Safeguarding is the action that is taken by schools to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.

 

Safeguarding means:

• Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment

• Preventing harm to children’s health or development

• Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care

• Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

 

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process, protecting individual students identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Astra Academy has developed child protection policies and procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a student.

 

Bullying

 

Astra Academy has a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying, which is defined as sustained physical, emotional, and mental targeting by an individual or group of individuals against another individual or group of individuals.  Individual incidences of conflict are unavoidable, but it is incumbent on a school to ensure conflict does not devolve into a bullying situation.

 

Astra Academy encourages conflict resolution in line with the school’s emphasis on developing Wellbeing. Understanding our motivations and emotions and proper communication to understand the motivations and emotions of others is the first step towards restorative conflict resolution.

 

The advantage of a medium-size school as ours is that we all get to know each other well, which allows us to identify issues before they get out of hand and disrupt learning. Students are more likely to feel comfortable approaching Astra teachers to safely share their concerns.