Definition of Safeguarding
The definition used in the Children Act 2004 and in ‘Working together to safeguard children’. This can be summarised as:
- Protecting children from maltreatment
- Preventing impairment of children’s health or development
- Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
Safeguarding is not just about protecting children from deliberate harm. It relates to aspects of school life including:
- Pupils’ health and safety
- The use of reasonable force
- Meeting the needs of pupils with medical conditions
- Providing first aid
- Educational visits
- Intimate care
- Internet or e-safety
- Appropriate arrangements to ensure school security, taking into account the local context
Safeguarding can involve a range of potential issues such as:
- Bullying, including cyberbullying (by text message, on social networking sites, and so on) and prejudice-based bullying
- Racist, disability, and homophobic or transphobic abuse
- Radicalisation and extremist behaviour
- Child sexual exploitation
- Sexting
- Substance misuse
- Issues that may be specific to a local area or population, for example gang activity and youth violence
- Particular issues affecting children including domestic violence, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and forced marriage
Safeguarding at Shincliffe CE Primary School
Policy
Click here to view our Safeguarding Policy
Training
3 members of staff are trained in Level 2 safeguarding and child protection:
- Mr D Tait (Headteacher)
- Mr P Rumbles (Deputy Headteacher)
- Mrs H Armstrong
All other staff and governors have been trained in Level 1 safeguarding and child protection. Mr Tait, Mr Rumbles and Mrs Armstrong regularly access additional training, for example in FGM, Prevent, Online Safety, Child Sexual Exploitation and Domestic Violence.
Procedure
- If a concern is raised regarding a child a ‘Note of Concern’ is completed – this is then given to one of the safeguarding leads named above. The decision of the next step is then made and recorded
- If a concern is raised regarding a member of staff this must be given to the Headteacher
- If a concern is raised regarding the Headteacher this must be given to the Chair of Governors
- All of these concerns are taken very seriously and correct procedures are followed as stated in our Safeguarding Policy which can be found on our Policies page
Visitors to Shincliffe CE Primary School
- All visitors are expected to sign in the visitors’ book and will be given a badge to identify them as a visitor
- Visitors are asked to read the visitors’ guide to safeguarding
- Regular visitors are provided with an induction booklet to ensure they follow school protocol
