Our Safeguarding Duty of Care
Under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 (as amended), *the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, the Non-Maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2015, and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (as amended) to have arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.
The school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board’s procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.
Parents/carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Parents/carers should know that records of safeguarding concerns may be kept about their child. They should be informed that school staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including referrals to other agencies.
Local procedures state that “Consent should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, unless seeking consent would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made.” This includes allowing them to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, if it cannot be reasonably expected that a professional gains consent, or if to gain consent would place a child at risk.
Where there is a need to share special category personal data, the Data Protection Act 2018 contains ‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows professionals to share information.
In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.
Schools will contact Children’s Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children.
Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, any person who has care of a child “may….do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding promoting the child’s welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social Care and the Police investigate any concerns further.
Our Prevent Duty of Care
We follow the principles outlined in The Prevent Duty (DfE 2015) and we seek to:
- Raise awareness within school of the threat from violent extremist groups and the risks for young people.
- Provide information about what can cause violent extremism, about preventative actions taking place locally and nationally and where we can get additional information and advice.
- Help staff understand the positive contribution they can make to empower young people to create communities that are more resilient to extremism and protecting the wellbeing of particular pupils or groups who may be vulnerable to being drawn into violent extremist activity.
- Provide advice on managing risks and responding to incidents locally, nationally or internationally that might have an impact on the school community.
- Promoting Every Child Matters outcomes for all pupils
- Promoting pupil wellbeing, equalities and community cohesion
- Building the resilience of the school, working with partners, to prevent pupils becoming the victims or causes of harm
- Working with other agencies and parents to build community networks of support for the school
Our Paediatric Trained Emergency First Aiders
Mrs Samways, Mrs E Taylor, Mrs Warington, Mrs Lee, Miss H Jackson, Mrs Pedge, Mrs Hole
Our Lookout Club Peadiatric Trained Emergency First Aiders
Mrs Lee, Mrs Short, Mrs Brown, Mrs Lipscombe
Our Safer Recruitment Trained Governors
Mrs Howard, Mr Chapman, Mrs Samways, Miss Cole, Mrs Tidby & Mrs Williams
