Safeguarding: Keeping Your Children Safe
The safety and well being of your child is of prime importance to us as a school. Here are some links and policies to show how we ensure this.
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Child Protection & Safeguarding |
Safeguarding & Welfare Team
“Safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility”
Children have a right to be cared for and protected, protecting them is everyone’s responsibility. Here at St Nicolas Primary School we have a duty of care to ensure that all users of the school are kept safe from harm. We are committed to provide a secure and supportive environment in which children can develop and grow into mature and responsible people. Safeguarding children is an essential part of our holistic approach to ensure that children are protected from abuse and neglect and that every child reaches their full potential.
The school’s staff, volunteers and service providers have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children as a shared responsibility with parents and other carers. To support this statement, the school may signpost to services that are specialised to promote opportunity, prevent problems, act early and act effectively if and when concerns arise. Therefore, whilst we do not want to worry you, we will report to Children’s Social Care (Brighton and Hove’s Front Door For Families) if we have any reason to believe that a child may be at risk of suffering abuse or neglect.
Parents/carers are normally our first point of contact, and if a suspicion of abuse is recorded, parents/carers will be informed at the same time that the record is made; we will support parents/carers and ensure we work in collaboration with them to protect children. Working with parents/carers to prevent abuse is our primary aim and only when that has failed or in emergency situations will a referral be made to social care. When a referral is made to social care, parents will be notified beforehand, except when guidance from social care or the police does not allow this.
We cannot safeguard children alone. All children’s services agencies work in partnership with each other. There are duties and rules about information sharing but if staff, parents or carers have any concerns about a child, other parent, provider, agency or any person, they have a responsibility to report those concerns and we must record and act on them. We have a ‘St Nicolas Primary School Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy’. The policy applies to all children and young people regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or religion. It is a requirement that all users are informed of these policies and practice guidance and what they should do if they have concerns. The safeguarding policy is available from the school office.
If you have any concerns about the practice of our staff team please speak to the Designated Child Protection Officer (Mr Hayter – Deputy Head) or the Headteacher (Mr Richbell)
What you can do
Parents and carers play a role in safeguarding children in their community. If you have any concerns, no matter how small, you should report them to someone who you trust will listen. The school is required to have a designated child protection officer for this purpose. Parents and children should speak to the safeguarding officer if they have any concerns about a child or staff member.
If you think a child or young person may be in immediate danger, call 999.
Otherwise contact Brighton and Hove’s Front Door For Families.
Telephone: 01273 290400 during working hours (9am to 5pm, Monday to Thursday and 9.00am to 4.30pm on Fridays)
Outside of working hours please contact the Emergency Duty Service on 01273 335905 or 01273 335906.
National Online Safety
As a school, we have signed up to become members of National Online Safety (NOS), a company who specialise in supporting children and families with all areas of safeguarding. It is free for any of our families to become members of NOS. All you need to do is click on the following link and set yourself up with an account: St Nicolas nationalonlinesafety log-in
We would ask that you do not share this link with families from other schools as we have paid for a subscription to use this service.
Once you have logged in, you will find a selection of videos, training courses, information leaflets and much more on a whole range of topics linked to helping to keep our children safe.
Our school is part of 'Operation Encompass'.
This is a joint project with Sussex Police which started in September 2018. The project provides early reporting to schools of any domestic abuse incidents involving children (incidents in which a child was present, ordinarily resides at the incident location or with an involved party).
We know that children and young people can be significantly affected through witnessing or being exposed to domestic abuse and this operation will allow our school to better support our children and their families. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) has been trained to liaise with the police. They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the right support is available should it be required by a child and/or their family. We are keen to offer the best support available to our children and we believe this project is extremely beneficial for all those involved.
Additional information about Operation Encompass is available at www.operationencompass.org
Information about a wide range of local services for families is available at www.familyinfobrighton.org.uk
If you have any concerns or questions then please contact a member of our Safeguarding & Welfare Team and we will be happy to discuss this further.