Every parent who entrusts their child to a school is really asking one quiet question: will my child be safe while I am not there?
When families ask how schools keep children safe, the answer often comes in the language of policies and procedures. In practice, child safety at school depends just as much on the relationships and daily habits that bring those policies to life. At Regent’s International School Bangkok, safeguarding and school safety measures work together to support student safety and wellbeing.
Safety begins with relationships
Kirsten Prescott, Head of Secondary at Regent’s, has reached a clear view after many years in education. “Safeguarding is fundamentally about relationships,” she says. “Children are far more likely to seek help, share concerns or disclose worries when they trust the adults around them.”
That trust works both ways. Staff who know their students well are quicker to notice when something changes. A genuinely safe school, then, is not simply one with locked gates and visitor checks. It is one where every child is known well enough that an adult notices when something is wrong, reflecting how schools keep children safe in practice. As Kirsten describes it, safety often shows itself in small, everyday moments, “the teacher who notices that a usually confident student seems unusually quiet,” or the tutor who checks in after a change in behaviour.
From policy to everyday practice
Policies still matter, because they give staff clarity and consistency about what to do and when. Child protection in schools works best, though, when policy and culture reinforce one another. At Regent’s, safeguarding is not the responsibility of a small team. “It is everyone’s responsibility,” Kirsten says.
Staff are trained regularly and encouraged to be professionally curious. Importantly, they are not asked to investigate concerns alone. They are expected to notice, record, and report, so that the right support can be put in place to protect student safety and wellbeing. Concerns are logged centrally on CPOMS, the system staff use to record and track attendance, behaviour, and student safety and wellbeing. Because every observation is captured in one place, staff can triangulate small signals into a fuller picture and act before a worry becomes something more serious. New teachers learn this approach during induction, then see it modelled by colleagues from their earliest weeks in school.
Noticing concerns early, and making it safe to speak up
Early identification depends on knowing students as individuals. Class teachers begin each day with dedicated time with their group, and patterns across attendance, behaviour, and engagement are monitored so that subtle changes are not missed.
Just as important is whether a child feels able to speak up. Kirsten is realistic about how this happens. “Children do not always choose the adult we expect them to choose,” she says. A student may confide in a tutor, a coach, a counsellor or a senior leader, whoever they trust most. For that reason, the school works to ensure every student has more than one trusted adult, and a regular wellbeing survey asks each child to name at least one. How adults respond matters too. Children speak up when experience has taught them they will be listened to and taken seriously.
Safety beyond the school gates
The same school safety measures apply when students leave the campus. Every off-site activity begins with detailed planning and risk assessment, with the trip leader and the school’s Educational Visits Coordinator considering supervision, medical needs, emergency procedures and communication before any visit goes ahead. The principles that keep students safe on site, strong relationships, vigilant staff and clear communication, travel with them. The aim, as Kirsten describes it, is to balance opportunity with responsibility, allowing students to explore and challenge themselves while knowing that adults place their safety and wellbeing at the centre of every decision.
Keeping children safe is not a single measure but many, woven into the everyday life of the school and reviewed with care. It is what allows students to learn, take risks, and grow in confidence, knowing the adults around them are paying attention.
For families researching a safe international school in Bangkok, the reassurance comes from seeing how safeguarding works in practice. At Regent’s International School Bangkok safeguarding is embedded in daily school life, ensuring every child is supported, known and protected. Families are warmly welcome to visit and continue the conversation with us.