Protecting the safety of our students & staff

We endorse the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which the host country Japan is a signatory, and take our responsibility to safeguard all children and employees extremely seriously.

Safeguarding Policy

FIS attempts to:

Include	establish and maintain an environment where students, staff, and community feel secure, able to talk freely and know they will be heard, ensure students know that there are caring, approachable adults in the school with whom they can share their concerns;
Empower	include opportunities for training for all FIS employees, volunteers, students, and community members to be made aware of their responsibilities and to be guided towards appropriate responses;
Impact	make an impact within the FIS curriculum for students to develop the skills they need to stay safe. maintain the highest ethical standards, including complying with all applicable Japanese laws as well as following FIS Policies and Guidelines.

Aims & Objectives

FIS makes safeguarding a part of every aspect of the school. It does so by:

providing a safe environment in which students can grow and learn;

making every effort to implement hiring practices that ensure the safety of children (and in the case that a staff member or community member is reported as an alleged offender, conducting a full investigation following a carefully designed course of due process);

equipping students with the confidence and skills they need to keep them safe;

distributing and communicating Child Protection & Safeguarding policies annually to all parents;

developing and implementing clear procedures for identifying and reporting suspected cases of abuse;

providing annual training for all staff; and

supporting students and staff in accordance with an agreed and regularly reviewed Child Protection process and plan.

supporting students through the school's behavior policies as stated in the Student/Parent Handbook and the school's guiding statement - which promotes a positive, supportive and secure environment where students feel valued and their concerns may be heard.

Fukuoka International School has a legal and ethical obligation to safeguard the welfare of students. Our aim is to build and maintain a proactive environment that protects children by either preventing child abuse before it occurs or by earliest possible detection, intervention, and reporting. All parents should be familiar with FIS' Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy.

Staff Code of Conduct

Elementary Student Code of Conduct

Secondary Student Code of Conduct

Parent Code of Conduct

Recruitment Policy

Purpose:

Include	We are dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment where all individuals feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents. Recruitment efforts will prioritize diversity and inclusion, aiming to reflect the multicultural nature of our school community. We will actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences to enrich our educational environment and promote understanding and empathy among our students and staff.
Empower	We believe in empowering our staff to reach their full potential and make meaningful contributions to our school's mission and vision. Professional development opportunities will be provided to support continuous growth and learning among our staff members. We encourage autonomy, innovation, and creativity in our recruitment and retention strategies, empowering staff to take ownership of their roles and contribute to the school's success.
Impact	Our recruitment and retention efforts are driven by the desire to make a positive impact on our students, staff, and broader community. We are committed to hiring educators and staff members who align with our school's values and are dedicated to nurturing the holistic development of each student. Retention strategies will focus on creating a supportive and collaborative work environment where staff members feel valued, motivated, and inspired to make a lasting impact on the lives of our students. The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children/students and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.

Include

We are dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment where all individuals feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents.
Recruitment efforts will prioritize diversity and inclusion, aiming to reflect the multicultural nature of our school community.
We will actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences to enrich our educational environment and promote understanding and empathy among our students and staff.

Empower

We believe in empowering our staff to reach their full potential and make meaningful contributions to our school's mission and vision.
Professional development opportunities will be provided to support continuous growth and learning among our staff members.
We encourage autonomy, innovation, and creativity in our recruitment and retention strategies, empowering staff to take ownership of their roles and contribute to the school's success.

Impact

Our recruitment and retention efforts are driven by the desire to make a positive impact on our students, staff, and broader community.
We are committed to hiring educators and staff members who align with our school's values and are dedicated to nurturing the holistic development of each student.
Retention strategies will focus on creating a supportive and collaborative work environment where staff members feel valued, motivated, and inspired to make a lasting impact on the lives of our students.
The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children/students and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.

Procedures

In accordance with best practices for recruitment,

all positions of employment are posted on our website with a safeguarding disclaimer
the school uses accredited search agencies such as Search Associates, Schrole, etc.
all candidates must go through at least three separate interviews in which at least one of the interviews must include the Head of School
the school shall seek at least two confidential references on short listed candidates and the Head of School will follow this up with a direct phone call/online video call conversation regarding the candidate.
all contracts and job descriptions have a safeguarding disclaimer and refer to the Code of Conduct
all candidates will have the code of conduct shared with them before a formal offer is provided and must sign the code of conduct before their contract is validated
as a precondition to employment, the school shall require all successful candidates to provide criminal background and social media check via a third party provider
- FIS is aware that not all countries provide criminal background documentation, or, are unable to provide them retrospectively. In such cases, they can provide a statement to this effect, and seek alternate testimonials from their school(s). Apart from the information that this gives the school, this also acts as a deterrent for those who abuse children and makes it less likely for them to seek employment at FIS.
all employees must complete a comprehensive online safeguarding training before the first day of their employment

Definition of Terms

Safeguarding

It is important to note the difference between the terms "safeguarding" and "child protection". The term "safeguarding" is what we do for ALL children and is linked to ‘promoting welfare’.

