Safeguarding
Meet our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL):
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Mrs L. Wilson Headteacher Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) also overall Online Safety Lead |
Meet our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads:
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Mr J. Forwood Deputy Headteacher Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (D.DSL) | Mrs K. Downs Inclusion Leader Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (D.DSL) | Sarah Cooper Pastoral Manager & Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (D.DSL) |
Our Safeguarding Team contact details
If you cannot speak face to face about a safeguarding concern you may have, please give us a call via the school office on 01843 841046 or email any one of the team on the email addresses below:
Mrs Wilson Designated Safeguarding Lead headteacher@birchington.kent.sch.uk
Mr Forwood Deputy DSL dht@birchington.kent.sch.uk
Mrs Downs Deputy DSL and Designated Teacher for Children in Care aen@birchington.kent.sch.uk
Sarah Cooper Deputy DSL flo@birchington.kent.sch.uk
What should I do if I think a child is at risk of serious, immediate harm?
PLEASE DO NOT USE EMAILS TO REPORT CONCERNS THAT A CHILD IS AT IMMEDIATE RISK OF HARM.
THESE SHOULD BE REPORTED IN PERSON TO A SENIOR LEADER OR MEMBER OF THE SAFEGUARDING TEAM UNTIL 4PM DURING THE WEEK.
IF YOU ARE CONCERNED THAT A CHILD IS AT RISK OF HARM OVER THE WEEKEND, DURING THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS OR OUT OF SCHOOL HOURS, PLEASE CALL THE FRONT DOOR SAFEGUARDING HOTLINE ON 03000 41 11 11.
If a child is in danger please contact the police, social services or the school.
- Call the police using the 999 emergency number.
- Contact Social services via the Integrated Front Door on 03000 41111 OR OUT OF HOURS 03000 419191
Safeguarding statement
Birchington CE Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of young people and expects all staff, Governors and volunteers to share this commitment.
We recognise our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all our children. We endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued. We are alert to the signs of abuse and neglect and will follow our procedures to ensure that children receive effective support and protection.
Our primary concern is to ensure your child feels happy and safe while in our care – they are then free to focus on their work and be successful in their learning journey through school. We ask for your support with this by sharing information and telling us if there is something going on outside of school that may have an effect on them during the school day. Please don’t ever feel like you’re making a fuss or that the issue is too small to tell us – effective communication is key to your child’s happiness and we are always willing to listen.
Keeping children safe is of paramount importance at Birchington CE Primary School. Safeguarding underpins every decision we make on a day to day basis and is much more than having a suite of policies in place. It takes many forms including the recruitment of new staff, risk assessments for visits, health care plans for children (and staff) with long-term medical needs, site security, regular accredited child protection staff training, online safety lessons for children, water and rail safety and staff with accredited first-aid training.
Safeguarding Children is:
- Everyone’s business
- Everyone’s concern
- Everyone’s responsibility
This means that we have a Safeguarding and Online Safety Policy (which can be found below) as well as other policies and procedures in place to help us protect children. Parents and carers are welcome to read any of these and other policies on request from the school office and all statutory policies are on our school website.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with their parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
Our school adheres to: ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024’
Keeping children safe in education 2024 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
‘Working Together To Safeguard Children 2023’
Working together to safeguard children 2023: statutory guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)
We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.
Online Safety
Online Safety is fundamental in our quest to keep children safe both at home and school. Online Safety is an integral part of our curriculum. Our school gives out regular information regarding online safety, how children should use the internet and other types of media safely and about the risks if children have unrestricted access to websites they are too young for. If a site has an age restriction, then it is there for the safety of all children. It is not a school’s position to tell parents and carers how to raise their children – we are obliged however, to advise and share concerns as the internet can also open the door to a world our children should be protected from.
All of our pupils are expected to keep to our Online Safety Rules and children in Key Stage 2 sign our Online Safety Pledge. There is clear guidance for parents and carers about age restrictions and Online Safety on our school website.
If you would like further information regarding keeping your children safe on the internet or would like assistance in putting parental safety restrictions on home devices, please see the Online Safety section of our website, our school’s Online Safety Policy or come in and ask for support. We also run Online Safety Parent/Carers Workshops which are really useful.
We have Online Safety pupil representatives in Year 6, who promote Online Safety across the school. All parents and carers are asked to sign a Home/School and Acceptable IT Usage Agreement when their child starts school and it is expected, as they have chosen our school, that they will uphold all of our policies and procedures and adhere to the words within our Christian vision and school values. We expect everyone on our school site to speak and treat each other with respect and politeness.
It is important that parents and carers can have regular contact with their child’s class teacher, or a school leader. You can contact your child’s class teacher or a leader via their email address (you will find a list of these on the school website, on newsletters or you can contact the school office). You can also email or phone the school office and they will arrange for your class teacher to ring you back. You can also speak to your child’s teacher or a leader after school at a mutually convenient time and staff and leaders are stationed at the school gates every morning so are always available for a chat.
