At Rivendell Flying High Academy, safeguarding sits at the heart of everything we do. From Nursery upwards, we believe that teaching children how to keep themselves safe - emotionally, physically and online - is an essential part of helping them grow into confident, resilient and responsible young people. Through a carefully planned curriculum, tailored to each stage of development, we empower our pupils to recognise risks, build healthy relationships and know where to seek help. By beginning this journey early, we ensure that every child feels valued, listened to and equipped to thrive in a safe and supportive school community.

 

Safeguarding in Our Curriculum

Our Commitment to Keeping Children Safe

At Rivendell, safeguarding is at the centre of everything we do. From the moment children join us in Nursery, we teach them how to keep themselves safe, build healthy relationships, recognise risks and know how to seek help. By weaving safeguarding through our curriculum, daily routines and whole school culture, we ensure every child grows up feeling valued, listened to and supported.

Starting in the Early Years

Safeguarding begins right from the start. In Nursery and Reception, children learn the foundations of personal safety through age appropriate activities that help them:

• Understand and name their feelings
• Build early emotional regulation skills
• Develop confidence to talk about worries
• Recognise safe and trusted adults
• Learn simple online safety habits
• Understand personal boundaries using the NSPCC PANTS rules

These early messages provide the building blocks for children to keep themselves safe as they move through school.

What We Teach: Safeguarding Themes Across the School in All Age Groups

Online Safety

Children learn how to use technology safely and responsibly, including:

• Protecting personal information
• Knowing what to do if something online feels wrong
• Communicating kindly and respectfully
• Recognising unreliable or unsafe content

Healthy and Safe Relationships

We help children build positive, respectful relationships by teaching:

• Friendship skills
• Consent and personal space
• Managing disagreements
• Recognising unsafe or unkind behaviour

Physical Health and Safety

Children explore ways to keep themselves physically safe, such as:

• Road, fire and water safety
• Safety in and around school
• Knowing when and how to ask for help

Emotional Wellbeing

We support children to:

• Talk confidently about their emotions
• Use strategies to manage worries or big feelings
• Develop resilience and self‑esteem
• Understand where and how to seek help

Keeping Our Bodies Safe

We teach children:

• That their body belongs to them
• About privacy and safe touch
• How to set boundaries and say “no”

Respect, Equality and Diversity

Children learn the importance of:

• Celebrating difference
• Treating everyone fairly
• Challenging stereotypes and prejudice

Personal Safety and Critical Thinking

As children grow older, we teach them:

• How to assess risks
• How peer pressure may influence choices
• How to think critically about information
  
  
  
   

How Safeguarding Is Woven Through the Curriculum

Safeguarding doesn’t only happen in PSHE lessons. It appears naturally across many subjects and school experiences:

• Computing: online safety, digital citizenship
• Science: healthy bodies, hygiene, relationships and growing
• PE: teamwork, consent in physical contact, safe participation
• Assemblies: kindness, diversity, resilience, safe choices
• Trips and visitors: contextualised safety education from experts
• Learning to be a Rivendellian: a bespoke approach to personal development designed for our school.
• PSHE: our school follows the Scarf programme which has safeguarding woven through it.
• RSHE: Rivendell uses Christopher Winter and Scarf for our approach to RSHE.

We ensure that safeguarding themes build progressively from year to year, adapted to children’s ages and understanding.