Safeguarding

At our school, keeping every child safe is our highest priority. Our Safeguarding Leadership Team works together to make sure all children feel secure, cared for, and protected.

If you ever have a concern or worry about the safety or wellbeing of a child, please don't hesitate to contact a member of our Safeguarding Leadership Team through the school office - we are always here to listen and help.

Mr Mark Rea (Chair of Governors) and Mrs Gill Robinson (Safeguarding Governor) oversee the work of our Safeguarding Leadership Team and can also be contacted via the school office.

If you would rather speak directly to the local authority where the child lives, you can contact:

• Knowsley: 0151 443 4311
• Liverpool: 0151 459 2606
• Sefton: 0151 934 4013

You can also speak to the NSPCC anonymously by calling 0808 800 5000 or emailing [email protected].

If you ever believe that a child is at immediate risk of harm, please call 999 straight away.

In our school, one of our most important jobs is teaching our learners how to keep themselves safe. This could be in a wide range of different circumstances: road safety, sun safety, online safety and personal safety to name a few.

In school, our ‘PSHE & RSE’ curriculum includes key topics and messages that are covered in each year group (online safety is covered through our Computing curriculum). Some really important messages are included every year at an age appropriate level. We try our best to link these messages with other curriculum areas and accept any help from professionals, theatre companies and charitable organisations to help deliver these vital messages to our children.

Below are links to key school policies, practices and procedures.

In conjunction with Merseyside Police, our school is involved in an initiative called Operation Encompass. The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident. Following such an incident, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared.

Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff (called Key Adults) are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.

At our school, the Key Adults are Mrs. E. Garside (Designated Safeguarding Lead) and Mr. Garside (Headteacher).

This is a valuable initiative that means we can continue to support and help children and families within our school community when they need it most. If you have any questions about Operation Encompass please do not hesitate to contact our Key Adults.

As a parent or carer, if you are concerned about online activity, you can submit a report to CEOP (Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre).

CEOP is here to help young people who are being approached online and being asked to chat about, or participate in , things that make them feel uncomfortable.

This might be someone:

• Chatting inappropriately about topics that make your child feel uncomfortable;
• Asking your child to do things that make them feel uncomfortable;
• Asking your child to do inappropriate things or show inappropriate parts of their body on a webcam;
• Asking your child to meet up with someone, who they have only met online;
• Asking for inappropriate pictures of your child;
• Making your child feel unsafe.

If you discover that any of these things have happened to your child, we urge you to report it to the CEOP team here.

As your child gets older, it is likely they’ll want a bit more independence – including walking to and from school without an adult. Walking to school with friends is a natural step (pardon the pun!) for them to take – but when is the right time to allow them to do this? Below is a document from the NSPCC that provides some useful tips and information.

The attachment below is a general advice leaflet (written by the NSPCC) for parents who are worried about their child. It includes some general steps to take to help resolve an issue: talk about bullying and cyber-bullying, know who can help them, help your child to relax and take time out and teaching them about online safety.

The NSPCC have put together the guide below to reassure you and give you the information and advice you’ll need to keep your child safe online. The internet’s an amazing place, so we want to help your child to get the most out of it and to do that safely. The guidance is actually really simple – it’s all about talking to your child, getting the family involved, and finding out what you can do.

Childnet.com have created SMART Rules, which are 5 simple rules to help children stay safe while online. They are clearly displayed all around school wherever children may be accessing the online world. If you would like to use and display the rules at home, download the link below.

There are a vast number of different devices that can now be used by children to access the online world and while there are many benefits to this children need to be educated (both in school and at home) regarding how to use these devices in a responsible and safe way. The UK Safer Internet Centre have produced some handy, easy-to-read leaflets that provide a variety of safety tips.

In school, we have adopted these rules and teach them to the children regularly as part of our PSHE and SRE curriculum. The aim of these rules is, ultimately, to help keep all children safe. These rules help teach children important messages about respecting their body, that it belongs to them; keeping private parts of their body private; ‘no means no’; and that talking to trusted adults about worries and secrets is important. Below are two attachments: a guide for parents and carers to support this NSPCC campaign to eliminate sexual abuse and a child friendly version of the rules.

For specific advice with regards to communicating these key messages to children with learning difficulties or autism please speak to Mr. M. Garside (Designate Safeguarding Lead) or Mrs. H. Gough (SENCo).

Sexting is the taking and sharing of inappropriate or explicit pictures or videos. The below attachment is a parents’ guide, which provides advice regarding what to do if your child shares or receives an appropriate image or video.

A young carer is someone aged 18 or under who helps look after a relative with a disability, illness, mental health condition or an addiction. If you’re a young carer, you probably look after one of your parents, or care for a brother or sister.

When you are looking after somebody, it can be tough: it can be difficult to find time to spend with your friends and it can be difficult to dedicate enough time to your school work.

If you are a young carer, or know somebody who is a young carer, there is lots of help and support that can be accessed. To learn more, you can make an appointment to speak to our school’s Young Carers’ Champion (Mr. Garside) or contact one of the organisations below who will be happy to help:

• Barnado’s (Liverpool) 0151 228 4455
• PSS (Peron Shaped Support) (Sefton) 0151 702 5502
• Youth Mutual (Knowsley) 0151 443 5323