If you need immediate support please contact the Mental Health Support Line on tel: 0800 028 8000 or the Samaritans on tel: 116 123.
In an emergency call 999 or go to your local A&E/police station.
Kingston University is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all students, staff, and visitors and aware of its legal duties to safeguard children, young people, and adults at risk. The University will ensure provision of a safe environment beneficial to work, study and the enjoyment of a positive experience for all members of its community.
We believe that safeguarding and child protection is everyone's responsibility and concern. Students, staff and visitors have a duty to be alert to possible risks and signs of abuse and act upon this.
Kingston University's Safeguarding Policy can be found under policies and regulations.
Are you concerned for a child or an over-18 adult at risk?
If you have a concern about any member of the University community, you must report this. It is your responsibility to report all concerns, no matter how small you think they might be. The Lead Safeguarding Officers (LeSO) will determine what action(s) will be taken.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding is about protecting a person's right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. It is about working together to prevent and stop both the risk and experience of abuse or neglect.
Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children (under 18), identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.
Types of abuse and how to spot the signs
Abuse and neglect come in the following forms:
Discriminatory abuse
Domestic violence or abuse
Financial or material abuse
Modern slavery
Neglect or acts of omission
Organisational or institutional abuse
Physical abuse
Psychological or emotional abuse
Self-neglect
Sexual abuse
The signs may include changes in behaviour, absence from class or social groups, physical marks or bruising, lack of personal care.
Your concerns will be managed by one of the lead safeguarding officers within 24 hours. Your concerns will be taken seriously and investigated.
If you have filled out the safeguarding reporting concern form following an out of hours and urgent safeguarding concern, a safeguarding lead will follow up any necessary referrals and liaise with internal services to make contact with the person at risk within 24 hours.
The member of the safeguarding team dealing with the concern will refer to Appendix G of the Safeguarding Policy, which outlines Kingston Council's referral process, the contact details for the Access Team including out of hours number and contact details for children's services.
Any necessary referrals or communication to internal and/or external services will be made by the safeguarding team dealing with the incident.
Someone from the safeguarding team will feed back to you following you reporting a concern, where possible.
Less urgent safeguarding concerns
Concerns should be reported in the first instance to your Local Safeguarding Officer (LoSO) or Deputy LoSO in the Faculty/Professional Services Department (PSD), who will liaise with the relevant Lead Safeguarding Officer and provide you with support, advice and guidance. (For the name and contact details of your LoSO, please see 'Who to contact' on this page.)
Your concerns will be managed by one of the lead safeguarding officers within 24 hours, is our aim. Your concerns will be taken seriously and investigated.
If you have filled out the safeguarding reporting concern form following an out of hours and urgent safeguarding concern, a safeguarding lead will follow up any necessary referrals and liaise with internal services to make contact with the student within 24 hours.
The member of the SG team dealing with the concern will refer to Appendix G of the Safeguarding Policy, which outlines Kingston Council's referral process, the contact details for the Access Team including out of hours number and contact details for children's services.
Any necessary referrals or communication to internal and/or external services will be made by the safeguarding team dealing with the incident.
Someone from the safeguarding team will feedback to you following you reporting a concern, where possible.
Who to contact
Concerns relating to children and vulnerable adults (including VAWG, bullying and harassment)
Jenni Woods Lead Safeguarding Officers (LeSO) * Head of Wellbeing and Inclusion j.woods@kingston.ac.uk
Tim Dhir Lead Safeguarding Officers (LeSO) * Interim Head of Access, Transition & Engagement t.dhir@kingston.ac.uk
Charlotte Savyell Lead Safeguarding Officers (LeSO) * Counselling and Wellbeing Manager c.savyell@kingston.ac.uk
* The Lead Safeguarding Officers have overarching responsibilities regarding safeguarding at Kingston University.
Each faculty, professional services department and HR, has a Local Safeguarding Officer (LoS) and a Deputy Local Safeguarding Officer (Deputy LoSO). They are the first point of contact for any safeguarding matters within their department, providing timely, relevant support and advice in order to safeguard the student concerned. They form part of a wider Safeguarding network along with the Lead Safeguarding Officers.
If your LoSO or Deputy LoSO is not available, you can contact any other officer in their absence.
At Kingston University, we take our responsibility to ensure the safety of our students very seriously. This also extends to our students who have chosen to study at the University as part of an apprenticeship programme.
