Safeguarding
The academy is committed to providing a safe and effective environment for our pupils, staff and visitors.
We expect staff, governors, visitors and volunteers to share this commitment to safeguarding our students and community.
At Harris Lowe Academy Willesden we aim to ensure that all safeguarding and welfare concerns, or referrals, are handled sensitively, professionally and in ways that support the specific needs to the individual student and their family.
The academy will work hard to reduce all the kinds of harm that children can suffer, including abuse, bullying, discrimination and avoidable injuries. If you have any concerns at all about the safety or welfare of a child, please do not hesitate to speak with the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Miss Heyes, by emailing h.heyes@harrislowewillesden.org.uk.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding legislation and Government Guidance says that safeguarding means:
- protecting children from maltreatment
- preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
- ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care, and
- taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Safeguarding at Harris Lowe Academy Willesden runs through all that we do, including child protection, health care plans, site security, safety in lessons, in the playground and on school trips, behaviour for learning, anti-bullying, mental health and wellbeing support and through our curriculum.
We listen to our students and take seriously what they tell us. Our staff are trained in safeguarding, and our students know who they can talk to or how to report if they have a concern.
Safeguarding – who to contact
Our designated safeguarding lead is Miss Hannah Heyes, who can be contacted on 0208 838 00 ext 8762 or by emailing h.heyes@harrislowewillesden.org.uk. You can also email safeguarding@harrislowewillesden.org.uk.
Please contact Miss Heyes to report any safeguarding concerns you have, or if you would like to discuss how the academy safeguards its students, parents/carers, and staff.
Safeguarding poster
The safeguarding poster below is displayed in every classroom and office throughout the academy. This is to ensure that everyone connected to the academy knows who the key staff are to contact if they wish to share a safeguarding concern.
Our full safeguarding team
Miss Heyes is our designated Child Protection/Prevent Duty lead. Please contact Miss Heyes if you have any questions or concerns relating to either safeguarding or child protection.
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Miss Hannah Heyes |
Designated Safeguarding Lead / Prevent Lead |
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Mr Ben Pittaway |
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead |
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Mr Steven Grant |
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead |
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Mr Ayanwola Ayankoso |
Sixth Form Safeguarding and Pastoral Lead |
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Ms Kharis Corbin |
Welfare Officer |
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Ms Sabeha Zaman |
Safeguarding Officer |
All colleagues on the senior leadership team and pastoral staff have completed Level 3 Safeguarding training. Every other member of staff has been provided with safeguarding training in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education.
Out of hours concerns – if you have a safeguarding concern during any period our academy is closed, please call Brent Children’s services on 02089374300, or email family.frontdoor@brent.gov.uk. If you think a child is at risk of immediate harm or there is an emergency, please call 999.
Students can contact the safeguarding team by email safeguarding@harrislowewillesden.org.uk or they can report anonymously through the SHARP reporting system.
For concerns about an adult
For concerns about an adult, please contact Mr Joshua Deery, Principal of the Academy directly via J.Deery@harrislowewillesden.org.uk or 0208 838 8700.
If your concern is about the Principal or you feel unable to approach Mr Deery, then you can contact Rebecca Hickey, Secondary Director for the Harris Federation, on Rebecca.Hickey@harrisfederation.org.uk.
The Brent Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) is responsible for overseeing the management of all allegations against people who work in a position of trust who have deemed to have abused their trust when working with children in the Brent area. Click HERE for details of how to contact the Brent LADO.
A whistleblowing helpline is available from the NSPCC on 0800 028 02825
Visiting speakers to the academy
Our curriculum is enriched by a wide range of visiting speakers, lecturers, authors and other visitors. To ensure our guests and visitors, and what they say, is in line with our own values and ethos, the academy completes rigorous checks. This means we can be confident that we are protecting our students from extremist views, such as radicalisation and homophobia, while enjoying the wide benefits of external speakers. All visitors to the academy are expected to follow our Visitors' Code of Conduct.
The Prevent Duty and Channel
Miss Hannah Heyes is our designated, accredited Prevent Duty Lead. The Prevent duty helps to safeguard our students against radicalisation, extremism and any actions or beliefs that are contrary to British Values and our academy ethos. It responds to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it and prevents people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support.
HLAW opposes all form of extremism. We define ‘extremism’ as vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.
The academy will work closely with the counter-terrorism referral programme “Channel”. Channel is a multi-agency approach to identify and provide support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism. The programme uses a multi-agency approach to protect vulnerable people by:
- identifying individuals at risk
- assessing the nature and extent of that risk
- developing the most appropriate support plan for the individuals concerned.