IPS Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy 2022-2023
International Preparatory School Safeguarding Policy
Vision: Inspiring our learners to thrive in a world of change.
Mission: At IPS, we recognise the diverse learning needs of our pupils and inspire every child’s belief in themselves. We empower our learners to identify their own strengths and challenges. We create learning opportunities which support learners to lead their learning when appropriate. Our Learning Diversity and Inclusion (LDI) teachers play an important role to enhance every students’ ability to participate in our mission: Inspire, Empower, Lead.
An Introduction to Safeguarding at IPS
At IPS, our Board, teachers, students and parents work towards best practices to meet standards to safeguard and promote the welfare of IPS children as part of their common law duty of care for whom the school is responsible.
IPS adheres to all applicable statutes and laws with regard to Child Protection, Safeguarding and Well-being. In February 2022, The Children’s Act was enacted in Mauritian law. IPS follows the protocol set out by the International Task Force on Child Protection including its guidelines for “Managing Allegations of Child Abuse by Educators and other Adults” (2018)
We use the Programme Standards and Practices of 2020 set out by the International Baccalaureate organisation (IBO) to guide us as an IB school.
The standards are as follows:
● The school provides safe and effective learning spaces (0202-03-0300)
● The school demonstrates in its systems, processes and policies, attention to the social and emotional and physical wellbeing of its students and teachers (0202-03-0200)
● The school verifies that teachers meet the local and legal requirements for their roles to which they are appointed (0202-01-0200)
Being a CIS accredited school, IPS adheres to the requirements needed to provide a comprehensive, effective education for children, looking after their physical, social and emotional well-being. IPS follows the directives of CIS to educate its community so it may prevent and manage all types of abuse.
The IPS Safeguarding policy sets out to:
● take all reasonable measures to ensure that risks of harm to children’s welfare are minimised and;
● take all appropriate actions to address concerns about the welfare of any child, or children, working with agreed policies and outside agencies to support the welfare of the children.
IPS will strive to ensure that all its pupils remain safe and free from harm and is committed to playing a full and active part in any multi-agency response to child protection concerns.
Our Safeguarding team ensures that all staff and other stakeholders are aware of the procedures in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of its pupils. It will provide support training to all members of staff, volunteers, members of the Board and the community to create awareness about the safety or welfare of children at school and working online. All stakeholders at IPS will be aware of the school’s position in relation to all aspects of the child protection process.
Educators are in a privileged and trusted position. They have a unique opportunity to observe, listen, and interact with children over time. As such, they are also more likely able to identify those who are in need of help and protection. Faculty at IPS with any knowledge of abuse, (suspected or otherwise) or neglect have a professional responsibility to ensure that the child and the family avail themselves of the services needed to remedy any situation that constitutes child abuse or neglect.
Our commitment is to safeguard and promote the welfare, health (including mental health) and safety of our pupils by creating and maintaining an open, safe, caring and supportive atmosphere.
Please see below our Safeguarding policy:
