Safeguarding

Our school is committed to ensuring the welfare of every child:

• It is the responsibility of all adults to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils

• Adults who work with children are responsible for their own actions and behaviours and should avoid any conduct which could lead any reasonable person to question their motivation and intention
• Adults must work and be seen to work in an open, transparent way.
• The same professional standards must always be applied regardless of culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious beliefs and sexual identity.

We foster a culture of openness and support and have in place a Whistleblowing policy to ensure there are clear procedures in place for dealing with allegations against staff which are in line with our Local Safeguarding Children Board’s procedures
As part of our induction procedure, all new staff receive the following training and information:

• Briefing on Child Protection
• Health and Safety induction checklist
• Guidance for Safer Working Practice for adults who work with children and young people in education settings.
• Copy of the Child Protection Policy
• Copy of Keeping Children Safe in Education 2019

What is meant by the term ‘safeguarding’

Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Safeguarding means:

• protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
• preventing harm to children’s health or development
• ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care-taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child. Safeguarding children and child protection guidance and legislation applies to all children up to the age of 18. You may wish to read further – the DFE has published a document called ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education, which can be found here.

The Safeguarding Team

Mr P Hynan  – Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead 

Mr D Martin – Deputy Headteacher and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead 

Mrs N Begum – Family Support Worker and Designated Safeguarding Lead 

Mrs D Delgado – EYFS Lead  and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead 

Mrs K Devi – Learning Mentor and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

What training have staff at St. Michael’s received to help safeguard children?

• Annual child protection training
• DfE PREVENT Training
• National Cyber Security Centre: Cyber security training for school staff
• GDPR Training 
• Annual Keeping Children Safe in Education update 
• All staff have been given access to, and read key government documents and guidelines 
• Attachment and trauma informed practice 
• New Staff Induction – including CPOMS training
• Regular updates and safeguarding question for staff as part of weekly briefing
• Safer recruitment training for designated staff
• Designated Safeguarding Training for safeguarding team
• Health and Safety 
• Paediatric first aid
• Annual medical needs training – anaphylaxis, epilepsy, asthma and diabetes 
• DfE Prevent training   
• Team Teach positive handling