SHOBDON PRIMARY SCHOOL
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN (CHILD PROTECTION) POLICY
SAFEGUARDING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Safeguarding Policy Supervisor: Mrs V Hancock – Headteacher
Safeguarding Governor Mr J Hedges
LAC Governor: Mr J Davies
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Mrs V Hancock
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs G Morgan
Prevent Lead Teacher: Mrs V Hancock
Designated Teacher for LAC: Mrs V Hancock
Health and Safety Governor: Mr R Naylor
Single Central Record Administrator: Mrs F Hedges
HEREFORDSHIRE SAFEGUARDING CONTACTS:
Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)
LADO Office 01432 261708
Herefordshire Safeguarding Board: www.hscb.herefordshire.gov.uk
01432 260100
Education Safeguarding Officers:
Anne Marie Kemp 01432 260858
Liz Anstey 01432 260417 / 07792 881205
Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH): 01432 260800
1. Introduction and Context
Shobdon Primary School fully recognises its legal duty under s175 Education Act 2002 and the 1989 Children Act and takes seriously its responsibilities for child protection and strives to achieve an environment where children feel secure, supported and valued within and beyond the school gate.
The policy reflects current legislation, accepted best practice and complies with the government guidance: Working Together to Safeguard Children March 2015 and Keeping Children Safe in Education July 2015 (KCSIE). It will have due regard to the updated KCSIE Guidance to be implemented from September 2016.
This document should be read in conjunction with Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB) Inter-Agency Child Protection Policies and Procedures. These are in keeping with relevant national procedures and reflect what Herefordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board considers to be safe and professional practice in this context. Child Protection has to be considered within professionals’ wider ‘safeguarding’ responsibilities that include a duty to co-operate under the Children Act 2004 and takes account of the need for children to ‘be healthy’ and ‘stay safe’.
This policy also seeks to make the professional responsibilities clear to all staff (teaching and non-teaching) governors and volunteers, temporary and supply staff to ensure that statutory and other duties are met in accordance with Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Board requirements and procedures. All staff, volunteers and governors need to have read and be familiar with the Policy.
This Safeguarding Policy will be reviewed annually by the governing body.
2. The purpose of our safeguarding policy is:
Prevention: through the teaching and pastoral support offered to pupils and the creation and maintenance of a whole school preventative ethos. Shobdon School recognises that high self-esteem, confidence, supportive friends and good lines of communication with a trusted adult help to prevent children become victims of child abuse.
We recognise that because of the day to day contact with children, school staff are well placed to observe the outward signs of abuse. The school will therefore:
· Establish and maintain an environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk and listened to.
· Ensure children know that there are adults in the school whom they can approach if they are worried.
· Equip children with the skills they need to stay safe from abuse through SEAL, PSHE and Citizenship teaching. This will also include information about who to turn to for help. Aspects of our curriculum including Values and P4C reinforce essential skills for every child such as: self-esteem and confidence building, thinking independently and making assessments of risk based on their own judgments.
· Ensure parents are aware of our duty of care and safeguarding procedures through the school website. Ensure they know that if there is perceived need, referrals to other agencies may be made and we encourage these to be seen as a constructive and helpful measure.
Protection: by following agreed procedures for identifying, monitoring and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse; protecting children from unsuitable people through safe recruitment and school security. The school will:
· Ensure that every member of the school (including temporary, supply staff and volunteers) and the governing body receive up to date and relevant Safeguarding information on arrival and they know the name of the Designated Safeguarding Lead and their role.
· Ensure all staff and volunteers understand their responsibilities in being alert to the signs of abuse and responsibility for referring any concerns to the DMS
· Notify social services if there is any explained absence of more than two days of a pupil who is on a Child protection Plan or a Child in Need. Parents are contacted regarding the referral.
· Develop effective links with relevant agencies
· Keep written records of concerns about children
· Ensure all records are kept securely; separate from the main pupil file, and in a locked location in the Headteacher’s office.
· Develop and then follow procedures where an allegation is made against a member of staff or volunteer.
· Ensure safe recruitment practices are followed.
Support: to victims of abuse and to staff in identifying signs and symptoms of abuse. All adults who come into contact with children and young people have a duty of care to safeguard and promote their welfare.
We recognise that children who are abused or witness violence may find it difficult to develop a sense of self-worth. They may feel helplessness, humiliation and some sense of blame. School may be the only stable, secure and predictable element in the lives of children at risk. When at school their behaviour may be challenging and defiant or they may be withdrawn. The school will endeavour to support the pupil through the procedures set out by the Local Herefordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board (HSCB) www.hscb.herefordshire.gov.uk and take account of guidance issued by the Department of Education (DfE).
And also through:
• The content of the curriculum.
• The school ethos and values system which promotes a positive, supportive and secure environment and gives pupils a sense of being valued.
