What is new in Safeguarding?
by Petr Pospíšil
From September 2018 a newly updated legal guidance called Keeping Children Safe in Education came into force. Since we are a registered British School Overseas this guidance also applies to us and, to a large extent, defines how we aim to create a safe environment for all children, staff and parents at International School Olomouc. There were a number of changes but I shall mention here just three major developments, which have already been implemented into our policy framework. Firstly, there is a new requirement that the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead, who is a person responsible for dealing with all child protection issues and who has a leading role in promoting safe environment from within our school, must be separated from the proprietorial role. In short the proprietor of the school and the designated safeguarding lead must be two different people. So the role of the designated safeguarding lead which was previously carried out by myself has now passed on to Mrs Eva Pluskalová who, as a former Head of School is well experienced in dealing with local authorities within this area; furthermore, in October she will also undertake a specialist training for designated safeguarding leads in London to develop her knowledge about safeguarding in the UK. Secondly, our Child protection policy version 18_19 now has a new appendix explaining how we deal with Peer on Peer abuse. Under the new guidance any peer on peer abuse (be it physical abuse or bullying, including any form of cyber bullying) will be addressed and dealt with as a child protection issue. Our policy also has clear information on how we will deal with any form of abuse including how victims and perpetrators will be supported. Finally, in relation to recent developments and further legal guidance our school now also has a legal duty to prevent any form of radicalisation. This means that we should all be more aware of showing sensitivity to attitudinal changes of pupils, which may indicate they are at risk of radicalization. Staff will consider the level of risk to identify the most appropriate referral, which could include reference to Channel in the UK, Children's Social Care or/and to Police in the Czech Rep. I kindly invite all parents to read the latest version of the child protection policy which will be accessible on the school website very shortly.
Why should your child attend iSchool?
They will gain perfect knowledge of English.
Your child will become a global citizen with wide understanding of local and international topics.
We put a strong emphasis on the development on subject specific skills rather than on acquisition of knowledge.
Emphasis on skills development (not just memorising).
Individual approach; school’s ability to motivate for improvement.
Your child will be excited to come to school.
School philosophy
You are not buying success, you are paying for the school to monitor your child’s progress to their goals and motivate them to fulfil their potential.
We are not a selective school: we believe that everybody can be successful.