If you need support with a pastoral or family issue, you can ring, text or email Sarah Cooper, our Pastoral Manager/Family Liaison Officer (her contact details are also on our website/via the school office). She will be happy to talk though any concerns or worries you may have and can signpost you to other agencies if needed.
Staff training
Every member of staff holds a current Safeguarding Training Certificate. They are trained in recognising signs of abuse and know exactly what to do if they have concerns about any child in school – this training is renewed every three years. However further extra training takes place at our school each year and throughout the year. This can be seen on our yearly overview below.
Mrs Wilson, Mr Forwood and our Chair of Governors have also taken part in Safer Recruitment training to ensure we have the right people working in our school. As part of their induction, all members of staff and volunteers are provided with important information regarding Safeguarding and Health & Safety. Also, our Safeguarding Governor visits regularly and monitors these procedures to ensure practice is robust and effective. She meets with Mrs Wilson throughout the year and together they complete an Annual Safeguarding Review in July. She reports back to the to the Full Governing Body regarding these visits.
Please see our school’s Safeguarding Policy and other areas of our website for further information and useful links to outside agencies.
If you ever have concerns regarding a child’s welfare, do not hesitate to contact our DSL or one of the Deputy DSLs.
Security and Safety on the School Site
Every member of staff wears a photo I.D name card. Visitors and volunteers also wear visitor badges or logo visitor stickers to show they have followed the security checks at the reception. Everyone who visits the school during the day does so via the school office, where they sign in and can be greeted by a specific member of staff and given a safeguarding leaflet that outlines our school safeguarding procedures.
Gates and main doors are locked when the children come into school for registration. Security buttons and key codes protect the children so that they can get out in an emergency but no one from the outside can enter the school building. Mr Drew and Mr Franklin, our Site Team, regularly check that all locks, security doors and alarms are working effectively and the Headteacher and Site Team regularly walk the school to review Health & Safety.
At certain times of the year pathways around the school can be slippery so we need all parents, carers and visitors to take care when walking around our site, particularly in colder and wetter weather. Further information regarding inclement weather and school procedures when there is heavy snow can be found on our website and we will email information out to you as required.
If any visitor notices a Health and Safety issue they must report it to a member of staff immediately who will take the necessary action to inform specific staff/address the issue. We have many procedures in school in relation to Health and Safety, please see specific school policies for information related to this issue.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks
Everyone who works with our pupils, including volunteers or Governors at our school who are involved in regulated activity (has regular contact with our children) has a DBS and Prohibitions check. This means specific checks have been carried out to ensure their suitability to work with children. Online safety checks are also completed.
Bringing to and Collecting your Child from School
The school gates open between 8.15am and 8.50am. Pupils come straight into their classes where their teacher will be ready to greet them. At the end of the school day, parents/carers collect their children from their child’s class teacher at specific points around our school site at 3.20pm. If parents/carers want their child to leave with anyone other than their named contacts, they must let the office staff/class teacher know. We will not allow any child to go home with another adult without your permission. On the rare occasion that a parent/carer is going to be late picking their child up, they must contact the school office and collect their child from there.
Only pupils in Years 5 and 6 will be allowed to walk home by themselves; however, we must have written permission from you to allow this to happen. We prefer for children to collected by someone over the age of eighteen, if at all possible.
Entrances and Exits
All entrances and exits remain locked after children have arrived for the start of the school day. Visitors during the school day arrive through the main school gate which is opened and then closed electronically once the visitor has identified themselves. A Phase Leader or Senior Leader checks that gates are closed and locked once children have arrived at school.
If a child goes home or attends an appointment during the school day, they are signed out (and back in again) at the main school office.
Cycling to School
We have a bicycle shelter where pupils can store their bicycles during the school day and we recommend bikes are locked. We would expect all pupils from EYFS – Year 4 to be accompanied on their bikes and expect cycling helmets to be worn by all children cycling to and from school.
The school provides opportunities for bike safety training in Year 5 or 6 and we ask that parents/carers to spend time talking to their own children about safety issues if they are allowing their child to ride to school. Due Health and Safety reasons, no bikes or scooters are to be ridden on the school site.
School Crossing Patrol
Mr Drew is our School Crossing Patrol Officer and we ask that all parents and pupils to cross with him before and after school. The crossing is provided between 8:15am to 9:00am in the morning and between 3.00pm and 3:30pm in the afternoon. Mr Drew is employed by the Kent County Council for this particular job but if he is going to be absent from this duty, we do our best to give parents and carers notice of this.
