St Michael’s School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment. Staff work hard to maintain an environment where children feel safe and secure. The curriculum is designed to ensure opportunities for children to develop the skills they need to recognise and stay safe from abuse including whilst accessing the internet. Children know that they can approach any of the adults in school if they are worried and that they will receive a consistent supportive response.
If you have any issues regarding the safety and welfare of any child within our school please relay your concerns to:
To contact one of our safeguarding leads phone 01263 732260 or go to the school office.
At St Michael’s CofE VA Primary and Nursery school we work together to make everyone safe. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. If you have a concern about a child, report it immediately. If staff members or visitors have concernes about a child, they should raise these with the designated safeguarding lead. This includes vulnerability to radicalisation as well as situations of abuse, which may involve staff members. If the senior person is absent, they all concerns should be raised with the deputy safeguarding lead.
If you are concerned there is immediate risk of serious harm to a child, a referral should be made to children’s social care immediately. Anybody can make a referral. If the child’s situation does not appear to be improving, the staff member with concerns should press for reconsideration. Concerns should always lead to help for the child at some point.
Child’s Advice and Duty Service (CADS)@ 0344 800 8020
Local Authority Designated Officer: 01603 307797
Police: 101 or 999
NSPCC helpline (24hr): 0800 800 5000
To fulfill our responsibilities for Safeguarding and Child Protection, we:
- Have clear staff recruitment and selection procedures, ensuring that all staff (including volunteers) who have unsupervised access to children, have been appropriately checked for their suitability through the DBS procedure.
- Aim to raise awareness of child protection issues and equip children with the skills needed to keep them safe.
- Develop and implement procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases of abuse.
- Support children who have been abused in accordance with his/her Child Protection Plan.
- Establish a safe and nurturing environment free from discrimination or bullying where children can learn and develop happily.
- We follow the government’s PREVENT strategy, to safeguard against radicalisation and extremism.
Fiona Tibbitt, Business and Operations Manager is the Designated Safeguarding Lead and Julie Phillips Deputy Headteacher and Sharon McCann, are the Deputy DSLs. Do not hesitate to talk to one of them if you have worries.
Fiona Tibbitt is a trained Domestic Abuse Awareness Champions.
Sharon McCann and Fiona Tibbitt are trained Child Mental Health Champions.
Please note that staff and other adults in school should wear Identity badges on lanyards at all times. Children should be made aware of their significance and feel able to tell us if they see an adult in school during the day who isn’t wearing one.
