Safeguarding Children
KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE
All schools are required to ensure they adhere to statutory safeguarding procedures in order to keep children safe in and out of school and to promote their welfare.
Where it is believed that a child is suffering from, or is at risk of significant harm, our school will refer all cases of suspected abuse to Children's Social Care.
In our school, the following people are responsible for ensuring that statutory safeguarding procedures are followed, in order to keep children safe:
Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs Julie Goodwin (Headteacher)
Back-Up Designated Safeguarding Leads: Mrs Rachel Sharp (Deputy Headteacher),
ALSO Mr Richard Crook (Pastoral Lead and Assistant Headteacher), Mr James Davis (Computing Curriculum Lead), Mr Andrew Ponde (School Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA))
Governor with responsibility for Safeguarding: Mr Michael Clack
The following policies are key documents in informing our practice as a school and details what actions school must take when a child has suffered or is likely to suffer harm, including our school Child Protection (Safeguarding)Policy which reflects the changes to 'Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023'
SAFEGUARDING AUDIT
Safeguarding is a high priority at St Lawrence CE Primary School and the staff and governors are committed to ensuring the highest standards of safeguarding in school. With this in mind, we invited Lancashire County Council's School Safeguarding Team to conduct a Safeguarding Audit of the school in July 2023.
Summary
A Lancashire County Council safeguarding audit was requested by the Headteacher to explore their procedures, processes and ethos surrounding safeguarding to ensure that they are compliant and any areas for development are identified.
During the day of the audit, I spoke to a group of children from Years 5 and 6 plus various encounters and observations as I walked around the school site. I met with a group of staff of various roles (teaching, teaching assistants, the schools SENCO and school bursar) and I spoke with staff on an ad-hoc basis throughout the day. I was not able to meet with the Chair of Governor/Safeguarding Governor, on the day, nor able to arrange a telephone discussion in the time required to complete the audit however from discussions with the Head Teacher she felt very well supported.
A walk round of the premises both inside and outside was conducted with the Headteacher to discuss positives and any areas of concern. A desk top audit took place looking at and holding discussions of the single central register, vulnerable child list, Early Help process and referrals, CPOMS with quality of logging, attendance first day response to include home visits, staff elements such as induction, training logs, staff reporting and the self-audit section 175 tool.
Throughout the audit, it was lovely working with the Headteacher, children, and staff, exploring and reflecting on safeguarding practice. The head has been in post since 2008 but was acting head teacher from 2007, and it is clear to see how much energy and passion she brings to the school to ensure the school continues to strengthen its safeguarding practices and procedures to meet the ever-changing needs of their children and families. This was also confirmed by staff who commented how they feel the safeguarding culture in school is of high priority along with good communication plus the head always tries to make herself available to all stakeholders – which I observed on the day of my visit.
The audit was extremely useful. It found many areas of strength and some areas where additional improvements can be made to ensure best practice. These improvements have already been put in place (September 2023) and their implementations will be monitored over the coming months.
OPERATION ENCOMPASS
In conjunction with Lancashire Police, St Lawrence CE Primary School is involved in a national initiative called Operation Encompass. Following a domestic abuse incident attended by Lancashire Police, at which children from our school are present, Lancashire Police will notify us of the incident prior to the start of the next school day. Following an incident, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset and worried. Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff are made aware early enough to help and support children and young people in a way that helps them to feel safe. Operation Encompass ensures that every school involved in the project has a member of staff (known as the key adult) who is trained to liaise with the police, when required, whilst ensuring support is available to the child. Our Key Adult is Mrs Julie Goodwin (Headteacher). She is also our Designated Safeguarding Lead.
As a school, we are committed to providing the best possible care and support for all our pupils and this is one way in which we can do this. You can find out more about Operation Encompass on the following link: https://www.operationencompass.org/
FURTHER INFORMATION
The following key policies are freely available on the DfE website and through the links provided below:
Online Safety Officers - Mrs Julie Goodwin (Headteacher) and Mr James Davis (School's Computing Curriculum Leader)
Full details of our Online Safety Policy can be found in the Policies section of the school website
As a result of isolation and home learning, our pupils are likely to be spending increased amounts of time on line. We have therefore subscribed to a monthly Online Safety Newsletter for parents. This is distributed with the school newsletter. The newsletter can also be accessed on the "files" section at the bottom of the Online Safety Page of the school website.
When should I report to CEOP?
CEOP help children stay safe online. Has someone acted inappropriately towards you online, or to a child or young person you know? You can report it CEOP by clicking the icon above.
Remember, if you need immediate help, call 999
THINK YOU KNOW - The internet has changed all of our lives, particularly our children’s. For parents and carers this opens up a whole new world of things to be aware of. This site aims to make online parenting simple.
VIDEO GAMES - An often overlooked area of eSafety includes the use of games consoles.
SOCIAL NETWORKS - As anyone can sign up to a social network, it will inevitably attract a small minority of users who want to promote extreme or unsavoury views, or who have abusive or criminal intentions. So, although the vast majority of users are respectable, it's important to take precautions. REMEMBER CHILDREN UNDER 13 SHOULD NOT HAVE FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS!
MOBILE PHONES - Be aware of the potential mobile and internet safety risks your children might face whilst using a mobile phone.
