Our safeguarding team are:
Mrs Helen Rutt (Designated Safeguarding Lead).
Mrs Sue Tudge (Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead).
Abigail Smith (DDSL)
Gwen Abbott: (DDSL) and Online Safety.
At Christ Church CE Primary School we want to make sure that children are given the best chances to thrive and get optimum life opportunities. We also need to ensure they are protected from neglect or abuse.
We would like to share with you here some school policies and practices that children are taught in order to live healthy lifestyles and to encourage them to keep themselves safe.
School policies are in place to ensure that there is a consistent approach to keeping children safe and healthy throughout the school. Adults have a tremendous impact on young children and with this in mind adults at Christ Church CE Primary School:
• promote a happy, caring and safe school
• are conscientious and hard-working
• work within agreed policies of the school
• encourage children to think for themselves, ask questions and find answers
• create an environment of trust whereby children feel secure
• challenge and support children in their learning
• work closely with other agencies such as education psychologists, the Learning support Team, the Behaviour Support team, Social Services, school nurses and paediatricians.
There are numerous policies in place to safeguard the children that can be found on our website. Hard copies are available upon request. They include:
Child Protection – this is sensitive area in which all staff receive annual training. School and other services for children and families all work together to support the needs of children. Our safeguarding policy which includes child protection can be viewed by parents on the school website. Hard copies are available on request. A particular aspect of child protection involves the internet and e-safety. We make sure our pupils do not access unsuitable material on our computers and tablets. Please ensure you have the necessary security and parental blocks on your devices at home. As part of our safeguarding training all staff are trained to identify child sexual exploitation including online exploitation. We need to ask ourselves as parents, `Do we know who our children are talking to online? Would our children tell us about a `new’ person who suddenly starts communicating with them? How often do we check the devices they are using?’ Also please be mindful about the age rating on films and games as the rating is there for a reason.
Attendance – children’s attendance at school is monitored on a daily basis and absences are followed up. If absences cause concern, some cases will be referred to the Educational Welfare Officer.
Behaviour – high standards of behaviour are expected both in school and out of school. However, as we all know children do fall out from time to time. Where this is the case we ensure the incident is dealt with sensitively by an adult who gives both children time to explain what the problem is and who then helps the issue to be resolved. Children are often reminded about our school rules and they know that we have them in order for everyone to be happy and keep safe.
Health and safety – everyone here at Christ Church CE Primary School knows they have a responsibility to ensure children and adults are able to work in a healthy and safe environment. The school has several fully trained paediatric first aid members of staff who deal with accidents should they occur.
Curriculum – through the planned curriculum we ensure that the issues of healthy eating, physical exercise and safety are taught. This aspect is enhanced by the many visitors to school, e.g. police officers who talk to the children about issues such as e-safety, the road safety team.
Staff recruitment and selection –Governors and the school ensure that all staff new to the school and volunteers who work in school on a regular basis undertake a DBS check and full references are acquired before the person takes up post.
We all know that children thrive better and are able to reach their full potential when school and families work closely together. All of us here at Christ Church are totally committed to this. If you have any questions about anything raised in this section then please feel free to contact me.
Please click on the links below to see our safeguarding documentation, information about first aid and information on online safety.
Safeguarding documents
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
Keeping Children Safe in Education
Key changes in the 2023 Keeping Children Safe in Education Document include:
Explicitly tell job applicants about online searches
The new KCSIE guidance states that schools and colleges must let potential candidates know that online searches will be done as part of due diligence checks ahead of their interview.
This will help to provide reassurance to schools that they can and should be conducting online checks of potential new hires to check for any public incidents or issues that might need to be discussed ahead of a hiring. It will also help candidates to prepare to answer questions around public incidents from their history.
Have clarification on filtering and monitoring online activity
The 2023 KCSIE updates also provides guidance in the form of new instructions and recommendations regarding online filtering and monitoring software to keep tabs on what sites pupils are visiting or trying to visit.
Three notable changes in the guidance state that:
Have clarification on allegations against agencies and individuals
Also outlined in the guidance are details on how schools should best handle allegations made against an outside organisation or individual. These might be allegations from community groups, sports associations or other service providers running extracurricular activities.
The update serves as a reminder to follow your own safeguarding policies and procedures and to inform the local authority designated officer (LADO) if a safeguarding allegation is made by your school against an external individual or organisation.
Have clarification on pupils that are absent
Another key update highlights that schools must have clarification that pupils who are absent, as well as missing, from education can be a warning sign of a range of safeguarding concerns including sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or child criminal exploitation.
Other Policies
Code of Conduct for Teaching and Support Staff in Schools
Whistleblowing Policy and Procedure for Schools 2023
Prevent
From 1 July 2015 all schools, registered early years childcare providers and registered later years childcare providers (referred to in this advice as ‘childcare providers’) are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This duty is known as the Prevent duty. It applies to a wide range of public-facing bodies. Bodies to which the duty applies must have regard to the statutory guidance. Paragraphs 57-76 of the guidance are concerned specifically with schools and childcare providers.
In order for schools and childcare providers to fulfil the Prevent duty, it is essential that staff are able to identify children who may be vulnerable to radicalisation, and know what to do when they are identified. Protecting children from the risk of radicalisation is seen as part of our wider safeguarding duties at Christ Church, and is similar in nature to protecting children from other harms (e.g. drugs, gangs, neglect, sexual exploitation), whether these come from within their family or are the product of outside influences.
The teaching staff work to build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values and enabling them to challenge extremist views. It is important to emphasise that the Prevent duty is not intended to stop pupils debating controversial issues. On the contrary, schools should provide a safe space in which children, young people and staff can understand the risks associated with terrorism and develop the knowledge and skills to be able to challenge extremist arguments. For early years childcare providers, the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets standards for learning, development and care for children from 0-5, thereby assisting their personal, social and emotional development and understanding of the world.
The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. The Home Office has developed a core training product for this purpose – Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP). All staff have received this training.
