External Safeguarding Audit – November 2023

At The Highcrest Academy, we are never content to take it for granted that our practice is as good as it could possibly be, and we are always looking to seek the views and opinions of external professionals to help us further improve.

With this in mind, in November 2023, we took it upon ourselves to undergo a safeguarding audit carried out by Buckinghamshire County Council. The audit was extremely positive and you can see some of their key findings below:

• The leadership of safeguarding is robust, there is clarity in overview and vision to develop a continuing and effective culture of safeguarding across the school
• There is evident appetite to reflect and develop, where needed, and the focus is – at all times- pupil-centric
• The knowledge and understanding of the individual pupil profiles of safeguarding need is very strong
• Routines and expectations are – where needed - being carefully reviewed and changes embedded – e.g. one-way systems; the impact of this can be seen for example at lesson handover time
• The innovative development of strategies to support more vulnerable pupils to access education at the school is impactful and positive e.g. inclusion rooms, use of in-house forest school and allotment for Therapeutic Horticulture on site
• Staff collectively share a clear commitment to the safeguarding of the pupils at the school
• Pupil voice, articulate how the school keeps them safe and tackles issues such as bullying
• The school has a clear and productive, working relationship with external agencies to address, contextual safeguarding risks.