Safeguarding

"Children are always at the centre of leaders' decisions".

OFSTED, December 2021

St Francis CE Primary School recognises its responsibility for Safeguarding and Child Protection and believes that the welfare of all children is of paramount concern.

What is safeguarding?

Safeguarding (as defined in the Joint Inspector’s Safeguarding report) is taken to mean ‘All agencies working with children, young people and their families take all reasonable measures to ensure that the risk of harm to children’s welfare is minimised’ and ‘where there are concerns about children and young people’s welfare, all agencies take all appropriate actions to address those concerns. ‘

There are five main elements;

• Staff recruitment and training – ensuring that all staff (including regular volunteers) who have unsupervised access to children, have been appropriately checked for their suitability through the recruitment process, DBS procedure and are appropriately inducted and trained.

• Raising awareness of child protection issues and equipping children with the skills needed to keep them safe.

• Developing and implementing procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases of abuse.

• Supporting children who have been abused in accordance with his/her child protection plan and those identified as vulnerable.

• Establishing a safe and nurturing environment free from discrimination or bullying where children can learn and develop happily in line with our school values.

As part of our safeguarding duties, we also recognise that we have a duty to protect children from the risk of radicalisation in the line with the government Prevent duty. Radicalisation refers to the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and forms of extremism.

If you have any concerns about the welfare or safety of a child please speak to one of our designated leads for safeguarding:

Mrs Fleur Belcher (Co-Headteacher)

Mrs Lorraine Wood (Co-Headteacher)

Mr Simon Bushell (Assistant Headteacher)

Mrs Hooker (HSLW)

Mr Rob MacDougall (Safeguarding Governor)

Relevant policies and documents

Please click the links below to view the relevant policies and documents.

Visitors policy

Parents and Carers Code of Conduct

Anti Bullying Policy

Whistleblowing PolicyKeeping Children Safe in Education 2023

E-Safety

At St Francis we believe it is very important to give E-Safety a high profile and to ensure that all pupils using technology, both in school and at home, understand how to remain safe and in control. For further information, please see our E-safety policy and codes of conduct which can be found on the Information Technology curriculum page.

E-safety policy

The following websites contain useful advice for children and parents/ carers.

CEOP Child exploitation and online protection centre 

Thinkuknow  

CBBC

UK Safer Internet Centre 

Kidsmart    

Further information

Additional information relating to safeguarding can be accessed by clicking on the links below.