Safeguarding
At Saint Francis Primary School we acknowledge our duty of care to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and are committed to ensuring our safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance and complies with best practice and Leeds City Council requirements.
Designated Safeguarding Leads
The Designated Safeguarding Lead personnel for Saint Francis Primary School are:
Mrs G. Gibbons - Headteacher
Miss W. Grayston - Assistant headteacher and Year 6 teacher
Mrs S. Harrison- Learning Mentor and HLTA
Mrs A. Walker - Chair of Governors - Safeguarding governor
Intent
Our prime responsibility as a school is to ensure that all of our children are safe both at home and at school. At Saint Francis Primary School we have a culture where we make safeguarding everyone's responsibility. Safeguarding can be defined as:
‘The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that enables children to have optimum life chances and enter adulthood successfully’.
To achieve our commitment, we will ensure the continuous development and improvement of our robust safeguarding processes and procedures that promote a culture of safeguarding among our staff, governors and volunteers. We also work closely with the local Cluster and other outside agencies to support our families.
We are committed to inspiring, challenging and safeguarding our pupils, enabling them to become:
- Successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve their potential.
- Confident, well-rounded individuals who are able to live safe, healthy, happy and fulfilling lives.
- Responsible citizens who will make a positive contribution, both socially and economically, to society.
This is best achieved when we all work together to support the development of the whole child. We pride ourselves on knowing not just about our children’s learning, but about them and their families; as individuals and valued members of our school and community.
Implementation
Our Curriculum
We educate our children about safeguarding through our curriculum, via assemblies, through our 'worry box' and by having good relationships where children trust the adults around them.
We teach about respect for oneself and others in a wide variety of contexts.
We also promote awareness through a wide variety of other education to ensure safe and positive lifestyles which lead to making good choices, these include: online safety - including social media, water, rail, road and fire safety, drugs education and first aid
In our PSHE lessons we follow the 'You, Me, PSHE' curriculum which encompasses many safeguarding topics.
Our RSHE programme promotes Catholic values and virtues in accordance with Church teaching and ensures that our pupils are offered a range of viewpoints on issues. We use ‘All that I am’ for years 5 and 6, and ‘A Journey in Love’ for Nursery to Year 6.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy which can be viewed in the Policies section of our website.
Although much of the teaching around safeguarding is through discrete lessons, our school ethos, curriculum and policies ensures that we integrate safeguarding into everything we do.
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
An important part of our statutory responsibility to ensuring that we are keeping our children safe involves educating our pupils about keeping themselves safe online. As part of our computing curriculum and safeguarding procedures we teach E-safety throughout school and our teaching ensures that we not only meet the expectations of the curriculum in this respect but that we actively respond to issues that arise due to rapidly developing technology. We follow advice from the Leeds Safeguarding Team and use a range of websites to support our teaching and learning around e-safety.
Staff Responsibilities
All adults who work in our school have a responsibility to read and understand the key safeguarding policies and to act within accordance of the policy at all times. This expectation is explained in the Staff Handbook and in the visitors' ‘Welcome’ leaflet. (Available at the school office)
All adults in school are expected to read the DfE booklet: 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' and 'Annexe A'. This was revised in September 2020. They also read the 'Safer Working Practice Guidance'; the school Child Protection Policy; the School's Whistleblowing Policy; the Behaviour and Discipline Policy and the new guidance on 'Children Missing in Education'. We also make it very clear who the Designated Child Protection Staff are and what their responsibilities are. Staff are required to sign to say they have read and understood these documents on an annual basis. Our staff are kept up to date on a regular basis through notices and one minute guides.
Staff undertake Child Protection Training every three years.
Staff took part in Safer Working Practice training in June 2019.
The Designated staff undertake additional training courses to ensure that they keep their training up to date.
Governors are asked to read the same documents and sign to say they have read them. They must also read Annexe C about Online Safety and the section regarding Safer Recruitment. Several of our Governors are also 'Safer Recruitment' trained to support the school in the recruitment process.
All staff and governors are kept up to date with half termly 'One Minute Guides'.
Keeping Children Safe in Education
Contact information
If you have any worries or concerns about any of our children or our families, including your own family - we are here to help and support in a non-judgmental manner. Please don't wait, contact a member of staff confidentially as soon as possible, the door is always open. Remember, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Contact the school on: 0113 3230554
If you would like to take your concern directly to Children's Social Work Services, you can call Duty and Advice:
Weekdays (9am-5pm) - 0113 3760336 (option 3).
Evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays, contact the emergency team: 0113 5350600.
Alternatively, if you feel that a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
Links and resources
Below is a link with information from the Prevent Team. The information provided on the site will provide people with knowledge of Prevent in Leeds. There are also links to very useful documents as well as information on the Channel programme that we hope people find useful. https://doinggoodleeds.org.uk/blog/prevent-programme-in-leeds/
Leeds Safeguarding Children’s Partnership https://www.leedsscp.org.uk/Home
Poster Campaign in Respect of Physical Chastisement
The Government's Educate Against Hate website
Please use this link to the most up to date guidance on how to keep our children safe online. LSCP: Leeds safeguarding Children Partnership
The Leeds Safeguarding Team have provided information about a range of websites to support us in our approach to keeping our children safe online:
The link below is a guide to internet safety and safe surfing for young people from Think U Know. Learn about online safety when using blogs, chatting, online gaming, P2P and other forms of media
Children are told it’s good to share, but sharing too much online can be dangerous; we’ve got simple advice on keeping children safe on social networks. Follow the link below for more information.
The link below will take you to Childnet International, a non-profit organisation working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children.
From Facebook and Instagram to Snapchat and Tumblr a simple no-nonsense guide for parents from NSPCC and O2 to the social media, apps and games that kids use. Please follow the link below.
www.childnet.com/cyberbullying-guidance
https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
Copy of CSE Social Media Library
Squid Games safety link for Parents.
To view the Whatsapp Guide for Parents click here. This document has been published by the National Online Safety Team.
Should you ever have any concerns or queries around safeguarding, please do not hesitate to contact one of the school’s designated safeguarding leads:
Mrs G. Gibbons, Miss W. Grayston, Mrs S Harrison or Mrs A Walker.
Please continue to visit our website regularly to ensure you receive up to date information.