Safeguarding can be defined as:

protecting children from maltreatment
preventing impairment of children’s health or development
ensuring children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

It is a school's responsibility to make sure they operate in a way that minimises as much as possible the risk of abuse to children and young people.

Child Protection

UNICEF defines child protection as preventing and responding to violence, exploitation and abuse against children. This includes commercial exploitation, trafficking, child labour and harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation.

Child protection forms a part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. Effective child protection processes are an essential part of the wider work to safeguard and promote welfare; they also reduce the need for action to protect children from harm.

There should always be a whole school approach to safeguarding and child protection. This means involving everyone in the school, including the governors or proprietor, all staff, all the children and their parents or carers.

Child Protection / Student Safeguarding Policy

A Child Protection / Student Safeguarding Policy is a statement of intent that demonstrates a commitment to protecting students from harm (to self and from others) and makes clear to all what is required in relation to the protection of students. It serves to create a safe and positive environment for children and to demonstrate that the school is taking its duty and responsibility seriously.

Child Abuse

According to the World Health Organization, child abuse constitutes “all forms of physical and/or emotional ill treatment including verbal abuse, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, 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’ A person may abuse a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional (e.g. school) or community setting; children may be abused by individuals known to them, or more rarely, by a stranger. Often children may experience multiple forms of abuse simultaneously, further complicating the problem.

Most child abuse is inflicted by someone the child knows, respects or trusts. International school communities have unique characteristics of which school personnel must be aware in terms of the individuals who are around our children. School personnel should be knowledgeable of the potential reasons why children may not be able to talk about any victimization they might have experienced.

To increase Fukuoka International School’s community's awareness, this document focuses on four main categories of abuse and provides basic information about the physical and behavioral signs associated with each type.

Child Protection/Student Safeguarding Concerns

Physical Abuse

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional ill treatment of a child so as to cause severe and adverse effects on a child’s emotional development. It may involve: conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved; that they are inadequate or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person; age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children; causing children frequently to feel frightened; or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of ill treatment of a child, though it may also occur alone.

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (i.e. rape) or non penetrative acts. They may include non contact activities, such as involving children in the production or viewing of pornographic material or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways. Children involved in commercial sex work are victims of sexual abuse, whether they perceive themselves as victims or not.

Neglect

Grooming

Grooming is the process during which a child sexual offender draws a child in by gaining his or her trust in order to sexually abuse the child and maintain secrecy. The offender may also groom the parents by persuading them of his or her trustworthiness with children. The process of grooming may last months or even years to break through a child’s defenses and increase the child’s acceptance of physical contact.

Whistleblower Policy

Include	FIS is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards, including complying with all applicable Japanese laws as well as following FIS Policies and Guidelines
Empower	The school aims to foster an environment that is free from all forms of intimidation and retaliation
Impact	The school has developed this policy to enable members of staff and the school community to raise concerns internally and in a confidential fashion about fraud, malpractice, health and safety, criminal offenses, unfair judgment, failure to comply with legal obligations, inappropriate behavior or unethical conduct. FIS will address all serious concerns brought to our attention If improper conduct is found to have occurred, FIS will take appropriate corrective action ensuring no further recrimination for the whistleblower

Definition of Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing is a term used when an individual raises an evidence-based concern, such as a first person observation, about suspected malpractice or wrong-doing and/or the covering up of malpractice or wrong doing. Its aim is to prevent harm to others or to an organization; it is not to provide an avenue for making a complaint or expressing dissatisfaction.

All disclosures of any of the above behaviors will follow our FIS Disclosure Policy.

FIS Whistleblowing Policy (Version dated 1 November 2023

Child on Child Policy

This policy falls under the umbrella of our FIS Safeguarding Policy.

Child-on-Child Abuse (or harmful behaviour between students) is any kind of physical, sexual, emotional, or financial abuse, or coercive control exercised between children/young people either online or offline. It should be recognised that child-on-child abuse is harmful to both the perpetrator and the victim.

Bullying is successive, repeated, and unreasonable behavior directed towards a person or group of people that creates a risk to health and safety.

Repeated behavior is behavior that occurs more than once and may involve a range of behaviors over time. A single incident of unreasonable behavior is not bullying.
Unreasonable behavior is behavior that would generally be deemed to be victimizing, humiliating, intimidating, or threatening. Low-level conflict defined as interpersonal conflict or disagreement is not sufficient to constitute bullying. People can and will disagree with each other and the disagreement in itself does not constitute unreasonable behavior.

Cyberbullying is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means, e.g. social media, chat applications, messaging applications, and other electronic platforms.

