Safeguarding at Sandgate Primary School

At Sandgate Primary School every adult has a duty of care to all children. 

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:

• providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
• protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online 
• preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

The Government has produced a document called Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) which is updated annually or before if there any important changes which informs our safeguarding procedures and practices.  We update our own school Child Protection Policy annually to reflect the changes in KCSIE.

WE ARE AN OPERATION ENCOMPASS SCHOOL

We will receive information from the police for any child who is experiencing or witnessing domestic abuse within the home setting. We will follow up any report in a timely and sensitive manner to offer families support.  This follow up is made by a member of the Safeguarding Team/Designated Safeguarding Leads.

https://www.operationencompass.org/

All policies relating to Safeguarding and Child Protection can be found here in our policies section.

The Child Protection Team

                                                                         

At Sandgate Primary School, everyone is responsible for ensuring high standards of pupil behaviour, safety and welfare.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is the person that has overall and strategic responsibility for all matters related to safeguarding in the school. This person is Lianne Jones (Acting Headteacher)

Jamie Evans (Deputy Headteacher), Rachel Shoob (Deputy Headteacher and SENCo) and Wendy Hill (Family Liaison Officer) are Deputy DSLs  who have also had the necessary training to act as DSL in the headteachers' absence. Our Safeguarding Governor is Caroline Allen. All staff and governors receive the most up-to-date Child Protection Training at least on an annual basis.

Every week, the team meet and review all concerns that are currently ongoing and discuss new referrals from staff and parents. If you have any concerns about the welfare of any child in school, then please do not hesitate to come in and speak to any member of the team.

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child's welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child's welfare.

What to do if you are concerned about a child?

1. Speak to a member of the school team. This could be Mrs Jones, Mr Evans, Mrs Shoob or Mrs Hill. 
2. Contact the Kent Children's Social Services Team - Report child abuse - Kent County Council
3. Speak to the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 or visit the NSPCC website for support https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

NSPCC Support Staying Safe Online

We work very hard with our children at school to ensure that they are safe when using new technologies. It is important that we have your cooperation at home. Part of our role is to also support parents in how to protect their children from harm when using these technologies. At school, we teach how to be safe in lessons, and we have also held after-school workshops for parents and carers to support families with online safety. We are proud to be a Smartphone Free School. Head over to our Online Safety page for more help with particular apps and games. 

If you have any concerns regarding the welfare of a child, please contact Mrs Jones (Acting Headteacher) or Mr Evans (Deputy Headteacher), Mrs Shoob (Deputy Headteacher and SENCo) or Mrs Hill (Family Liaison Officer) via the school office on 01303 257280.