At London Teachers Supply we take safeguarding of all children and our staff very seriously, that’s why we got this shot guide together with some advice you can follow to make sure you keep yourself and your pupils safe 

Don’t put yourself in a vulnerable position 

Under normal circumstance you should never be left on your own with a pupil, in case you cannot avoid it, don’t leave yourself in a vulnerable position by making sure the door of your classroom is open and always try to seek attention form other teachers or students, make sure the exits are not blocked and under no circumstance put yourself in between the student and the door. Additionally, there should not be any physical contact with the students, as even a hand on the shoulder can be misinterpreted or misconstrued by some pupils 

Managing behaviour 

When you start in a new school make sure you familiarise yourself with the school behavioural policy and adhere to it. The policy will remind you on how to deal with the behaviour as the issue not the pupil, if you do need to seed the a student out of your class don’t talk to them alone in the corridor, it always important that you make sure there are witness to your conversation and the action you have decided to take, just remember to always speak calmly, quietly and keep it professional at all times to help calm the student and student/teacher confidentiality. In the event of an incident when you are in a school, make sure you make notes of what had happened and the reason, that will help as reference later, should you need it, immediately report to the school and to us 

Protecting your personal details and social networks 

Never give out your personal details to students or request any from your students, this includes telephone number, email, social network accounts names, you should not respond or contact pupils via social networks and any attempts of contact from pupils should be reported to the school and to us immediately. A simple way to protect yourself on social media is to control who can see your account details and content and even with all these settings in place you should take that all information you post is public, this also applies to comments you make on a friend’s page/post as the comment might be public if their profile settings are different than yours 

Definitions of misconduct 

Harassment/verbal misconduct will include any action(s) and practice(s) by a group or individual which are aimed at others and which may comprise of remarks or actions associated with a person’s sexuality, race, gender, age, class, personality or any other aspect related to them. Humiliation and belittlement towards a pupil with comments or actions are also included under the harassment/verbal misconduct 

Other things to keep in mind 

• If you need to use the internet during your time at a school, make sure you follow the school internet policy 
• Do not take any photographs (via any method) of pupils, pupils work, events or any part of a school’s premises 

Your duty of care 

You have a duty of care to your students, if a student disclose any information that indicates that they or another child are at risk of harm and in need of protection, you must without hesitation: 

• Listen to the child without taking a statement or questioning them 
• Report your concerns immediately to the head teacher or the Nominated person for Child Protection 
• Make a record of the disclosure: What was said (if possible, word for word); date an time of the disclosure and incident details 

We encourage all our staff to adhere to the principles from the government EVERY CHILD MATTERS DOCUMENT, (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-matters) by following these guidelines, we can ensure all pupils are given the opportunity to enjoy school to the fullest, to achieve academically and to grow personally and socially