Safeguarding
Leadership Safeguarding Statement
The Executive Headteacher, Mrs Cathy Blatchford and Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School governors recognise the importance of its ministry work with children and young people in need of protection and its responsibility to protect everyone entrusted to our care.
This school is committed to the safeguarding of children and ensuring their well-being.
Specifically:
- We recognise that we all have a responsibility to help prevent the physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect of its pupils and to report any such abuse that we discover or suspect.
- We believe every child should be valued, safe and happy. We want to make sure that children we have contact with know this and are empowered to tell us if they are suffering harm.
- All children and young people have the right to be treated with respect, to be listened to and to be protected from all forms of abuse.
- We recognise the personal dignity and rights of pupils, and staff, and will ensure all our policies and procedures reflect this.
- We undertake to exercise proper care in the appointment and selection of all those who will work with children.
We are committed to:
- Following the requirements for UK legislation in relation to safeguarding children and good practice recommendations.
- Respecting the rights of children as described in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Implementing the requirements of legislation in regard to people with disabilities.
- Ensuring that workers adhere to the agreed procedures of our safeguarding policy.
- Keeping up to date with national and local developments relating to safeguarding.
- Following any local authority guidelines in relation to safeguarding children and adults in need of protection.
- Supporting the safeguarding personnel in their work and in any action they may need to take in order to protect children/vulnerable adults.
- Ensuring that everyone agrees to abide by these recommendations and the guidelines established by this place of worship/organisation.
- Supporting parents and families
- Nurturing, protecting and safeguarding of children and young people
- Supporting, resourcing, training, monitoring and providing supervision to all those who undertake this work.
- Supporting all in the school affected by abuse.
We recognise:
- Children’s Services (or equivalent) has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about a child. Adult Social Care (or equivalent) has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about a vulnerable adult.
- Where an allegation suggests that a criminal offence may have been committed then the police should be contacted as a matter of urgency.
- Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.
We will review this statement and our policy and procedures annually.
If you have any concerns for a child or vulnerable adult then please do speak to one of the following:
Mrs Rachel O'Sullivan - Designated Safeguarding Lead
Miss Kim Wathen - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Mrs Cathy Blatchford - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead and Executive Headteacher
Mrs Sally Emmerton - Deputy Safeguarding lead
Mrs Larraine Coulter– Governor responsible for Safeguarding
Please note that allegations against adults, or complaints should always be raised with the Head Teacher (Mrs Blatchford) in the first instance. Should anyone need to contact our Chair of Governors in order to raise an allegation, or make a complaint they should write to Mrs Larraine Coulter, c/o Our Lady & St Patrick's Catholic Primary School.
At this school we use CPOMs as our system for recording information that we consider to be safeguarding information. As a parent you are entitled to see this information and may request to do so.
Further information about the programme can be found here -
https://www.cpoms.co.uk/privacy-statement/
Operation Encompass is a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. Information is shared by the police with a school's trained Key Adult (DSL) prior to the start of the next school day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident thus enabling appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.
Children experiencing domestic abuse are negatively impacted by this exposure; domestic abuse has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience and can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by enabling immediate support, making a child's day better and giving them a better tomorrow.
Operation Encompass believes that children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right and should be acknowledged as such.
Please let the Head Teacher know of any medical or home circumstances affecting your child which may require special consideration. Our policy is that teachers are not permitted to administer medicines which have not been prescribed by a doctor. Medicine forms for prescribed medicines are available from the office or you can access electronic copy via the 'Parent's Links' tab on the website.
Children with asthma may keep an inhaler in class.
Concerns
If you have concerns or worries about your child in school, the staff would like to know about them. They will take your concerns seriously, investigate and give you a response. Worries or misunderstandings are usually quickly resolved. Your child's class teacher is normally the best person to speak to. They are generally available at the end of each day.
The Head Teacher is also available should you wish to speak with her. We hope that good communication between home and school will mean the need to make a complaint will not arise. However, if you believe something is seriously wrong, your view will be considered. There are set procedures to ensure complaints are handled fairly. The Governing Body's Complaints Policy is available in the school office. The first person to contact in most cases is the class teacher.
- Always ensure your child knows how to report and block people online who may send nasty or inappropriate messages or content. Encourage your child not to retaliate or reply to cyberbullying and to keep any evidence.
- Make sure your child knows it’s important that they tell an adult they trust if anything happens online that makes them feel scared, worried or uncomfortable.