How we implement our policies

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Our safeguarding team pays particular attention to the meticulous and systematic implementation of policies and routines.

​At St John's Church of England Primary School, we know there can be no greater importance to parents and carers than the safety and wellbeing of their children. It is a priority that our safeguarding procedures keep our children safe.

 

Safeguarding involves every member of our community. Any concerns raised are recorded on our internal safeguarding monitoring system, which may be used to identify patterns in behaviour and help us decide on need.  Serious concerns are referred to the relevant authorities immediately. In-house, we offer early help packages and school interventions such as Social Skills Groups we also offer the Therapy Dogs service. We are able to refer children to our SENCO who may place a child in one of our SEN Forest School sessions. We have access to the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) as well as using a mentoring service, KICK, and offering 1:1 specialist interventions. 

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​If you are concerned about a child’s welfare, please record your concern and report it to one of our safeguarding team as soon as possible. Please do not conduct your own investigation.​ If your concerns relate to a member or staff, please report this directly to the Head Teacher or Chair of Governors.​ Sometimes, we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child.  If a suspicion of abuse is recorded, parents and carers will be informed at the same time that the record is made.

 

​School policies are in place to ensure that there is a consistent approach to practices throughout the school.  All policies and guidance applies to all staff and volunteers working in the school. The Governing Body monitors the school’s adherence to policies and procedures and reviews the school’s policies.​

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​​The school has a firmly embedded Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.  The policy gives details as to the procedures to identifying and reporting suspected abuse.  A high priority is given to staff training in safeguarding and weekly staff meetings have a standard agenda item for safeguarding. A Single Central Record listing of every adult who comes in to contact with children in our school and the safety checks that have taken place to ensure everyone is safe to work with children. This is checked by the Headteacher and Safeguarding Governor.

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Our curriculum is used to promote Safeguarding by teaching pupils how to stay safe, how to protect themselves from harm and how to take responsibility for their own and other’s safety.

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Prevent Duty

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From the 1st July 2015 all schools are subject to a duty under Section 26 of the Counter Terrorism Security Act 2015 to ‘have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. The Government has issued statutory ‘Prevent Duty Guidance’ and the DfE non statutory departmental advice (June 2015) for schools.

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The statutory guidance summarises the requirements on schools in terms of four general themes.

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• Risk Assessment

• Working in Partnership

• Staff training

• IT Policies

 

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How we meet the requirements

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Risk Assessment

We have a risk assessment in place to demonstrate how we have assessed the risk within our school and school community. The risk assessment focuses on the children and takes into account their age.

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Working in Partnership

The first partnership is within school and all staff are aware of specific guidance to safeguard children. We pay due attention to relevant documentation including  the most up to date versions of Working Together to Safeguard Children and Keeping Children Safe in Education.

External partners who work with our school to ensure that all children are safe and protected include Royal Borough of Kingston & Richmond Safeguarding Children Partnership; School Health; Mental Health Support Team (MHST) Children’s Social Care including the Single Point of Access Team (SPA); the Police and Educational Welfare Service.

Designated Teacher role – all staff are fully aware of school procedures and where and when to raise any concerns. The designated teachers are in direct contact with relevant partnership agencies and are able to take appropriate measures. These include concerns that may require contacting Channel.

Our school policies also support the children’s safety and wellbeing e.g. – Child Protection, Safeguarding and Anti-bullying policies.

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Training

All of our Safeguarding Leads are trained in Level 3 Safeguarding Training. In addition all of our staff are trained in Level 2 Awareness in Safeguarding. Designated Teachers attend termly network meetings organised by Royal Borough of Kingston Council and have attended the Working Together to Safeguard Children training. Other training also includes Child Sexual Exploitation Basic Awareness, Harmful Sexualised Behaviours, E-safety training. All of our training is updated annually, including reading and understanding Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). 

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PREVENT Training​

We work with Kingston & Richmond Safeguarding Children Partnership. All Staff and Governors complete the online training.