• The school behaviour policy which is aimed at supporting vulnerable pupils in the school. The school will ensure that the pupil knows that some behaviour is unacceptable but they are valued and not to be blamed for any abuse which has occurred.
• Liaison with other agencies that support the pupil such as social services, Child and Adult Mental Health Service (CAMHS), education welfare service (EWS) and educational psychology service (EP)
• Ensuring that, where a pupil on the child protection register leaves, their information is transferred to the new school immediately and that the child's social worker is informed.
• Alongside supporting the child the school will support staff in identifying signs and symptoms of abuse.
3.Thresholds for Intervention:
We follow the Herefordshire Levels of Need Threshold Guide published by the Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Board (August 2014)
Consideration of the severity of ill-treatment may include the extent of the harm suffered, the context within which it occurred and its duration. Significant harm may also arise from a combination of significant events which are both acute and long standing and which may impair the child’s physical, psychological and social development.
In order to both understand and evidence ‘significant harm’, it is necessary to consider the family context, together with the child’s development within their wider social and cultural environment. It is also necessary to consider any special needs, e.g. medical condition, communication difficulties or disability that may affect the child’s development and care within the family. The nature of harm, in terms of ill-treatment or failure to provide adequate care also needs consideration alongside the impact on the child’s health and development and the adequacy of care provided.
4. Significant Concerns:
Staff and other adults are clear about procedures where they are concerned about the safety of a child and there is a named and designated and deputy designated lead whose role is effective in pursuing concerns and protecting children.
Physical Abuse- May involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces illness in a child (Working Together to Safeguard Children July 2015).
Emotional Abuse - Is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development? It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only in so far as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as over protection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child from participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including Cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone (Working Together to Safeguard Children July 2015).
Neglect - Is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development? Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:
· Provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment)
· Protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger
· Ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers)
· Ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.
Sexual abuse - Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (e.g. rape, or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual online images, watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet).
5. Specific Concerns:
Our school has and makes use of access to broad government guidance on the issues listed below via the GOV.UK website:
•child sexual exploitation (CSE) See below
•bullying including cyberbullying
•domestic violence
•drugs
•fabricated or induced illness
•faith abuse
•female genital mutilation (FGM) – see also below
•forced marriage
•gangs and youth violence
•gender-based violence/violence against women and girls (VAWG)
•mental health
•private fostering
•radicalisation
•sexting
•teenage relationship abuse
•trafficking
6. Child Sexual Exploitation:
Child sexual exploitation (CSE) involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people receive something (for example food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, gifts, money or in some cases simply affection) as a result of engaging in sexual activities. Sexual exploitation can take many forms ranging from the seemingly ‘consensual’ relationship where sex is exchanged for affection or gifts, to serious organised crime by gangs and groups. What marks out exploitation is an imbalance of power in the relationship. The perpetrator always holds some kind of power over the victim which increases as the exploitative relationship develops. Sexual exploitation involves varying degrees of coercion, intimidation or enticement, including unwanted pressure from peers to have sex, sexual bullying including cyberbullying and grooming. However, it also important to recognise that some young people who are being sexually exploited do not exhibit any external signs of this abuse.
7. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Forced Marriage:
There are many different types of abuse but there are some that staff may be initially less aware of. Female genital mutilation (FGM) and Forced Marriage fall into this category. The school does have measures in place to safeguard against this type of abuse. Any indications that FGM or Forced Marriage are imminent, or have already taken place, will be dealt with under the child protection procedures.
Section 5B of the 2003 Act introduces a mandatory reporting duty which requires regulated health and social care professionals and teachers in England and Wales to report ‘known’ cases of FGM in under 18s which they identify in the course of their professional work to the police.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/469448/F GM-Mandatory-Reporting-procedural-info-FINAL.pdf
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/resourcesforprofessionals/minorityethnic/female-genital-mutilation_wda96841.html
8. Children Missing from Education:
All children, regardless of their circumstances, are entitled to a full time education which is suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. Local authorities have a duty to establish, as far as it is possible to do so, the identity of children of compulsory school age who are missing education in their area.
A child going missing from education is a potential indicator of abuse or neglect. School and college staff should follow the school’s or college’s procedures for dealing with children that go missing from education, particularly on repeat occasions, to help identify the risk of abuse and neglect, including sexual exploitation, and to help prevent the risks of their going missing in future. We will inform the local authority of any pupil who is going to be deleted from the admission register where they:
• have been taken out of school by their parents and are being educated outside the school system e.g. home education;
• have ceased to attend school and no longer live within reasonable distance of the school at which they are registered;
• have been certified by the school medical officer as unlikely to be in a fit state of health to attend school before ceasing to be of compulsory school age, and neither he/she nor his/her parent has indicated the intention to continue to attend the school after ceasing to be of compulsory school age;
• are in custody for a period of more than four months due to a final court order and the proprietor does not reasonably believe they will be returning to the school at the end of that period; or,