Safeguarding

At St.Margaret’s C of E School, we regard the safeguarding of children as our main priority. We believe that we all have the right to be happy, to be safe and to learn. We all have the responsibility to make this happen.

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 St Margaret’s CE Primary School

Our Designated Safeguarding Leads

Policy

Click here to view our Safeguarding Policy ‘Keeping Children Safe in School’

Training

4 members of staff are trained in Level 2 safeguarding and child protection and are these are our Designated Safe-guarding Leads:

• Mrs H Tait (Headteacher)
• Mrs C Black (Deputy Headteacher)
• Mrs A Bell (Assistant Headteacher)
• Mrs C Frew (Upper Junior Team Leader)

All other staff and governors have been trained in Level 1 safeguarding and child protection. Our safeguarding leads, listed above, regularly access additional training, for example in FGM, Prevent, Online Safety, Child Sexual Exploitation and Domestic Violence.

Procedure

• If anyone has a concern regarding a child, details are noted down – this is then given to and discussed with one of the safeguarding leads named above. The note of concern is scanned in to CPOMs and a 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 St Margaret’s 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;
• If they can provide proof of an up-to-date DBS certificate or another equivalent form of identification, the sticker is green. If proof of this is unavailable, they will be given a red sticker and will be chaperoned during any time spent in contact with children;
• Visitors are asked to read the visitors’ guide to safeguarding;
• Regular visitors are provided with an induction booklet to ensure they follow school protocol.