Safeguarding and Child Protection

The school’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy reflects our Christian vision:

“Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34

Unconditional love underpins all we do at St Mary’s Church of England Primary School.  We value and embrace the individuality of every child as they discover, learn and flourish in a place of security and love.  We are an inclusive school, welcoming all children with respect, understanding and dignity. We have a duty of care to the children and will demonstrate the compassion and understanding that allows all children to flourish. In the context of this policy, this means that we aim to provide a safe and welcoming environment, underpinned by a culture of openness where both children and adults feel secure, are able to raise concerns and believe they are being listened to, and that appropriate action will be taken to keep them safe.  We recognise the moral and statutory responsibility placed on all staff to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children.

 

Our strong commitment to safeguarding children means that we work in partnership with many external agencies and share information appropriately in the best interests of children.  For example, we may work with Education Welfare Officers, Social Services, the police, the Early Help Team, health services, army Welfare, Children Missing Education Officers, counsellors and therapists.

 

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility.

To look at the school's Child Protection and Safeguarding Policies and the addendum to the policy for COVID-19, click on the appropriate document below:

Online Safety

To look at the acceptable use of ICT, personal devices and internet policy (which includes on-line safety), select the document below:

e-Safer Suffolk is an internet tool kit, full of resources and advice to keep children, young people, families, and vulnerable adults safe while online.  Use the link below to visit the e-Safer Suffolk website.

Keeping Children Safe in Education

The school follows the latest statutory guidance from the Department for Education.

Early Help

 

Fostering an open, compassionate and empathetic culture, in which children are encouraged to be reflective and resilient, will be sufficient to support most children, most of the time.

 

However, when an individual child does not respond to whole-class approaches or presents with more significant problems, it is important to identify this and to take positive action to meet that child’s needs.  It is essential that staff members intervene at an early stage if they have concerns about the welfare of an individual.  The support a child requires will depend upon the individual circumstances.  The school’s Supporting Children’s Mental Health and Resilience Policy details a number of ways in which staff members may support a child by giving early help.

 

Staff members will discuss with school leaders, the Pastoral Support Worker or the Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator (SENDCo) the strategies that they will use to meet the needs of an individual.

 

The school also has two trained Thrive Practitioners.  The Thrive approach is used to support children's emotional and social development through targeted activities.

 

Pastoral Support Worker

If strategies used in class do not have a significant impact on the individual’s wellbeing, the class teacher may refer the child to the school’s Pastoral Support Worker for individual or small-group support.  Teachers use the internal referral form to make their concerns clear.  The Pastoral Support Worker may:

• Communicate with parents to share concerns and find out more about changes in the child’s life and how the child presents at home;
• Check in’ with the child on a regular basis to give them the time and opportunity to share their worries; Meet the child regularly to provide planned support, e.g. to improve self-esteem;
• Work with the child in a small group, e.g. on developing friendships;
•  Arrange for the child to attend a lunch time nurture group, which is led by a staff member.

 

 Liaising with External Agencies

Where concerns about a child’s wellbeing are very serious or internal school support has had limited or no impact, then the school will liaise with external professional agencies.  As appropriate, the Pastoral Support Worker, Headteacher and SENDCo will consult with one another and agree the best approach.  They may agree to undertake the following referrals:

 

Child Missing Education

All staff should be aware that children going missing, particularly repeatedly, can act as a vital warning sign of a range of safeguarding possibilities. This may include abuse and neglect, which may include sexual abuse or exploitation and child criminal exploitation. It may indicate mental health problems, risk of substance abuse, risk of travelling to conflict zone, risk of female genital mutilation or risk of forced marriage. Early intervention is necessary to identify the existence of any underlying safeguarding risk and to help prevent the risks of a child going missing in future. In the case of a child missing education, administrative staff refer to the Local Authority Child Missing Education Officer following consultation with the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Prevent

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is also the PREVENT Lead with a duty to oversee and implement the school’s Anti-Radicalisation Policy and liaise with the appropriate agencies when necessary.  The PREVENT Lead ensures that all staff members are aware of the school’s Anti-Radicalisation Policy. 

 

Children are vulnerable to extremist ideology and radicalisation. Similar to protecting children from other forms of harm and abuse, protecting children from this risk should be a part of a school’s or college’s safeguarding approach.

 

Extremism is the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values, including the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. This also includes calling for the death of members of the armed forces.

 

Radicalisation refers to the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and extremist ideologies associated with terrorist groups.

 

All schools and colleges are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (the CTSA 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.

 

For further information, please see the school's policies for Child Protection and Safeguarding and Anti-Radicalisation.

Child in Care

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is also the Designated Teacher for Children in Care (Looked After Children).  The Designated Teacher liaises with carers, allocated social workers and the 'Virtual School' as necessary and is responsible for completing Personal Education Plans each term.

Safeguarding Contacts

 

 

The Named Governor for Safeguarding is Gloria Powell.

 

The school's safeguarding contacts can all be reached via the school office.