Safeguarding

Romero Catholic Academy Trust – Statement of Intent for Safeguarding

At Romero Catholic Academy Trust, safeguarding is at the heart of our mission to be “A Beacon of Excellence for Catholic Education.”  We are a Christ-centred community dedicated to faith formation, academic excellence, and the holistic development of every child, rooted in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

We are committed to providing a safe, nurturing, and inclusive environment where all children and young people are protected, valued, and empowered to flourish. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and we work in partnership with families, parishes, and external agencies to ensure the highest standards of care and protection.

“Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all practitioners should make sure their approach is child centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child (KCSIE)”

Our Commitment Includes:

• Creating a culture of vigilance where safeguarding is embedded in every aspect of school life.
• Promoting spiritual growth and a sense of belonging through a Gospel-centred ethos.
• Supporting the formation of the whole person—spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and socially.
• Building vibrant, compassionate communities that are welcoming and inclusive to all.
• Ensuring that all staff are trained, supported, and empowered to safeguard effectively.
• Upholding the role of parents and carers as primary educators and partners in safeguarding.

We believe that every child is made in the image of God and deserves to grow up in a safe, loving, and supportive environment. At Romero Catholic Academy Trust, safeguarding is not just a duty it is at the core of everything we do.

The trust commitment

The DSL network meet half termly to work together to ensure all children within our trust are safe. This is an opportunity for training, collaboration and sharing good practice and strengthens the idea of a trust responsibility for safeguarding all of the children within it.

The Safeguarding across the trust is supported by the Head of safeguarding, the Trust ensures that all Romero schools:

• have in place statutory safeguarding policies, procedures and arrangements which are designed to take account of all possible safeguarding issues and are in line with statutory guidance such as KCSIE
• will adopt the trust wide CPOMS Policy to enable consistency accuracy in recording and reporting all safeguarding information and concerns. Clear and comprehensive records will enable Romero CAT to identify and address any weakness in the safeguarding system.       
• adopt a contextual safeguarding approach that considers the risks to children from both within and outside school, including harmful sexual behaviour and exploitation and aim to support this with collaboration with external agencies.       
• adhere to safer recruitment practices for all staff appointments
• have arrangements for working together with other agencies and for sharing information with other professionals
• take account of their local authority’s procedures and practices established by the Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, and comply with any requests from them
• develop a culture of listening to children and take account of their wishes and feelings
• provide appropriate supervision and support for all staff, including undertaking safeguarding induction and training
• have robust procedures in place to handle any allegations
• consider how children may be taught about safeguarding, including online safety, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum
• monitor the quality of safeguarding practices and their impact on outcomes for all children in their school
• aspire to develop leading practice in safeguarding