Safeguarding Policy
Last Reviewed: 4th August 2025 Name of reviewer: Julia Sands
The principles of this policy statement are:
• The welfare of children is the primary concern
• All children, whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, socio-economic status, religious belief and/or sexual identity have the right to protection from all forms of harm and abuse.
• Child protection is everyone's responsibility.
• Children have the right to express views on all matters which affect them, should they wish to do so.
• Bloom will work in partnership together with children and parents/carers to promote the welfare, health and development of children.
Legal framework:
This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England including:
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 updated July 2022
Equality Act 2010
A summary of the key legislation is available from nspcc.org.uk/learning
We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.
We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:
• Valuing, listening to and respecting them
• Appointing a Designated Safeguarding Lead for children and young people
• Adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers
• Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently
• Recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
• Recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance
• Sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families via freely available policy documents. A copy of this policy is available on our website www.bloomeducation.co.ukand can be requested via info@bloomeducation.co.uk
• Making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern
● Using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
• Using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately
• Creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise
• Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place
• Ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance
• Building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.
Employment Policy
● All members of staff will have a current (within one year) Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
● All members of staff will provide a reference of recent employer where they have worked with young people. References will be followed up.
● All members of staff will be trained in the health and safety procedures as well as safeguarding procedures of Bloom before teaching any sessions
● Where Non-DBS checked parental accompaniment takes place, these parents will not be able to be alone with other peoples’ children.
Safeguarding Procedure
Health and Safety
• All members of staff will follow the health and safety policy and procedures of Bloom to ensure that physical and emotional risks to children are limited – Separate document
Concerns About a Child' s Wellbeing
• Any immediate concerns for a child’s safety should be followed by calling 999
• If any member of staff or parent has a concern about a child’s mental or physical wellbeing or safety, including signs of abuse, they must report to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (Annabel Lubikowski) at the email or phone number above
• If working with a school group they must report to the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead.
• If the concern involves Designated Safeguarding Lead, they should contact the NSPCC Safeguarding Advice Line using the contact details above
Signs of abuse in children can include:
unexplained changes in behaviour or personality
becoming withdrawn
seeming anxious
becoming uncharacteristically aggressive
lacks social skills and has few friends, if any
poor bond or relationship with a parent
knowledge of adult issues inappropriate for their age
running away or going missing
always choosing to wear clothes which cover their body.
Disclosures
Children and young people may disclose abuse in a variety of ways, including:
directly– making specific verbal statements about what’s happened to them
indirectly – making ambiguous verbal statements which suggest something is wrong
behaviourally – displaying behaviour that signals something is wrong (this may or may not be deliberate)
non-verbally – writing letters, drawing pictures or trying to communicate in other ways.
Response to a disclosure
Be supportive
Do not offer confidentiality
Make a record of the conversation as soon as possible after the disclosure (see below)
Report to the appropriate authority
Records
A written record of any such disclosures is to be made as soon as possible after the disclosure including:
the child's details (name, age)
the date and time of the incident
what was happening before the incident took place
what the child said or did that gave you cause for concern (write down their exact words if possible)
whether the behaviour appeared spontaneous or premeditated
Bullying
Bullying (including verbal, physical, emotional and online abuse) will always be reported
Any immediate concerns for a child’s safety should be followed by calling 999
If the risk is deemed to be serious but not immediate, concerns should be shared with the Designated Safeguarding Lead at the School or the NSPCC Helpline or contacting the non-emergency police line101
Response to bullying
listen to all the children involved to establish what has happened
record details of the incident and any actions you've taken
inform the Teacher in charge if working with a school group
inform your Designated Safeguarding Lead
inform parents and carers (unless doing so would put a child at further risk of harm)
provide support to the child/children being bullied, children who witnessed the bullying and the child/children who has been accused of bullying
ask the child/children who have been bullied what they would like to happen next
consider appropriate sanctions for children that have carried out bullying
continue to monitor the situation even if the situation has been resolved
Reporting
● If, when working with a school group, a member of staff believes there are signs of abuse, they will report to the teacher in charge of the group and send a written report to the School’s Designated Safeguarding Lead and copy this to Bloom’s Safeguarding Lead.
• If working with children in a Holiday Nature Club signs of abuse should be reported to the NSPCC using the contacts above and Bloom’s Designated Safeguarding Lead
Whistleblowing
If any staff, parents, volunteers, or members of the public have concerns about the safeguarding policies or procedures of Bloom (or any other organisation, affiliated or otherwise), or do not believe a raised concern has been followed up, they should contact the Whistleblowing Advice Line on: