Howick Church of England Primary School

Safeguarding

Our Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Maloney and our Deputy Safeguarding Lead is Mr Hunt. 

All other members of staff are regularly trained and updated in safeguarding and child protection. 

Our Safeguarding Governor is Mrs D Tomlinson. 

More information about Howick's approach to safeguarding and child protection can be found in Safeguarding/Child Protection Policy on the Policy Page. 

At Howick, we fully recognise our responsibility for safeguarding children and young people. It is difficult to accept, but every child can be hurt, put at risk of harm or abused, regardless of their age, gender, religion or ethnicity. That is why we do everything within our power to:

• protect children from maltreatment.
• prevent impairment of children’s health or development.
• ensure that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
• take action to enable all children and young people to secure the best outcomes.

The action we take at our school to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play and we recognise, and take our part very seriously in, this. We ensure that we operate a child-centred safeguarding system. We recognise that children want to be respected; have their views heard; to have stable relationships with their teachers, built on trust; and to have consistent support for their individual needs.

Our school recognises that it has a duty to ensure arrangements are in place for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we will carry out this duty through our teaching and learning, pastoral care and extended school activities. All members of the community (including volunteers and governors) will establish and maintain a safe and stimulating environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk to adults they can trust and are listened to. Through training, all staff (teaching and non-teaching) will be able to recognise the signs of abuse and understand their responsibilities when a child may be at risk of harm. Training of all staff will be updated annually.

Staff Recruitment

In line with the ‘Safer Recruitment’ guidance, the Headteacher, school bursar and some Governors have completed Safer Recruitment training. All staff including volunteers have been carefully selected and screened and all have had an enhanced DBS check prior to commencing work. Details of all checks are held in a central record. Staff will be inducted into the school and training will be given with regard to child protection.

Designated Members of Staff

The designated Child Protection Leader is Mrs P Maloney (Head Teacher), the deputy designated officer is Mr A Hunt (deputy head and SENCo).

Our designated members of staff are fully trained and receive updated DSL training every 2 years.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead ensures all confidential records are kept securely. It is the responsibility of the designated member of staff to have discussions with Social Care when concerns arise regarding the safety of a pupil in the school. All such pupils are closely monitored, including attendance, and where extra concerns arise these are always passed on to the appropriate agencies. The Designated Lead ensures that all staff are trained with regard to Safeguarding and Child Protection.

Designated Governor

Our school has a designated safeguarding and prevent governor, Mrs D Tomlinson, who will act as the link person between the governing body and the Designated Leaders. The governor will review safeguarding procedures/practices including access to training through regular meetings with the Designated Persons. The governors will ensure that sufficient time is given to carry out the duties including accessing training. Where safeguarding concerns arise regarding a member of staff, the governor will liaise with the Chair of Governors.

Operation Encompass

Howick C of E Primary School is part of Operation Encompass. Our Operation Encompass leads are Mrs Maloney (Headteacher) and Mr Hunt (Deputy Headteacher).

Operation Encompass is supporting children through key adults. Operation Encompass is the reporting to schools before 9am on a school day when a child or young person has been involved or exposed to a domestic abuse incident the previous evening.

Parents

Our School believes in working closely with parents/carers and there is an open-door policy so that parents/carers can feel able to visit at any time to discuss concerns. We are an Operation Encompass School and work in partnership with the MASH team and Police to support our families and children.

Our School is fully committed to the Safeguarding of Children and our School Safeguarding Policy can be found below.

Online Safety

In this ever changing digital world keeping children safe online is becoming increasingly difficult for parents. The National Online Safety is a website dedicated to online safety and is packed with useful, easy accessible information for parents on how to keep children safe online. Take a look at the following link which will take you to a range of useful leaflets each targeting a different topic related to online safety.

https://nationalonlinesafety.com/resources/platform-guides/

You can find some of their advice leaflets below. Click on the files below to download a leaflet.