Safeguarding
Child protection policy and procedures 20 ...Keeping Children Safe in Education
The safety and wellbeing of all children and young people is of paramount importance. Parents and carers send their children to school each day with the expectation that the school provides a safe and secure environment in which their children can flourish. We, therefore, have to ensure that this expectation becomes reality. In order to achieve this all staff in our school work in accordance with the current version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (2023). All staff and governors have read the document, received a copy of Annex A and confirmed that they understand the document.
Should you wish to peruse the document yourself it is available via the following link
The designated safeguarding lead, who takes responsibility for safeguarding, child protection and e-safety at our school, is Mrs A Dickinson. In her absence the deputy safeguarding lead is Miss K Kavanagh. Mr Jonathan Stokes is our designated governor for safeguarding and holds level1 Safeguarding training and Prevent training.
Our school grounds are well maintained and secure. Visual checks are made daily and a more thorough inspection completed each term with the health and safety governor Mrs Gillian Brazendale. Our new entrance area has been recently completed to allow a safer entrance for visitors and parents outside of the normal school hours. A member of staff always welcomes children at the school gate and staff always ensure children are collected within the school yard at the end of the day. Children arriving by school transport are escorted to the bus/taxi at each end of the day.
Filtering and monitoring
Schools and colleges should provide a safe environment to learn and work, including when online. Filtering and monitoring are both important parts of safeguarding pupils and staff from potentially harmful and inappropriate online material. We meet the digital and technology standards within our school.
Our School's internet traffic is filtered through the additional IP address supplied by LUNS (Lancaster University Network Services) which scans the traffic and removes access to unsuitable sites. This stops the majority of searches for inappropriate media and also stops access to media sites such as Facebook, What's App. Key words are monitored. We do not allow pupils to access unfiltered machines. The proxy setting remains 'ON' at all times.
We test the internet filter each term to ensure the IP address is still performing as it should.
Mental Health
Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils. Mental health problems can, in some cases, be an indicator that a child has suffered or is at risk of suffering abuse, neglect or exploitation. At our school we have a senior mental health lead - Alison Dickinson, who has completed a significant training program to help develop the whole school approach to mental health.
Alongside a rigorous RSHE curriculum we use whole school approaches to help children develop the skills they need to recognise and deal with their emotions, and helping those with difficulties get the support they require. We encourage children to talk about how they are feeling and let them know that we are here to listen if they need to discuss anything. Children have resilience and self-confidence, they are able to handle difficult situations and manage their own feelings; as well as being aware of the kinds of things that affect – and improve – their mental health.
Training
All staff, employed at our school including governors and volunteers, undertake accredited Level 1 Safeguarding Training annually. As per statutory procedure, all employees also complete Prevent Training every two years. In addition to this, as part of their CPD, all staff complete other relevant training, relating to safeguarding and child protection, at regular intervals throughout the year. Mrs Dickinson is also trained in safer recruitment.
Family Action – FamilyLine.
A service available for all Cumbrian families
Family Action are commissioned by Cumbria County Council to provide 0-19 Child and Family Support Services in four of Cumbria’s six districts – but there are services that are available to all families in Cumbria.
One of those services is FamilyLine. FamilyLine is a free support service available via telephone, text, email and web chat.
Family Action recognises that family pressures can sometimes be difficult to manage without emotional support and guidance to help. Many people feel confused by what information is available or struggle to access services close to home.
FamilyLine uses a network of volunteers from across the country to support family members over the age of 18 through telephone calls, email, web chat and text message.
The service aims to:
- provide both immediate and long-term support
- help with practical information and guidance
- provide emotional and listening support
- help with understanding and accessing relevant services and information
- provide regular one-to-one befriending support to service users feeling isolated
- access to short term telephone counselling
a referral into our many projects across England and Wales, where relevant. - Family Line is for family members aged 18 years old and over from anywhere in England, Wales and the Isle of Man.
Opening times:
Monday to Friday, 9am to 9pm
Contact details:
Telephone: 0808 802 6666
Text message: 07537 404 282
Email: familyline@family-action.org.uk
If a family need support outside of those hours, they can leave a message and they will receive a call back in operational hours. If it is a crisis, then there is a crisis line to a trained professional 24/7 that can be access by texting FAMILYACTION to 85258. This service is delivered in partnership with Shout.
Full information can be found at https://www.family-action.org.uk/what-we-do/children-families/familyline/
Operation Encompass
Supporting children exposed to domestic abuse
https://www.operationencompass.org/school-participation
Our school participates in Operation Encompass. This means that any Domestic Abuse incidents that occur at home and are logged with the police, school will be informed of within 24 hours. This information will be given to the school's safeguarding team only (DSL- Alison Dickinson or DDSL- Kelly Kavanagh in DSL's absence). The information allows school to keep their duty of care to the child in school at a level they may need after a domestic abuse encounter. For example: child may be tired, not eaten well, not dressed correctly in school uniform etc due to the home incident.
- Working together to Safeguard Children
If you are a member of the public with a concern about a child please contact the Cumbria Safeguarding Hub on 0333 240 1727. Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership (CSCP) is a partnership of all the different organisations working to protect children and young people across the county. Their website brings together information for children, young people and their families and the professionals who work with them. - CSCP
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a national charity which works to fight child abuse.. - NSPCC
Prevent Duty Statement
What is the Prevent strategy?
Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes.
From July 2015 all schools (as well as other organisations) have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism.
This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist, extreme or violent views in the same way as we protect them from drugs or gang violence. This is part of our wider efforts to safeguard children and protect them from harm. Importantly, as an educational setting, we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues so they better understand how to protect themselves. We believe it is important for children to have an environment in which they feel safe to discuss challenging views.
What does this mean in practice?
Many of the things we already do in school to help children become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy.
These include:
- Exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity
- Challenging prejudices (behaviour which contradicts any aspect of Equality Law)
- Developing thinking skills and a strong, positive self-identity
- Promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy
We will also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example by using filters on the internet to make sure they can’t access extremist, extreme or terrorist material, or by vetting visitors who come into school to work with pupils in line with the Disclosure and Barring Service
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
Any individual who has, or is likely to have unsupervised access to children will require an Enhanced Disclosure For regulated Activity.
All members of staff and governors hold a DBS certificate.
Students may have their DBS arranged by their education provider and if it is, this must be in place before they begin their placement in our school. A copy of the document must be seen in school before the start date and the education provider must sign a document to state that they will inform us of any ‘Additional Information’ that they receive regarding a student. We have the right to withdraw the offer of a placement in the event of receiving applicable adverse information.
All our volunteers have a valid DBS certificate.
Cumbria Safeguarding Children's Partnership (CUMBRIA CSCP)
Every Local Authority has an independent local safeguarding children partnership. Cumbria has a dedicated Children's 'Cumbria Safeguarding Children's Partnership' (Cumbria CSCP ) website. The Parents and carers can access this site to gain information regarding information of their arrangements, their vision and values alongside the numerous documents and information it holds to support families. https://cumbriasafeguardingchildren.co.uk/
