Safeguarding

At Latchford St James, Safeguarding is high profile and everybody’s business, all of the time. Our school is totally committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We want to give our children everything they need to ‘be the best that they can be.’ Where there are barriers to well-being, health or success, we want to work with parents to help overcome them.

We review our child protection policy and procedures frequently, with updated training provided for all school staff in order to offer a consistent, high quality approach to child protection and safeguarding. Our school has recruitment procedures that support the safeguarding of young people, as laid out in the Local Authority Safe Recruitment guidance. We have a safeguarding team who meet regularly to discuss any safeguarding issues relating to our children.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE CONCERNED:

If you are concerned about a child’s wellbeing, please share your concern with one of the Stay Safe Team members at the earliest opportunity.

If your concerns relate to the actions or behaviour of a member of staff or volunteer in school, then you should report this to the Headteacher (or Deputy Headteacher in their absence) who will consider what action to take and seek relevant advice.

If the concern relates to the Headteacher, refer the matter to the Chair of Governors: Mrs Janice Rowlands.
Should you ever have urgent concerns for the immediate safety of a child, you should contact the police or you can make a direct referral to Children’s Social Care by phoning 01925 443400.

OUR STAY SAFE TEAM
Mr A Hayes

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

Mrs F Ireland

Safeguarding Governor

Mrs Howard-Armitage

KS2 Phase Leader

We update our Safeguarding Policy annually. This ensures that any new learning is incorporated into our policy and it can respond to the most up-to-date thinking regarding child protection. All of our staff also take part in very comprehensive Safeguarding training annually, ensuring that Safeguarding is seen as everybody’s business and everybody is equipped with the tools they need to protect our children. Regular updates keep our training refreshed and current. Safeguarding is an agenda on our weekly staff meetings so it is never far from our minds.

We regularly talk to our children about ways to keep safe, discussing safeguarding sensitively in our lessons, worship and on our noticeboards. A big part of our curriculum works to develop ‘pupil voice’, showing children that their opinions matter and are valued.

SAFEGUARDING PROCEDURES FOR SCHOOL STAFF

Teachers and TAs monitor the wellbeing of children on a day to day basis. If they, or any other member of the team have any concerns relating to the safeguarding of a child they fill in a purple safeguarding form. This is handed directly to the Designated Safeguarding Lead who will decide what actions to take. Often we work with a range of agencies locally who can help us to ensure the best outcome for the children in our care.

SAFEGUARDING PROCEDURES FOR PARENTS

If parents have any concerns relating to the wellbeing of their children or any other children they can report it to the Designated Safeguarding Lead who will decide what action to take.

SAFEGUARDING IN OUR CURRICULUM

Equipping our children with the knowledge and skills they need to keep themselves and others safe is very important to us at Latchford St James. Some examples of how keeping safe is embedded into school life can be viewed here:
PE – Healthy Lifestyles, how to exercise properly, keeping safe during all sports and how being active can help us to stay fit and healthy.
Computing – Staying safe online is a big part of our ICT curriculum. We have Safety Officers, regular e-safety updates, parent meetings and assemblies. We have monitoring software in school to ensure children can’t view anything inappropriate and we teach them explicitly how to enjoy the web safely.
Safety Officers – our Safety Officers are elected from Year 5. They receive training from Warrington Borough Council and use this to plan a number of events to keep our school community safe. They have a notice board where they promote safety messages, deliver an assembly on an aspect of safety every month and they work with our PCSO Tony Spruce on special safety projects. Our Safety Officers have written a ‘child friendly’ Safeguarding Policy which can be seen on this page.
NSPCC – every year, our children work with the NSPCC on important safeguarding matters. The NSPCC deliver age appropriate assemblies on Safeguarding issues and deliver workshops to individual classes too. The activities aim to educate children about abuse in an age appropriate way.

They explore talking about problems and worries, how to get help and trusted adults/grown-ups. For further advice on Safeguarding issues, please visit Warrington Safeguarding Children Board.


USEFUL INFORMATION SOURCES
Parents & Carers
The CEOP's ThinkUKnow guidance and awareness information for parents and carers.
 
Primary Children – 5 to 7 years old
The CEOP’s ThinkUKnow guidance and awareness information for primary school children.
 
Primary Children – 8 to 11 years old
The CEOP’s ThinkUKnow guidance and awareness information for primary school children.
 
Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre – their main site for advice, help and to report an issue.
 
Anti-Bullying Alliance – this is an alliance of over 60 organisations, who work together to stop bullying and create safer environments for children and young people.
 
The Digizen website provides information for educators, parents, carers, and young people. It is used to strengthen awareness and understanding of digital citizenship.
 
Warrington Safeguarding Partnership 
 
Disclaimer: Latchford St James CofE Primary School has no control over, and accepts no responsibility for the material posted on the websites listed above and offers these links only as suggested sources of useful information & services
Childnet International is a not-for-profit organisation that working and liaises with others to help make the internet a safe but great place for children.
 
UK Safer Internet Centre - e-Safety tips, advice and resources to help children and young people stay safe on the internet.
 
The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) is a group of more than 200 organisations drawn from across government, industry, law, academia and charity sectors that work in partnership to help keep children safe online.
 
Google Family Safety Centre - The web was designed to be explored, but Google has controls to help you keep it a safer place for your family to roam. Visit their facilities to learn about the online tools available.
 
Get Safe Online is one of the UK’s leading source of unbiased, factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety.
 
Microsoft Windows Security – Keep your family safer when using your PC.