Parking
We expect parents, carers and visitors to park safely and legally on the roads around our school site and be polite to our school neighbours. We offer ‘Park and Stride’ facilities at both Quex Barn and All Saints Church so parents and carers can use off-street parking facilities at the start and end of the school day. Only staff, or visitors displaying Blue Badges, are allowed to park in the school car park. The car park is secured by electronic gates. We have Pupil Road Safety Officers who, alongside staff, promote ‘Road Safety’ and highlight hazards to children. We encourage our pupils to take an active role in keeping themselves safe.
Any Questions?
If you have any questions at all about any of the areas raised about or any other issue regarding Health & Safety on our school site, please don’t hesitate to come and ask in the school office or see a Leader.
Information regarding Health and Safety, Online Safety and information regarding collection from school clubs etc. is regularly included in newsletters, leaflets and letters that are sent out from school. These are also on our school website www.birchington-primary.com.
If you are unsure about anything – please ask and also ensure you have told staff in our school office if you have updated any of your contact details
Advice and support for parents
Here are some websites with some great online advice:
Primary online safety - Teach (bbc.co.uk)
parentchecklist (primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com)
Keeping children safe online | NSPCC
SELF HARM
Finding out that your child is self-harming can be upsetting and stressful. With the right help most people who self-harm do recover, but it can take time. You can help your child by being there to listen and to support them. It is important to remember that you are not alone.
We work in partnership with Kent Police and Kent County Council to identify and provide appropriate support to our pupils who experience domestic abuse and domestic violence in their household; this initiative is called Operation Encompass.
In order to provide support for these children, Kent Police will assess and share information on all domestic abuse and domestic violence incidents where one of our pupils has been present or connected with the household. This information will be shared confidentially with the Designated Safeguarding Lead at the school.
On receipt of information about an incident, the safeguarding team will decide on the most appropriate support for the child. This may take the form of 'silent' support around their classroom learning and which the child will not be aware or it may be more overt support for the child and family in agreement with parent or cares as appropriate. This might include nurture support in school or referral to a specialist domestic abuse service such as OASIS. In high risk cases we will work with other professionals to help the family access appropriate support such as access to an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) or a family refuge place.
All information sharing and the resulting actions will be undertaken in accordance with the 'Information Sharing Agreement' between Kent Police and Kent County Council. We will record this information and store this information in line with our school safeguarding record keeping procedures.
We are also able to signpost members of our school community to domestic abuse support, such as the National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV) or OASIS without an Operation Encompass referral.
Click on the link for more information, guidance and support:
Oasis Domestic Abuse Service - Drop-in centres (oasisdaservice.org)
Domestic abuse - Kent County Council
What is the Prevent Strategy?
From July 1 2015, all schools are subject to a duty under Section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 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 Schools.
The Act is designed to ensure schools do all they can stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. The Prevent strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing and violent Islamist groups.
As part of Birchington CE Primary School’s ongoing Safeguarding and Child Protection duties we uphold the Government’s Prevent Strategy. We do this in an age appropriate way. This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views in the same way we protect them from being involved in other experiences that might harm them. Importantly, there are adults in school as well as at home that children feel comfortable with so they can discuss any issues that they are worrying about and we can assist them in having a better understanding about how to keep themselves safe.
All our staff and governors have completed Prevent training so we understand what Prevent is about and how to deal with any issues that could arise in and outside of school. This is part of the general Safeguarding and Health & Safety training all staff receive. At our school, we have chosen to renew this online training every two years, but we will revisit Prevent when necessary before this time.
What does this mean in practice?
Many of the things we already do in school to help children become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy.
These include:
- Exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity
- Challenging prejudices and racist comments
- Developing critical thinking skills and a strong, positive self-identity
- Promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy
We will also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example by using filters on the internet to make sure they can’t access extremist and terrorist material, or by vetting visitors who come into school.
Different schools will carry out the Prevent duty in different ways, depending on the age of the children and the needs of the community.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Prevent relate to British values?
Schools have been required to promote British Values since 2014, and this continues to be part of our response to the Prevent strategy.
British values include:
- Democracy
- The rule of law
- Individual liberty and mutual respect
- Tolerance of different faiths and beliefs
Isn’t my child too young to learn about extremism?
The Prevent strategy is not just about discussing extremism itself, which many not be appropriate for younger children. It is also about teaching children values such as tolerance and mutual respect. Our Christian Vision and School Values encourage this approach.
KEY TERMS
Extremism - vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values such as democracy, the rule of law and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.
Ideology - a set of beliefs
Terrorism - a violent action against people or property, designed to create fear and advance a political, religious or ideological cause.
Radicalisation - the process by which a person comes to support extremism and terrorism.
Where can I go for more information?
If you have any questions or concerns about the Prevent strategy and what it means for your child please do not hesitate to contact the school or visit any of these useful websites.
http://www.ltai.info/what-is-prevent/