At Whitefield Infant School, we expect all staff, governors, volunteers and visitors to share our commitment to safeguarding our children. We will ensure:

1. The welfare of the child remains paramount.
2. All children - whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious beliefs and/or sexual identity - have the right to be protected from harm.
3. All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
4. All staff and volunteers working at our school have a responsibility to report concerns to the Designated Lead for Safeguarding

The school’s Designated Senior Leader's (DSL) for Safeguarding and Child Protection are:

• Headteacher (Mrs Mason - Lead)
• Home School Support Officer (Mr Wesley - Back-up) 
• Deputy Headteacher (Miss Stott - Back-up)
• EYFS Leader (Mrs Hutchinson - Back -up)

Our Governor for Child Protection is:

• Mrs Karen Wilkinson

The Designated Person for Looked After Children (CLA/LAC) and Pupil Premium Champion is Mrs Mason.

Specific Leaders with safeguarding roles in school:

• CAF/TAF Lead is Mrs Mason 
• EY Supervision Lead is Mrs Hutchinson
• Harmful Sexual Behaviour and Child on Child Abuse Lead is Mrs. Mason
• Online Safety Lead is Mr Ward
• Safeguarding Children with SEND Leads are Miss Whittaker (EYFS) and Mrs Key (KS1)
• Safer Recruitment Lead is Mrs Mason 
• Prevent Lead is Mrs Mason

We listen to our pupils and take seriously what they tell us. All school staff are trained in safeguarding procedures, and children are made aware of the adults they can talk to if they have any concerns. Staff are trained to look out for signs of physical/emotional harm or neglect and are required to report these to the Designated Senior Leader(DSL).

The procedures which we follow have been laid down by the Lancashire Safeguarding Team and the school has adopted a comprehensive Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy. On occasions, our concern about a child may mean that we have to consult other agencies whom we will share information , in line with school policy guidelines. We will ensure that all concerns are discussed with parent/carers first, before any referrals are made, unless we believe that such a move may be contrary to a child’s welfare.

What to do if you have concerns about a child

Listed below are links to several websites which you can use to report any concerns you may have about a child:

https://www.gov.uk/report-child-abuse - This will provide you with links to the local council/police page for your area.

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/reporting-abuse/report/report-abuse-online/

https://www.childline.org.uk/get-support/contacting-childline/

Alternatively you can contact Lancashire Children Social Care for further advice:

0300 123 6720 / 0300 123 6722 (out of hours)

If you think a child is in immediate danger

Don’t delay – call the police on 999

Highlights from our LA (commissioned) Safeguarding Audit

During the Summer Term 2023, our school welcomed an external safeguarding consultant to undertake an audit of our school processes and procedures. This was an great opportunity to showcase our safeguarding culture and advocacy for children's holistic, academic and wellbeing outcomes. Below are some of the many strengths the audit referenced;

• The children said, 'they feel safe in school' and when out on school trips and know which trusted adults they could talk to if they had any worries or concerns.
• DSL has a good overview of the children and family's needs in school to be able to identify early help and has good knowledge of the Lancashire early help offer / agencies and how to refer to statutory services.
• Premises – Visually very welcoming, clutter free, safe and secure with timed locks, and staff/children are aware of hot spot areas. Supervision was also observed to be good re adults/children, especially in EYFS when it was handover from key workers to parent/carers. 
• Children have good knowledge of child-on-child abuse to include bullying and online safety, recognising a consistent behaviour policy and know who their trusted adults are in school.
• Communication and information sharing is praised by staff in view that they feel well informed to support their children and families along with an approachable Head/DSL and safeguarding team. School also have bilingual staff to support any language barriers when the DSLs are needing to hold difficult and sensitive conversations
• There is a clear 1^st day absence response, home visits are in place and completed regularly. Evidence of clear monitoring systems to track attendance along with the use of model letters/meetings for challenge and celebrations to support positive attendance. 
• Good parental engagement – school offer parenting courses to include online safety workshops, English as an additional language, Maths, English, Mental Health First Aid. Regular newsletters and good links for early help on the school's website for further support.

