SAFEGUARDING
Safeguarding at Chosen Kiddies School
Children in Ghana often live in closely-connected families where members of the extended family participate in their care and protection. However, child maltreatment is assuming worrying heights, according to reports. Corporal punishment, domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual violence and exploitation are prevalent. Other challenges are children living and/or working on the streets, early marriage, female
genital mutilation/cutting and the trokosi system of ritual enslavement persist in certain regions of the country. To address these issues, a relatively comprehensive legal framework for child protection, guided by the Constitution and the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560) has been established. The policy framework is also characterised by a series of issue specific national plans of actions.
Chosen Kiddies Int. School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all of our children; this is our moral and statutory responsibility. Safeguarding in school is everyone’s responsibility and as such all staff and volunteers must share this commitment. We regard safeguarding as one of our most important priorities and as such safeguarding is a thread that is woven into all that we do, from recruiting staff, keeping the premises safe, translating the umbrella of safeguarding policies into effective practices to ensuring that safeguarding is embedded in the curriculum. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent, effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare, in line with statutory guidance.
Keeping children safe is imperative. All staff are trained in safeguarding when they join the school and this training is updated annually or sooner if necessary. The training ensures staff are aware of the signs to look out for if a child may be being harmed/abused. It also informs them how to deal with the situation and report it appropriately. Similarly children are reminded that they can share information with staff who will always be there to listen and support them.
The following staff take a lead role in safeguarding:
Joel Oduro-Asamoah /Designated Safeguarding Lead
Safeguarding in the Curriculum
We ensure the broad and balanced curriculum we deliver supports children in their understanding of safeguarding. We ensure that opportunities to teach children about safety, including internet safety, are delivered through teaching and learning. The curriculum offer at the school ensures there are opportunities provided for children to learn about; recognising and managing risk, acceptable / unacceptable contact, recognising and resisting pressure, seeking help and support and also the difference between right and wrong decisions and actions.
PREVENT
Our duty under PREVENT refers to extremism and radicalisation and all staff receive training in this area to ensure that they can recognise signs and understand their duty to report. It is vital that staff and parents are aware of the possible danger of children being exposed to radicalisation and extremism.
GOVERNMENT OF GHANA CHILD AND FAMILY WELFARE POLICY:
Download Here: —– > Child and Family Welfare Policy – Ghana