West Street Community Primary School and Nursery

Safeguarding

We regard the safeguarding of children as our main priority. We believe all our children have the right to be happy, to be safe and to learn. We all have the responsibility to make this happen.

At West Street Primary School and Nursery we make sure that:

all children whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious beliefs or sexual identity - have the right to be protected from harm
all suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously amd responded to both swiftly and appropriately
all staff and volunteers working at our school have a responsibility to report concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Lead

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Andrea Peake. The Deputy Safeguarding Leads are Miss Sarah Watson and Mrs Catherine Duerden.

Operation Encompass

The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in or witness to a domestic abuse incident.

Domestic abuse impacts on children in a number of ways. Children are at increased risk of physical injury during an incident, either by accident or because they attempt to intervene. Even when not directly injured, children are greatly distressed by witnessing the physical and emotional suffering of a parent.

Operation Encompass has been created to address this situation. It is promoting a key partnetship between the police and schools. The aim of sharing information with local schools is to allow school staff the opportunity to engage with the child as well as providing access to support that allows them to remain in a safe but secure and familiar environment.

Following the report of an incident of domestic abuse, the school's Headteacher will be informed that a child or young person has been involved in a domestic incident before 9.10am on the next school day.

This knowledge, given through Operation Encompass, allows school staff to provide immediate early intervention through silent or overt support depending on the needs and wishes of the child.

Mrs Peake is our school's Encompass Lead.

Safeguarding Policy

There are three main elements to our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy:

Prevention

create a positive school atmosphere where children feel safe
give children opportunities to have a voice, express their wishes and feelings while staff listen to and take these in to account
develop mutually respectful relationships between children and staff
provide both teaching and pastoral support for children

Protection

By following agreed procedures

we ensure staff are trained to recognise the possible signs and symptoms of abuse
we train and support staff in knowing how to respond appropriately and sensitively to child protection concerns

Support

We support children and school staff who may have been abused

We safeguard our children in a range of different ways:

Staff and visitors: ensuring they are vetted, informed and trained
Children's Behaviour: promoting safer and happier behaviours and lifstyles
Parents and Carers: promoting links and suppporting families
Premises: keeping them safe and secure, pleasant and fit for purpose
Curriculum: providing positive learning experiences
Outside school: ensuring safer activities and environments outside school

For further information please find our current Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy as well as our Child-Friendly Safeguarding Policy.

Information Sharing

We have an obligation to gather essential information from parents before their child is admitted to our school or Nursery.

This includes:

emergency contact numbers
your child's special dietary requirements or any food allergies your child may have
your child's special health requirements
information about who has legal contact with your child and who has parental responsibility for your child

In addition, we will request written parental permission for:

Staff providing emergency medical advice or treatement
Your child to access the internet in school
Photos and videos of your child to be recorded in school and used in different ways e.g. on a display, on the website, in the newsletter or on the school's Facebook page
Other adults who can collect your child from school

Staff

Safer recruitment

We follow strict procedures to make sure that everyone who works with our children is vetted, keeping our children as safe as possible.

On-going checks, Staff Code of Conduct and whistleblowing policies are in line with Lancashire County Council's current policies and practices.

Staff training

Staff are trained in child protection issues and are aware of the procedures to follow
Staff are encouraged to be vigilant in order to maintain the safety of our children
All staff and volunteers have read the document 'Keeping Children Safe In Education 2024 Part 1
All staff have of up-to-date understanding of safeguarding children issues and are able to implement the Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy
Policies are in line with both Lancashire County Council and national guidance and procedures

Staff are able to respond appropriately to any:

significant changes in staff behaviour
deterioration in their general well-being
unexplained bruising, marks or signs of possible abuse
signs of neglect
comments children make which give cause for concer

All staff are aware of the need to maintain privacy and confidentiality

Online Safety

The internet is a huge resource available to our children. It is an amazing tool for both teaching and learning, both at home and school.

We believe it is important that all users from children to adults ar educated about how to use the internet safely.

What is Online Safety?

Online Safety is ELECTRONIC SAFETY for ALL - especially children. It is often linked with websites such as facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, WhatsApp and any other social network. However, online safety covers all electronic safty such as idenifying both appropriate and inappropriate emails, text messages and much more.

Please make sure that you always know what your child/children are doing online. It is important to remember that when you allow your child interent access at home, parental supervision is strogly recommended. Ideally the computer, screen, tablet, phone or other device shoould be in an easily viewable position in your living area.

At West Street we educate our children about Online Safety from an early age, this continues as children move through the school. We teach Online Safety through both our Computing and Personal, Social & Health Education (P.S.H.E.) curriculum. We use the following websites as part of our Online Safety teaching as these are suitable for pupils to access both at school and at home. These websites contain activities and games for children to complete.

NSPCC Speak Out Stay Safe

Speak Out Stay Safe is a safeguarding programme for children age 5 to 11 years old. It is available to all primary schools in the UK and Channel Islands.

It helps children to understand:

abuse in all its forms and how to recognise the signs of abuse
that abuse is never a child's fault and they have the right to be safe
where to get help and the sources available to children, including the NSPCC's Childline service

All children at West Street are taking part in the Speak Out Stay Safe programme in September and October 2024.

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/services/speak-out-stay-safe

Here are some more useful publications in PDF format that parents can download and use at home:

NSPCC Let's talk PANTS POSTER for young children

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/3319/talk-pants-childrens-poster-2023-online.pdf

NSPCC PANTS for parents leaflet

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/

NSPCC more parent leaflets

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/leaflets/parent-leaflets

Childline

Online, on the phone, anytime

Phone 0800 1111