Safeguarding
KEEPING CHILDREN,PUPIL, PARENTS AND STAFF SAFE
“Children want to be respected, their views to be heard, to have stable relationships with professionals built on trust and for consistent support provided for their individual needs. This should guide the behaviour of professionals. Anyone working with children should see and speak to the child; listen to what they say; take their views seriously; and work with them collaboratively when deciding how to support their needs”. - Working together 2015
'There is no magic formula: Safeguarding children in schools is about fostering a culture where children come first."
"OFSTED will look at a wide range of evidence to inform their judgements about effectiveness of safeguarding in schools. the main things our inspectors look at are:
"OFSTED will look at a wide range of evidence to inform their judgements about effectiveness of safeguarding in schools. the main things our inspectors look at are:
- the extent to which leaders, governors and managers create a positive culture and ethos where safeguarding is an important part of everyday life
- the content of safeguarding policies and procedures, and how well these are applied in practice
- how staff are supported to have a good understanding of safeguarding risks to children, and evidence that they know what to do if a child is at risk of harm
- the quality of work that the school does with the local authority and other agencies, for example, in making referrals and supporting children who have a multi-agency plan in place
- whether the proper recruitment checks have been carried out for staff, volunteers and governors
- what children say about how safe they feel and how they are helped to understand safeguarding risks. -
All staff have undertaken Child Protection Training and Prevent training.
We also have members off staff who have further accreditation as leads for Child Protection
Senior CP officer - Mr Walsh (Headteacher)
Mr Lawson (Deputy Headteacher)
Mrs Cameron (Senior Leader)
Mrs Boulton (SENDCo)
We also have members off staff who have further accreditation as leads for Child Protection
Senior CP officer - Mr Walsh (Headteacher)
Mr Lawson (Deputy Headteacher)
Mrs Cameron (Senior Leader)
Mrs Boulton (SENDCo)
Mrs Owen (Year 2)
Mrs Grady (Year 1)
Mrs Ide (Learning Mentor)
Miss Edwards ( CP lead Before/After school club)
Mrs Ide (Learning Mentor)
Miss Edwards ( CP lead Before/After school club)
All Governors are responsible for Safeguarding
Parents booklet to educate against hate
We commissioned a Safeguarding Audit in November 2022 from the Local Authority safeguarding officers. A quote from the summary can be seen below:
'The school has good systems in place for recording and monitoring children with additional needs, and communication between the Designated Safeguarding Leads and wider staff team is robust. Support is provided to some pupils through their own in-house systems which is working very well and staff have great skills to be able to support children that may have additional needs. safeguarding systems are thorough with internal audits being carried out regularly which inform practice. There few a few areas identified that can be improved upon and they are highlighted in the report.'
Shropshire’s Safeguarding Children Board, (SSCB), is a representative group of agencies in Shropshire involved in safeguarding children and child protection. Shropshire Council's Safeguarding Group has lead responsibility for the effective working of the SSCB, but all agencies are responsible for contributing fully and effectively to the work of the SSCB.
Childline - 0800 1111 (if you have concerns about the welfare of a child or if you are a child in need of support or advice)
Shropshire Children's Social work and safeguarding team - 0345 678 9021 (if you have concerns about the welfare of a child)
Shropshire Children's Social work and safeguarding team - 0345 678 9021 (if you have concerns about the welfare of a child)
Safeguarding
Our school is a ‘Safer School’
West Mercia Police and Shropshire Council support our school with the Safer School initiative. We are an accredited ‘Safer School’ and proud of our Safer School sign and certificate. The accreditation is reviewed every two years.
The initiative is a holistic, practical and realistic approach to school security and personal safety. It gives our school a clear focus on the subject and turns a negative subject into a positive one. It sets a minimum standard for school security.
The essential elements of the ‘Safer School’ process include:-
- Implementing a security policy that the governors have adopted.
- Consulting parents/carers and pupils/students for their views and updating them on any progress.
- Publicity of Safer Schools to school staff, pupils, school neighbours, parents and prospective parents.
- Establishing a Safer School Group. This Safer School Group is a partnership of school stakeholders – Headteacher/Deputy, staff, governors, parents, pupils, neighbours, Shropshire Council and West Mercia Police.
- Regularly reviewing and implementing good practice and essential security/safety measures for staff, pupils, the site and assets.
- Educating pupils through the Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum programme or the Safer School folder.
- A daily procedure for recording incidents should they occur i.e. trespass, burglary, theft, anti-social behaviour, vandalism, arson, suspicious activity etc., both during school hours and out-of hours.
- Solving real problems rather than perceived problems. Prioritising work (if any) and reviewing action.
- If there are security issues i.e. vandalism, anti-social behaviour etc., the intention of the initiative is to reduce/eliminate the issues.
June 2022
‘Safer Schools’
Congratulations to Gobowen Primary School on maintaining the ‘Safer School’ accreditation. The school was accredited a ‘Safer School’ in 2009 and recently, Mr Walsh held a ‘Safer School’ meeting to update the school’s involvement in the security/safety initiative. At the meeting, we reviewed security/safety measures, updated an action plan and refreshed the incident reporting process. Part of the ‘Safer Schools’ criteria includes consulting parents/carers/pupils and the results of the two Safer School surveys (parent/carer and pupil) were presented to the meeting. There was a good response to both surveys and overwhelmingly the feedback was excellent. I was particularly impressed by the hard work of Mr Walsh in preparation for the Safer School meeting and a future annual meeting will be scheduled for Spring 2024.
Ian Bartlett
Crime Prevention Officer - Shropshire Council
GDPR for Schools (general data protection regulations)
GDPR is closely related to Safeguarding. Understanding the implications of The GDPR, which come into effect at the end of May, are quite complex and is very much focused on businesses. But from a schools perspective our primary aim is to create clarity on how we gather, use, store and dispose of the personal data that we have in school to ensure that all of our pupils, parents and staff are safeguarded at all times. Further information on this can will be found in our Policy section as we update it.
Our DPO is Mansell Davies, who was in responsible for Safeguarding in the LA for many years.
Our data controller is the headteacher.
Please see our Policy Section for all of the relevant documents.
Our DPO is Mansell Davies, who was in responsible for Safeguarding in the LA for many years.
Our data controller is the headteacher.
Please see our Policy Section for all of the relevant documents.
First Aid
Nearly all of our Teaching Assistants are First Aid trained. Most hold Paediatric First Aid, but 2 also hold 1st Aid at Work.
We also have a First Aid room from where we deal with any injuries.
If your child receives an injury they will receive First Aid. This will be logged in a book. If they are in KS1 they will also receive a letter that will come home to you detailing the injury.
In the case of a bump to the head all children will receive a letter and in some cases we will also phone home to let you know about their injury in advance of them coming home or if we feel a more professional opinion is required.
We also have a First Aid room from where we deal with any injuries.
If your child receives an injury they will receive First Aid. This will be logged in a book. If they are in KS1 they will also receive a letter that will come home to you detailing the injury.
In the case of a bump to the head all children will receive a letter and in some cases we will also phone home to let you know about their injury in advance of them coming home or if we feel a more professional opinion is required.
Risk Assessments
We undertake risk assessments for all educational visits and high risk activities. Examples of the forms that we complete can be seen in the 2 documents below.
Local Policing Team
PCSO Peter Roberts peter.roberts@westmercia.police.uk