Safeguarding our Community
Safeguarding our Community
The welfare of our community is the school’s paramount concern. We believe that our school should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment that promotes the social and physical wellbeing of our community members. Clearly defined and developed policies and procedures pertaining community safety and wellbeing, sit at the very heart of our community welfare programme.
Child Protection
ISZL has adopted the definition of child abuse and neglect as defined by the World Health Organization: “Child abuse or maltreatment constitutes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill‐treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment (including failure to act to prevent harm) resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.”
To support these beliefs, ISZL has developed a Child Protection Handbook, which includes our Child Protection Policy.
The aims of the policy are:
- To support the child’s development in ways that will foster security, confidence and independence.
- To provide an environment in which children and young people feel safe, secure, valued and respected, and feel confident, and know how to, approach adults if they are in difficulties, believing they will be effectively listened to.
- To raise the awareness of all teaching and non-teaching staff of the need to safeguard children and of their responsibilities in identifying and reporting possible cases of abuse.
- To provide a systematic means of monitoring children known or thought to be at risk of harm, and ensure we, the school, contribute to assessments of need and support packages for those children.
- To develop a structured procedure within the school which will be followed by all members of the school community in cases of suspected abuse.
- To develop and promote effective working relationships with other agencies, especially the Police and Social Care.
- To ensure that all staff who have contact with children within our school have been checked as to their suitability, including overseas police checks where necessary.
ISZL uses a digital platform called MyConcern to record, manage and report concerns relating to students. It allows the Designated Safeguarding Lead to build up a picture of a child protection case from multiple stakeholders. Only the specified notification groups of the divisional Child Protection Team can see the concerns raised, so confidentiality is maintained.
Should any adult in the ISZL community have a concern regarding a child protection or abuse issue, they should report their concern by emailing concern@iszl.ch as soon as possible. All concerns will be dealt with confidentially. A child with worries about themselves or another child can approach any member of ISZL staff or use the concern@iszl.ch email themselves. They can also ask a trusted adult to email on their behalf.
Non-Discrimination and Inclusion
ISZL does not discriminate and seeks inclusion with regards to the safety and care of all community members. This includes but is not limited to: race; sex; gender expression; gender identity; sexual orientation; colour; national origin; marital status; religion; age; political opinion; physical disabilities; mental health or any other characteristic protected under Swiss law.
ISZL endeavours to understand and protect the civil and human rights of all individuals within the community, striving to maintain a high level of multicultural awareness and knowledge about all applicable laws and statutes related to non-discrimination and inclusion. ISZL's Non-Discrimination and Inclusion Policy relates to all decisions and advocacy regarding staffing, recruitment, admissions, student care, suitability of external organisation partnerships, and curriculum. ISZL will review this policy, as well as practices and procedures periodically.