Kilham Church Of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

SAFEGUARDING - KEEPING CHILDREN HEALTHY AND SAFE FROM HARM

At Kilham CE (VC) Primary School, we recognise that your child is our responsibility and concern. We want to work in partnership with you, and discuss with you, any concerns we may have or that you may have. It is a priority to inform and involve you at every stage in your child’s time at school. However, the first priority is your child’s welfare and there may be rare occasions when our concern about your child means that we have to consult with other agencies before we contact you.

The ER Safeguarding Children Partnership has laid down the procedures we follow, and the school has adopted a Child Protection Policy in line with this for the safety of all.

If you want to know more about our procedures or the policy, please speak to the child’s class teacher or Mr Palmer our designated safeguarding lead. Alternatively, Mr M Buckle is the governor responsible for Child Protection and Mrs Fawcett is our deputy DSL.

 We ensure that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and that all staff, visitors, parents and carers understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. We have key information on our website related to safeguarding and would invite parents and families to familiarise themselves with this.

 Safeguarding is defined in the government document, “Working together to safeguard children” as:

¨ Protecting children from maltreatment

¨ Preventing impairment of children’s health and development

¨ Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and        

    effective care

¨ Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

 All staff have clear roles and responsibilities relating to keeping children safe within our care. Whether this is related to supervising children safely at break and lunch times, ensuring our behaviour policy is fully implemented, carrying out health and safety checks, reminding families about road safety or undertaking risk assessments, we are always on high alert to ensure that every child is safe.

 Safeguarding encompasses everything that we do in school, so that children are safe, well, healthy and ready to learn. There are a number of key concerns that staff are trained to look for including signs of neglect, abuse or mistreatment and also how to manage a disclosure that a child may make. We are continually checking issues like poor attendance and lateness as this can be an indication of other concern.

School policies are in place to ensure that there is a consistent approach to practices throughout our school and that they are understood and adhered to by staff, governors and volunteers. Adults have a tremendous impact on young children and, with this in mind, Kilham CE (VC) Primary School

• are good role models for children
• enjoy their work and working with children
• welcome and support visitors in the school
• recognise and value strengths in each other and use these to support everyone
• work within the agreed policies of the school
• promote a happy, caring and safe school
• encourage children to think for themselves, ask questions and find answers
• create an environment of trust whereby children are trusted to do their best and mistakes are seen as
• part of the learning process
• challenge and support children’s learning.
• We pride ourselves on being a ‘caring and nurturing’ school and doing the very best we can for every child in our care. There are numerous policies in place to safeguard our children and they include:

Child Protection – this is a key area in which all staff receive regular training. School and other services for children and families all work together to support the needs of children. There is a named governor for Child Protection, Mr M Buckle, and a number of safeguarding policies can be viewed by parents on the school’s website.  

Operation Encompass and Domestic Abuse - Our school is part of Operation Encompass which is a national scheme that operates jointly between schools and police forces. Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools, prior to the start of the next school day, when a child or young person has experienced domestic abuse.

Attendance – children’s attendance in school is monitored on a daily basis and notable absences or patterns of absences are followed up by our Education Welfare Officer. As a school, we work hard to promote the importance of good attendance and work in partnership with parents to achieve this.

Behaviour – high standards of behaviour are expected in school. Any incidents of poor behaviour between children are dealt with sensitively by an adult who gives both children time to calm down, explains what the problem is and helps the issue to be resolved. More serious incidents of poor behaviour are carefully monitored by staff and dealt with in accordance with the school’s Behaviour and Anti-Bullying Policy. Children are constantly reminded about our school rules and they know we have them in order for everyone to be happy and safe at school. 

Health and Safety – everyone here at Kilham CE (VC) Primary School knows they have a responsibility to ensure that children and adults are able to work in a healthy and safe environment. Staff are trained in Paediatric and Emergency First Aid and the school has several fully trained first aid members of staff who deal with accidents should they occur following the school’s first aid and medicine policies.

Curriculum – through the planned curriculum we ensure that the issues of healthy eating, physical exercise and how to keep ourselves safe are taught.

Safer Recruitment and Selection – Governors and the school ensure that all staff new to the school and volunteers who work in the school on a regular basis undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service  (DBS) check and full references are required before a person takes up a post. The required number of governors and staff have undertaken the government's safer recruitment training.

Complaints – should parents have any complaints the school staff will listen to your concerns and will follow up on issues arising. There is a clear procedure in place. The school is committed to working closely with parents/carers for the benefit of the children. If any parent feels that an issue has not been resolved then there are complaints policies in place which are dealt with by the complaints committee of the governing body.

Below are some of the policies which make up the school’s safeguarding policy list -please look at the information tab for more safeguarding policies.

• Anti-Bullying
• Attendance
• Behaviour
• Child protection
• E-safety and acceptable usage
• First aid (including management of medical conditions, and intimate care)
• Health and Safety
• Home School Agreements
• Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum
• Recruitment and selection
• Special educational needs
• Staff appraisal
• Staff code of conduct
• Use of positive handling and restraint
• Visitors in school
• Use of photographs/video
• Whistle-blowing