Child Protection

Safeguarding is a term which is broader than ‘child protection’ and relates to the action taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. It includes action against bullying, including cyberbullying and online safety, treating all children equally regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs, preventing impairment of health and development, ensuring that all children are effectively cared for, and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

Child protection relates to system-wide procedures for keeping children safe. This includes staff training and awareness, liaison with other agencies (e.g. Multi-Agency Team, Social Care, the police), safer recruitment (including rigorous vetting and background checks on appointed staff), and protecting children from issues such as domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, children missing from education, child sexual exploitation, racism, extremism and so on.

Specifically, child protection focuses mainly on four categories of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional and neglect. Neglect, physical and sexual abuse will also include emotional abuse, but this can be a category on its own. For definitions, see our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

The Staff and Governors at Firs Primary School recognise that they have a duty to ensure arrangements are in place for Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and we will carry this duty through our teaching and learning, pastoral care and extended school activities. All members of the school community (including volunteers and governors) will at all times establish and maintain a safe and stimulating environments; an environment where children feel secure, where children are encouraged to talk to adults they can trust and where children are listened to.

Keeping children safe and protecting them from harm is the most important thing we do as a school. If children are not safe, they cannot flourish, form effective relationships with adults or their peers, or achieve their full potential in life. We therefore take our responsibilities in this area with the utmost seriousness.

Parents should be aware that the school is required to take any reasonable action to ensure the safety of its pupils. In cases where the school has reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse, the Headteacher is obliged to follow the Child Protection Procedures established by the Derby & Derbyshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership and inform Children’s Social Care of the concern.

Site Security

All staff and visiting adults sign in to school and wear identification tags. The outer doors and gates are locked, and a fob system is in operation for access to the building. The site supervisor conducts perimeter checks every morning, and ensures that the site is secure.

Early Help

We also provide Early Help support for families – please make contact with one of the safeguarding team and we will be able to support where needed.

Click here for more information

All staff and governors are trained in Child Protection and Safeguarding, and this is updated regularly. Some senior staff are trained to a higher level; the key roles in the school are:

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Paula Martin (Headteacher)

Deputy DSL: Linda Talbot; Rachel Blurton; David Jones; and Abbie Sheldon

The Lead Governor for Safeguarding is Adem Repesa

The Chair of Governors is Steve Grundy

If there are any safeguarding concerns, Mrs Martin and Mrs Blurton can be contacted during and outside school hours on safeguarding@firsprimary.derby.sch.uk

Regular visitors come to teach the children about aspects of personal safety (e.g. fire service, health, police), and children are kept informed via whole school assemblies of how to stay safe and what to do if certain situations occur (e.g. cyberbullying). Teachers also give age-appropriate messages via PSHE lessons and class worship every week.

After appropriate background checks (e.g. enhanced DBS), all staff receive induction training in safeguarding. Staff must read a variety of documents, and leaders ensure that they have understood the information and a document is signed to confirm this. All adults who work in school have their details kept on the ‘Single Central Record’, which is managed by the School Business Manager and checked by the Headteacher and Link Governor for Safeguarding. Staff receive training around being vigilant to forms of harm and abuse, and understand which procedures to follow if they suspect that this may have happened. All records are kept securely by the DSL, and the school uses an online system for this called My Concern.

The DSL completes an annual safeguarding audit (s175), and from this writes and shares a s175 action plan with governors. There are many school policies for safeguarding, some of which are included in the policies section of this website.

If you have any concerns about a child, including in relation to any of the areas above (especially the four categories of abuse), you can call Derby Social Care (Initial Response Team) on 01332 641172. Alternatively, you may speak to your child’s teacher or one of the adults named above. All information will be treated confidentially, and we will not reveal your name to any other parent. Staff are trained to pass information on to the DSLs mentioned above, and there are clear forms and procedures within school for doing this. The DSLs will then discuss the issue and decide on what course of action to take, which may include a referral to e.g. social care. Unless we think that this will result in immediate danger to the child in question, we would also at this point liaise with and inform the parents of the child, although any referral to us will remain anonymous.

If you have an urgent safeguarding concern and you are concerned about the safety of yourself or a young person you know, please ring one of the numbers below and seek immediate help:

Police: Emergency 999 / non-emergency 101

First Contact (Derby City Children’s Social Care, first response team, weekdays 9am – 5pm): 01332 641172, option 1

Starting Point (Derbyshire Children’s Social Care, weekdays 9am – 5pm) 01629 533190

Careline: (Children’s Social Care, out of hours team- evenings, bank holidays and weekends): 01332 956606

Young people can also ring Childline on 0800 1111- 24 hours a day

Children in Care

• Ensure that school policies and procedures are followed for Children in Care, as for all children
• Ensure that all Children in Care have access to a broad and balanced curriculum
• Provide a differentiated curriculum appropriate to the individual’s needs and ability
• Ensure that Children in Care pupils take as full a part as possible in all school activities
• Ensure that carers and social workers of Children in Care pupils are kept fully informed of their child’s progress and attainment
• Ensure that Children in Care pupils are involved, where practicable, in decisions affecting their future provision