We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of care, safety and wellbeing for all children, in every Cognita school.
This culture of care is uncompromising. An integral part of our Group, it guides the decisions and actions that we take in the day-to-day management of our schools. It includes the security of our educational environments, the pastoral care and emotional wellbeing of our students, the rigorous vetting of our staff, and robust policies, procedures and training in the area of child safeguarding. That culture is backed up by our governance structure, reporting to Cognita’s Board.
All Cognita staff have a responsibility to ensure the welfare of our students at all times and this duty of care to students is paramount. Every Cognita school has an independently chaired safeguarding committee to ensure compliance, and our rigorous staff vetting procedures require pre-employment background checks to be undertaken before any appointment within a Cognita school is confirmed.
We regularly monitor and assess all our schools to ensure the safety and security of our teaching and learning environment. Cognita’s safeguarding policies, procedures and governance are based upon statutory UK requirements, which we further enhance with best practice. This approach applies across all our schools. In all countries in which we operate, we look to go above and beyond what is required by regulators.
Cognita expects all staff, volunteers and other third parties to share our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of safeguarding and child safety.
We also collaborate in sector-wide initiatives on child safety. Together with education, government and child protection organisations around the world, Cognita has contributed to the International Task Force on Child Protection. Established by the Council of International Schools in 2014, the Task Force applies collective resources and expertise to addressing safeguarding across the sector.
