Safeguarding – St Aidan's Catholic Primary School

Safeguarding Statement

At Saint Aidan's the welfare of all children is of paramount importance. We aim to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and help them to achieve good outcomes. We will achieve this by providing a safe learning environment and ensuring school staff have the skills and knowledge to take action where children need extra
support from early help services or require a social work service because they
are in need or need to be protected from harm.

We follow the following government policies to support the protection of pupils who at risk of significant harm:

KCSIE_2021_September_guidance

What_to_do_if_you_re_worried_a_child_is_being_abused

The London Safeguarding Children Board child protection procedures

Working_together_to_safeguard_children_inter_agency_guidance

Croydon Safeguarding Board local policies and procedures

When a child discloses a safeguarding concern

Whistleblowing

As a school we promote a culture of openness and have strategies in place to ensure staff feel able to raise concerns relating to the safeguarding of children or any practice within the school which may cause a risk to children.

All staff and volunteers have a legal duty to raise concerns where they feel individuals or school are failing to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Where it is not possible to raise concerns within the school, staff and volunteers may report concerns to the following;

Croydon's lead officers for child protection or safeguarding where there are issues regatding the welfare of a pupil,
The following numbers can be used where there are issues regarding the school's overall procedures around safeguarding.
Croydon Council's confidential whistle blowing email address - schoolwhistle@croydon.gov.uk
OFSTED whistle-blowing line on 0300 123 3155

Site security

Saint Aidan's provides a secure site, which is managed though:

visitors and volunteers must only enter through the main entrance and after signing in at the office
children are dismissed at the end of the day to adults with parental responsibility or confirmed permission

Appointments of staff and induction or newly appointed staff and work placements

All staff employed by the school have an enhanced DBS which highlights any person who may have a criminal record or previous allegations made about them.

When anyone is recruited there is always a member on the panel who is safer recruitment trained.

New staff are inducted into the schools safeguarding policy and procedures and have a mentor for a period of time to familiarise them with the health and safety of all at the school but especially the children.

Responding to an allegation made against a member of staff or volunteer

We follow the UK Government Working Together to Safeguard Children (July 2018) guidance. To download a copy, please click here.

This guidance states that the following process must be followed if the allegation within the scope of the statutory guidance meets the harms threshold and an adult has:

Behaved in a way that has, or may have harmed a child
Possibly committed a criminal offence against/related to a child
Behaved towards a child or children in a way which indicates s/he would pose a risk of harm if they work regularly or closely with children
Behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children

When an allegation or concern is made against a member of staff or volunteer relating to a person's conduct towards a child, the following process must be followed:

The allegation or concern must immediately be reported to the Headteacher or, in their absence, the Deputy Head Teacher.

If the allegation or concern fits within the scope of the guidance, the Headteacher must report the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) within the same working day.

The LADO will discuss the matter with the Headteacher in order to decide which process should be followed. Where it is believed that the allegation falls within the scope of guidance, there are three possible strands to enquiries that may be initiated:

Child Protection
Criminal Enquiries
Disciplinary

If the matter is felt to constitute a criminal offence, the police will be informed and a strategy meeting held. If the matter is felt to be child protection, Croydon Safeguarding Children Partnership (CSCP) will be informed and a strategy meeting held.

If the matter is felt to amount to an employment or capability issue the matter will be discussed with Croydon Human Resources Department.

If the allegation is against the Headteacher, report to the Chair of Governors.

What to do if you have a concern about a child

If a pupil discloses to a member of staff that they are being abused, the member of staff should:

Listen carefully to what they're saying. Be patient and focus on what they’re being told. Try not to express their own views and feelings as this may prevent the child from disclosing.
Allow the child to talk freely.
Reassure the child they have done the right thing without making promises that it may not be possible to keep or promise to keep things confidential.
Reassure the child that it's not their fault
Say they'll take them seriously. Make sure the child knows they can trust them and they’ll listen and support them.
Won't ask direct questions but allow the child to tell their story without leading questions.
Don't confront the alleged abuser or make any criticism of them.
Explain what they'll do next and who has to be told.
Report what the child has told them as soon as possible.

Once an allegation has been made then the member of staff will:

Tell the designated safeguarding lead or deputy DSL as soon as they can.
They will make a record of their concerns directly onto CPOMs recording the facts as accurately as possible without expressing an opinion.
Reports will be logged onto CPOMS https://staidanscroydon.cpoms.net
They will not take photographs of any physical injuries but record them on a body map if necessary. They will also not make any audio recordings.

Deputy Safeguarding Leads

Elizabeth Wright

Colette Luke

Jen Blackburne

Caterina Hughes

Nominated Governor for Safeguarding

Trevor Papworth

First aid

All staff have received basic first aid training as part of our rolling CPD programme. In addition to this, all office staff, two members of full time staff and the head of wrap around care are paediatric first aid trained.

First aid kits are located in all classes, the office and by the external infant door for playtimes.

If a child is feeling unwell or has had an accident the following protocol is followed:

A trained first aider is consulted
The incident is logged in the accident book
If there has been contact with the head a text message is sent to the parents
If there is any doubt regarding the child's medical condition, a parent is contacted and medical guidance sought.

Checks on staff and volunteers

As a rule, anyone who has regular contact with children must be subject to an enhanced DBS check. In addition, checks will also be undertaken for all members of the governing body, regardless of their contact with children.

Volunteers/parents attending one off school trips or events which are non residential are not required to have an enhanced DBS check.