Discrimination is a form of bullying that may be conscious or unconscious on behalf of the student displaying the behavior. It occurs when a person is treated less favorably or harassed because of a real or perceived personal characteristic or attribute.

Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB): Children’s sexual behavior exists on a wide continuum, from normal and developmentally expected to inappropriate, problematic, abusive and violent (Hacket’s Continuum of Sexualised Behaviour, 2010). A useful umbrella term is “harmful sexual behavior” (this term has been widely adopted in child protection and is used in this advice; NSPCC 2023).

Consent: The free and voluntary agreement to participate in an activity that may include an intimate or sexual relationship given by a person with the cognitive capacity to do so. Consent can be given and subsequently withdrawn at any point. Consent is not freely and voluntarily given if the person is:

Under force
Unconscious or asleep
Under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Under threat or intimidation
In fear of bodily harm
Subjected to the exercise of authority
Under false or fraudulent representations about the nature or purpose of the act, or
Under a mistaken belief that the offender was someone else (for example, their sexual partner).

Nudes or Semi-Nudes – also known as youth produced sexual imagery or sexting: The practice of children sharing images and videos via text message, email, social media or mobile messaging apps. In Japan, under Article 7 (1) - (6) 292 of the Act on Punishment of Activities Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protection of Children (Act No. 52 of May 26, 1999), it is an offense to send obscene materials (for example, nude photos) through electronic means and is punishable by law.

All disclosures of any of the above Child on Child harmful behaviors will follow our FIS Disclosure Policy.

Child Protection & Safeguarding

Disclosure Procedures

All FIS community members share a collective responsibility for the safety of FIS students. It is their responsibility to report any safeguarding concerns to the safeguarding team. Our safeguarding team consists of the Safeguarding Lead, Deputy Safeguarding Lead and Safeguarding Staff Representatives.

The school will report any suspected child abuse to Japanese authorities as required by law, including pursuant to Article 5 of the Child Abuse Prevention Act.
Any member of the school community who has an evidence-based concern, such as first person observation, and discloses in good faith will not be penalized for making this report.
Suspicion is described as a situation in which a community member reports an incident which will be investigated by the safeguarding team.
Reports should be made as soon as possible after observing any suspicious safeguarding incident.
If the evidence-based concern is about safeguarding towards any FIS community members, it should be reported to the Reporting Members of the SGT as listed on the website. Any other evidence-based concerns should be reported to the Senior Leadership Team as listed on the website. If any allegations arises about a member of the SGT or SLT they will be removed from all parts of the investigation.

FIS Disclosure Flow

Investigation

The Reporting Members of the Safeguarding Team (RSGT) or Senior Leadership Team (SLT) will determine who will lead the investigation. If any member of these teams are involved in the allegation they will be excluded from the investigation.
The investigator(s) will conduct a prompt, confidential and thorough investigation to determine whether reasonable suspicion has occurred.
Documentation will be submitted to the RSGT or the SLT.
Care must be given to protect the alleged victim(s), the alleged accused(s), and the whistleblower by restricting information access to only the RSGT or SLT.
The RSGT or SLT will decide who needs knowledge of the incident (authorities, Chairperson of the Board, etc...). In situations where the RSGT and/or SLT cannot be involved, the HoS or the acting HoS will decide who needs knowledge of the incident.

Consequences

If the investigation indicates that reasonable grounds do not exist to support allegations of abuse, a statement to that effect will be given by the Head of School to the FIS employee in question. A second member of the leadership team will be present at this meeting.
If the investigation indicates that reasonable grounds do exist to believe that abuse has occurred, the Head of School will submit a copy of the report to the Board Chair.
The school will take legal advice as soon as it is evident that abuse has taken place.
The Head of School will recommend to the Board Chair suitable disciplinary action, which could result in termination of employment.
Substantiated reports of significant abuse will be promptly reported to the police.
If inappropriate behavior did exist, but does not constitute abuse, the perpetrator will be subject to appropriate disciplinary consequences.

Confidentiality

Individuals who wish to raise an evidenced-based concern, such as first person observation, under this procedure are entitled to have the matter treated confidentially. Whistleblowers are encouraged to put their names to allegations in order to assist with follow up investigations. Anonymous allegations often provide limited information making it challenging to thoroughly investigate and address the issue.

The name of the whistleblower will not be disclosed to the alleged perpetrator of malpractice without their prior approval. School community members are encouraged to express their evidence-based concern in writing wherever possible. If there is evidence of criminal activity, the police will be informed.

Protection from Reprisal or Victimization

No whistleblower will suffer a detriment or be disciplined for raising an evidence-based concern, providing that they follow the Whistleblowing Policy. Any person who retaliates against someone for reporting an allegation of malpractice shall be subject to disciplinary actions. Allegations that prove to have been made frivolously, maliciously, recklessly or with knowledge that the allegations are false will be viewed as a serious disciplinary offense.

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