Creating a Culture of Safeguarding

The welfare of all children is of paramount importance at St Aidan's Catholic Primary School. In line with our Mission Statement, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and protecting them from harm. This is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play. St Aidan’s continues to treat safeguarding as a high priority to ensure the safety, health and well-being of all children, staff and visitors is given due consideration.

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

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 guidance from the DfE

What to do if you are 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

St Aidan's Safeguarding Policy (link to School Policies page)

St Aidan's Attendance Policy (link to School Policies page)

When a child discloses a safeguarding concern

We know our children well, and it is this which allows us to identify when a child is not their usual self and to respond accordingly. We listen to the children; we hear their voice. We remind them regularly about safe adults they can turn to if ever they need support.

All staff, volunteers and visitors are tasked with being vigilant to the children's needs and to the signs of abuse.

We work in partnership with parents and carers for the safety of all children. We work in partnership with Children's Services and other support agencies when necessary.

Children have lessons as part of their Education in Personal Relationships to teach them about how to keep themselves safe, how to resist pressure and how to seek help when needed.

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

St Aidan's provides a secure site, which is managed through:

visitors and volunteers must only enter through the main entrance, sign in at the office and are given a visitors badge.
children are dismissed at the end of the day to adults with parental responsibility or confirmed permission
Teaching staff and senior leaders are present at the school gate and playground in the mornings during drop off and in the afternoon for dismissal

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 (December 2023) 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

Monitoring Safeguarding Concerns

We have strong monitoring systems in place to ensure that all statutory requirements are met. Staff are required to regularly review their understanding of school policies and procedures to keep themselves alert to the responsibility we hold to keep children safe.

If a pupil discloses to a member of staff that they are being abused or highlight a concern, 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 our staff will:

Tell a designated safeguarding lead (DSL) as soon as they can.
Make a record of their concerns directly onto our school reporting system, CPOMs, recording the facts as accurately as possible without expressing an opinion.
Not take photographs of any physical injuries but record them on a body map if necessary.
Not make any audio recordings.

Designated Safeguarding Leads

Gabriella Logue (Headteacher)

Caterina Hughes (Deputy Headteacher)

Elizabeth Wright (SENCo & Inclusion)

Colette Luke (Senior Leader)

Jen Blackburne (Wrap Around Care Leader)

Nominated Governor for Safeguarding

Dr Trevor Papworth

The Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy can be found in our under Key Information section and clicking on, 'Safeguarding and Child Protection'. There is also a link at the top of this page to 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' which is the statutory document which guides schools in their duties.

Our school monitoring system for safeguarding is CPOMs. All staff record any safeguarding concerns on CPOMs and each incident is reviewed by the school's Safeguarding Leads. Incidents and cases are reviewed regularly to ensure that the best and most appropriate support is put in place to help a child in need.

CPOMs is now commonly used amongst local schools which ensures the accurate and timely transfer of records when children move schools.

A regular audit is carried out by Croydon’s Safeguarding Children's Partnership. The school Governors also audit Safeguarding too to ensure that they meet their statutory duties and that the school's culture of safeguarding is robust.

'It could happen here' summarises our approach to safeguarding, and we do our best to be ready to counter any instances of abuse.

First aid

Every Teaching Assistant at St Aidan's is paediatric first aid trained. In addition to this, two office staff are also paediatric first aid trained as well as our Wrap-around-care Leader.

First aid kits are located in all classes, the office and by the external Early Years (Reception) outside area 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 to a child's head, a text message is sent to the parents. Parents may also receive a direct phone call.
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.