures, ensuring a shared culture of vigilance across the entire site.

Working with Families and External Partners

If you have any concerns regarding the safety, welfare, or wellbeing of your child or any student at Homewood School & Sixth Form Centre, please do not hesitate to contact our Safeguarding Team immediately.

Wherever possible, we work in open partnership with parents and carers to address concerns early and secure the right support. Where appropriate or necessary, concerns are shared with relevant external agencies and local multi-agency safeguarding partners (MASH).

Operation Encompass

Homewood School & Sixth Form Centre is an active Operation Encompass school. This joint initiative between police and education providers ensures that schools are confidentially notified of any domestic abuse incidents involving registered pupils, allowing us to provide immediate, tailored pastoral support.

Prevent Strategy

The Prevent strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists, supporting terrorism, fundamentalism or extremist behaviours.

it:

responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views
provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support
works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health)

Contact the Safeguarding Team:

safeguarding@homewood.kent.sch.uk

Spotlight on Safeguarding Newsletters

Spotlight on Safeguarding Newsletter May 2025

Spotlight on Safeguarding Newsletter June 2025

Spotlight on Safeguarding Newsletter July 2025

Spotlight on Safeguarding Newsletter September 2025

Spotlight On Safeguarding Newsletter October 2025

Spotlight on Safeguarding Newsletter November 2025

Spotlight on Safeguarding Newsletter December 2025 Spotlight on Safeguarding Newsletter January 2026