Safeguarding

“Children have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Children should be treated fairly, with dignity, and with respect. Every child should be taught to understand their rights and have at least one trusted adult they can confide in. Adult decisions affecting children should be made with the best interests of the child as the primary concern.”

AISB Board of Trustees Policy

These beliefs are drawn from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Romania is a signatory. They guide how we hire, how we train, and how we respond when something is not right.

Every adult on campus shares responsibility for your child’s safety.

All staff complete annual child protection training. Every employee undergoes background checks before starting. They must provide police clearance from both their home country and their last country of employment. Board members complete annual safeguarding training. Interns, volunteers, and coaches who work directly with students are trained as well.

Our Safeguarding Lead oversees the school’s approach. The school delivers the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS:CPC): an evidence-based program running from EC3 through Grade 12 that teaches students to recognize abuse, understand their rights, and know how to tell a trusted adult. A Student Safeguarding Committee made up of staff, students, and parents meets throughout the year to review policies and check the program is working.

Staff and students at AISB are warm and open with each other. Safeguarding means making sure the boundaries that protect your child are always clear.

Conflict between students is part of growing up. Our approach is trauma-informed and restorative. We see behavior as communication and conflict as a chance to learn. We have clear processes for when it goes beyond the everyday.

Early Learning and Elementary

Our approach is grounded in co-regulation: we recognize that young children’s brains are still developing and that behavior is communicative. Staff focus on connection. They help children identify and organize their feelings, and teach them how to be safe and respectful members of their community.

When conflict happens, we use a restorative approach: What happened? Who was affected? What are you feeling? What are the others feeling? How can we make things right?

Children often come up with their own way of making amends. The goal is for your child to learn to take responsibility, understand how others feel, and speak up when something is not right.

Secondary

Community agreements set clear expectations. Behavior is understood as communicative here too. When things go wrong, discussions are held with students before any consequences are applied, because repairing relationships is part of the process. The school uses a graduated response:” followed by a bulleted list:

AISB’s Board Policy is clear: behavior that harms the health, safety, integrity, or dignity of any individual, including bullying, harassment, and discrimination, is not tolerated. That applies to everyone on campus. Targeting a person based on identity – including race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual identity, national origin, disability, or socioeconomic status – constitutes harm. The school takes responsibility for stopping this wherever it appears, and for putting things right.

Bullying is different from a disagreement or conflict between two people. AISB defines it as repeated exposure to negative actions over time, and we have a clear anti-bullying code across the school.

The code is straightforward: bullying will not be tolerated. Every student should feel safe and included. Students, parents, teachers, and staff agree to join together to create a kind and inclusive school. Students are expected to stand up when they witness unkind behavior, online or in person. Reports of bullying are taken seriously, and appropriate action follows.

When bullying happens, both the student who has been hurt and the student whose behavior caused harm are supported by adults. The student engaging in bullying behavior is required to reflect on and change their behavior, and the school recognizes that the behavior itself is communicating something that needs attention. The student who was harmed receives counselor support and ongoing monitoring to prevent recurrence.

Students can report in whatever way feels comfortable: to a teacher, counselor, grade leader, or parent. In Grades 5–12, students can also use Safe@AISB, a confidential online reporting tool that goes directly to the counseling team and the Safeguarding Lead. Anonymous reports are accepted. The school follows up on every report, and AISB’s Safe Reporting Protocol protects anyone who raises a concern from retaliation.

Technology is part of how your child learns. It also needs boundaries. Digital citizenship is taught through the PYP units of inquiry in Elementary and the Advisory program in Secondary. Your child learns safe, responsible technology use as part of the curriculum, not just through rules.

In Grades 6–10, phones go in lockers at 7:30am and stay there until the end of the school day.

These boundaries exist so your child can focus on learning without distraction. In the ELC, personal devices and phone-capable watches are not permitted.

Reporting is straightforward. Any staff member with reasonable cause to believe a child is at risk is required to report it. Concerns are followed up through our internal procedures and, when necessary, referred to the relevant Romanian authorities.

Our Child Protection Policy is published and available to you. You confirm your commitment to it each year through re-enrollment, and we ask the same of everyone who works with your child. All information about children receiving support, whether through in-school services, external counseling, or safeguarding processes, is confidential and shared only on a need-to-know basis.