Schools must act in accordance with the following legislation and guidance

Schools must act in accordance with the following legislation and guidance: 
The Children’s Act 1989 identifies the parent’s and professional’s responsibilities to work together to ensure the safety and welfare of the children. The Act has two very important sections which focuses particularly on child protection. If the local authority has a ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child living in their area is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm’, then they have a duty to look further into the situation under Section 47. Section 17 states that local authorities must put in place services to ‘safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in need within their area’.
The Education Act 2002 sets out the responsibilities of those working in schools or with children, the local education authorities (LEAs), governing bodies and head teachers to all work together to ensure the safety of the children and that they are also free from harm.
The Children’s Act 2004 provides the legal framework for Every Child Matters. It includes the requirements for offering earlier support for parents who are experiencing problems or difficulties and a ‘common’ assessment framework which helps to identify an early need for help. The Act also requires that services work more closely with each other and have a shared database of information which is relevant to the safety and welfare of children. This all forms an integrated service.
Schools have a responsibility and statutory duty to develop policies that help to ensure the safety, welfare and well-being of their pupils. The policies must set out the responsibilities of the staff and procedures they must follow. Hillcross Primary School has their own range of policies that are incorporated into one policy which is primarily the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. The policy includes sections which cover the following issues:
• Safeguarding and protecting, and procedures for reporting
• E-safety
• Bullying
One of the guideline that a school may follow is the Working Together to Safeguard Children (2010) which gives guidance to help set out the responsibilities and duties of organisations and how they must work together to help safeguard children and young people. Another guideline is What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused (2006) which is there to help those working with children safeguard and promote their welfare. At Hillcross Primary School, any concerns about the safety of a child within the school should be shared with the Designated Safeguarding Lead or their deputy straight away, to agree a course of action. In the case where the matter is very serious and may be related to a child protection concern (where the child has been harmed or is at risk of harm), then a referral should be made to children’s social care and/or the police immediately. Any staff can make a referral, but when one is made without reference to the Designated Safeguarding Lead first, they must be informed as soon as possible.
E-safety: Every school should have its own E-safety policy and Hillcross Primary School’s online safety policy explains how they aim to keep pupils safe in school whilst promoting ICT appropriate skills. In 2008, the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) was launched due to concerns about internet safety. Their role is to safeguard children in relation to the above issue and protect them from viewing inappropriate materials whilst using the internet.
Hillcross Primary School encourages children to use the internet as much as possible but always in a safe way and has put in place appropriate filters and monitoring systems to ensure children are safeguarded from potentially harmful and inappropriate online material. These systems do not lead to restrictions as to what children can be taught with regards to online teaching and safeguarding. The Head teacher has overall responsibility for Internet safety and has access to all email addresses and passwords provided. Staff also have a duty to protect children by making them aware of the dangers of the internet and how to control access to certain materials.