Oasis Safeguarding Statement of Intent

Oasis Charitable Trust is wholly committed to ensuring that all children and adults at risk who engage with Oasis activities across the Oasis group through its subsidiaries (Oasis Community Learning, Oasis Community Partnerships, Oasis Community Housing and STOP THE TRAFFIK), are cared for in a safe and secure environment. To fulfil this commitment, a number of safeguarding arrangements are in place.

Policy and Procedures

We will ensure all policies and procedures in respect of safeguarding children and adults at risk are up to date, and (in the case of our Child Protection policies) in line with the most recent publication of Keeping Children Safe in Education. The policies are accessible to all staff and form part of our staff induction process. Policies and procedures are reviewed and revised by our Boards on a regular basis. Operationally, these policies are updated annually and are distributed to all staff and volunteers as part of our annual training schedule. In our community hubs, policies are contextualised at a local level, and each Academy and Community/Church setting has a local version of the policy with relevant local details (e.g., name of Safeguarding Lead) added. Our national policies can be viewed using the following links:

Oasis Community Learning Policy (for all our Oasis Academies)

Oasis Community Partnerships Safeguarding Policy – Child Protection and Adults at Risk

Oasis Community Housing Policy – Children (for all our homelessness and housing work)

Oasis Community Housing Policy – Adults at risk (for all our homelessness and housing work)

STOP THE TRAFFIK (our prevention of human trafficking work)

Board of Trustees Responsibilities

As delegated by the Board of Trustees, the Oasis Group Chief Executive has oversight of the Audit and Risk Committee which reports to the Board on all Safeguarding issues. This is repeated at Subsidiary level – each Subsidiary Board maintains oversight of safeguarding issues via their board committees, reporting to the Parent Board (Oasis Charitable Trust) on a quarterly basis.

Oasis is also associated with the local Multi-Agency Safeguarding partnerships of each Local Authority in which it operates. Any issues related to safeguarding children and at-risk adults will be discussed at these boards as required.

Disclosure & Barring Checks

Oasis meets statutory requirements in relation to Disclosure & Barring Service – all staff and volunteers who work with Oasis who meet the ‘regulated activity test’ (Freedoms Act 2012) are required to undergo an enhanced DBS check prior to employment.

Designated Safeguarding Leads

The Board of Trustees for Oasis Charitable Trust has ultimate responsibility for Safeguarding issues. Operationally, this responsibility is delegated to the Group Chief Executive, who leads on policy issues in relation to the safeguarding of children and adults at risk across the Oasis Group. There is a National Director for Safeguarding who oversees the National Safeguarding Team; as well as a Safeguarding steering group which meets regularly.

Within each subsidiary/operational area of activity across the Oasis Group there are Designated Safeguarding Leads who are responsible for Child Protection and safeguarding issues within their relevant subsidiary or location. They are clear about their role, have sufficient time, and receive relevant support, and training to undertake their roles. This includes close contact with outside agencies including social services, Multi-agency Strategic Partnerships and the relevant health care organisations. These local teams are supported by the National Safeguarding Team.

Training

All eligible staff and volunteers are required to undertake relevant annual safeguarding training, and this is regularly reviewed by each lead in the Oasis subsidiaries to ensure it is up to date. A training database for all staff and volunteers is maintained, while training needs are reviewed as part of individual performance reviews and more broadly throughout the organisation by audit. To support us in this initiative, Oasis has partnered with Hays, who has a strong reputation for providing training within the education sector.

Audit

Oasis has robust audit checklists to ensure that safeguarding systems and processes are working. The audit includes: the monitoring of Child Protection & Adults at Risk Policies and Procedures including, ‘Allegations against Professionals’, and the monitoring of training for all employees and volunteers, guidance, and support. The Oasis Academies will submit to each Local Authority a copy of the OCL safeguarding audit to fulfil our statutory duty and ensure that our pupils are better supported.