Safeguarding
Safeguarding
Spark Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
Safeguarding is a shared responsibility. At Spark Academy, all staff members, not just teachers, undergo DBS checks and receive training to recognise and report safeguarding issues. We are committed to creating, implementing, and continuously enhancing a culture where students and staff feel empowered and confident to voice any concerns, ensuring effective safeguarding for all.
Our commitment to Safeguarding
Spark Academy collaborates with numerous local authorities, schools, and non-mainstream settings across the UK to safeguard and promote the welfare of children by:
- Cultivating and promoting a culture of safeguarding in every aspect of our work.
- Creating a safe environment where children and young people can learn.
- Fulfilling our legal responsibilities to identify children who may need extra help or who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm.
- Seizing every opportunity to promote safeguarding to the young people accessing our services.
- Ensuring all staff are registered with the DBS update service.
Organisational Structure and Governance
Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.
Everyone in our team, from admin staff to teachers to board members, understands that safeguarding comes first and that we have a responsibility to the students enrolled in our services. At Spark Academy, we play a key role in providing a safe environment for our pupils to learn and develop.
As part of our commitment, we ensure all staff are kept up to date with Spark Academy’s safeguarding policies and procedures, and we promptly refer concerns to the dedicated safeguarding contacts we have for every pupil learning with us.
Our Designated Safeguarding Officers:
- Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mital Thanki, CEO : mital.thanki@spark-academy.co.uk
- Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead: Katherine Wallis, Head of Teaching & Learning: katherine.wallis@spark-academy.co.uk
- Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead: Poonam Chamund, Business Manager: poonam.chamund@spark-academy.co.uk
Safeguarding Training and Development
Spark Academy ensures that its staff and teachers receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training, which is regularly updated. Additionally, staff and teachers receive ongoing safeguarding and child protection updates to equip them with the relevant skills and knowledge needed to safeguard children effectively.
Recruitment
Spark Academy is fully committed to the principles of safer recruitment, ensuring that safeguarding and promoting the best possible care and welfare of students is central to our recruitment process.
We follow safer recruitment practices for all staff, including pre-employment checks such as identity and qualifications verification, right to work in the UK, and references. We conduct enhanced DBS checks with barred list checks on teachers, or the best available equivalents for teachers not based in the UK. All staff must sign up for the DBS Update Service.
Our selection processes are based on best practices, aiming to select the best candidate for the job while ensuring equality and diversity for all applicants. We exclude or reject those who may be unsuitable to work with our partner base.
We expect candidates to fully understand their duties and responsibilities regarding child protection and safeguarding children and young people, and how it relates to the post for which they have applied.
Spark Academy is also committed to providing a supportive working environment for all staff members. We recognise that attracting, recruiting, and retaining staff who share our commitment is fundamental to achieving our aims and to our continued success.
Data Protection
Our Data Pledge and Data Protection and Information Security Policy ensure that your data remains secure.
We are committed to collecting, storing, and processing all personal data about staff, pupils, parents, governors, visitors, and other individuals in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).
Online Safety
We understand the responsibility to provide education on e-safety, teaching students how to use the internet safely and encouraging critical thinking to stay secure online. Spark Academy delivers dedicated e-safety lessons as part of the curriculum and integrates these essential topics into other relevant lessons.