Keeping children safe is at the centre of all we do in school and we have robust procedures to enable this. The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Lisa Eadie and the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is Miss Esther Wooddisse. The school is obliged, and will, report any allegations of abuse against children and will work with other agencies in the interests of all children.
Parent/carers can make their own referrals to the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) if they have any safeguarding concerns about children:
Designated teachers have their statutory Level 3 training and regular updates. All staff complete annual training and have ongoing updates through emails, posters, meetings and scenarios to ensure the children in our care are kept safe.
We had an external audit of our safeguarding procedures in Autumn 2020 by the Local Authority and were delighted that the report found exemplary practices at the school. A health and safety audit in Spring 2022 reported that the school is 100% compliant with managing a safe environment for teaching and learning.
Operation Encompass Safeguarding Statement
Our school is part of Operation Encompass.
Operation Encompass is a national police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Violence and Abuse and which is in place in every police force in England and Wales.
Children were recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act.
Operation Encompass means that the police will share information with our school about all police attended Domestic Abuse incidents which involve any of our children PRIOR to the start of the next school day.
Once a Key Adult (DSL) and their deputy/ies (DDSLs) have attended either an Operation Encompass briefing or completed the online Operation Encompass Key Adult training they will cascade the principles of Operation Encompass to all other school staff and Governors. All schools staff and Governors can undertake the online training.
Our DSL undertook training in November 2017 for Operation Encompass was Level 3 trained on 2014 with regular refresher and updates every year since.
Our DDSLs undertook Level 3 training in October 2019 with updates every year following.
Our Safeguarding Governor undertook training in March 2018 and has updated her training.
All staff have completed safeguarding training in September 2022.
Our parents are fully aware that we are an Operation Encompass school and we ensure that when a new child joins our school the parents/carers are informed about Operation Encompass.
The Operation Encompass information is stored in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information.
As a staff we have discussed how we can support our children who are experiencing Domestic Violence and Abuse on a day-to-day basis and particularly following the Operation Encompass notification. We have used the Operation Encompass Handbooks to inform our thinking.
We are aware that we must do nothing that puts the child/ren or the non-abusing adult at risk.
The Safeguarding Governor will report on Operation Encompass in the termly report to Governors. All information is anonymised for these reports.
We have used the Operation Encompass Key Adult Responsibilities checklist to ensure that all appropriate actions have been taken by the school.
When Head Teacher, DSL or DDSLs leave the school and other staff are appointed, they will ensure that all Operation Encompass log in details are shared with the new Head Teacher /Key Adults and that the new member of staff will undertake the Operation Encompass online training.