Children and Family Wellbeing Service

The Children and Family Wellbeing Service, previously children's centres and Young People's Service, provide services to help with parenting and other support you may need.

They offer different services across a range of locations to meet the needs of the local community including:

• Support for individual children, young people or their families
• Health services – ranging from health visitors to breastfeeding
• Parenting advice for mums, dads and carers
• Activities and groups where your baby, toddler or child can play and learn
• A place to pick up Healthy Start vitamins and tablets
• Advice to help you to support your child’s learning from birth
• A great place to make new friends
• Connecting with the local community
• Access to specialist support for families with children with disabilities/additional needs
• Groups for expectant mums and dads
• Advice and guidance on how to keep you and your child healthy
• Sensory rooms
• Information about local childcare
• Groups for young people to attend
• Advice for young people
• Help to access adult learning opportunities
• Advice on jobs, training and benefits
• Opportunities for volunteering

For more information or to find out where your local Children's Centre is please click here

Operation Encompass is a unique Police and Education early intervention safeguarding partnership which ensures that a child's school is informed, prior to the start of the next school day, that there has been an incident of Domestic Abuse to which the child or young person has been exposed, and which might then have an impact on them in school the following day.

Each school is informed of all Domestic Abuse incidents, not just those where an offence can be identified or those which are graded as high risk. The partnership recognises that all incidents of Domestic Abuse can be harmful to children and young people.

This information will be shared throughout the year, including school holidays and the weekends. Information will only be shared with the school by the police where it is identified that a young person was present, witnessed or was involved in a domestic abuse incident.

A nominated member of staff, known as a Key Adult, has been trained to liaise with the police. At Whitefield Infant School our Key Adult is Mrs Mason. The key Adult will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the school makes provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. The Key Adult will keep this information confidential, and will only share it on a need to know basis, for instance, to teaching staff for the child or young person. It will not be shared with other school students.

We are keen to offer the best support possible for our pupils and a recent review of Operation Encompass showed that it is beneficial and supportive for all those involved.

ONLINE SAFETY

• Schools Online Safety Champion: Mr A Ward (Class 8 teacher)
• Computing Subject Leader : Mr A Ward (Class 8 teacher) and Mrs K Hardacre
• Online Safety Governor: Mrs Karen Wilkinson

Web Filtering System

 Our school is supported through Lancashire County Council’s Educational Digital Services. Educational Digital Services are schools technical provision offering us Professional ICT support for all aspects of broadband, school network, management information system and classroom ICT.

They provide for us Netsweeper, a filtering system that provides daily activity reports and is continually monitioring internet activity throughout the school. This reporting data supports our senior leadership team and governors who work to ensure effectiveness regarding Online Safety for everyone.

Click here to find out more about online safety at our school:

Useful E-Safety Websites

www.childnet.com - A non-profit organisation working directly with children, parents and teachers to ensure that the issues of online child protection and children's safe and positive use of the internet are addressed.

www.thinkuknow.co.uk - The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre has set up its own educational website which has been designed and written specifically for children, young people, teachers, parents and carers.

www.getsafeonline.org - A beginners guide to using the internet safely, including a quiz and some video tutorials about how to 'stay safe' online.

www.kidsmart.org.uk - Kidsmart is an award winning internet safety website for parents and those working with children. It has been developed by the children's internet charity Childnet International and has excellent information on many of the technologies used by children, with guidance on how to 'stay safe' online.

www.bullying.co.uk - One in five young people have experienced bullying by text message or via email. This website gives advice for children and parents on bullying.

www.vodafone.com/content/digital-parenting.html - Vodafone have developed this website in conjunction with mumsnet. It is very accessible and provides information and guidance to parents with understanding their child's digital world and get more involved. There is even an online test to see how much you know!

www.internetmatters.org - Lots of guidance and articles for parents about keeping their children safe online.

www.net-aware.org.uk - A guide to apps, games and social media sites for parents/carers to check official age ratings, safety features, content, privacy and location tracking and lots of useful tips to support keeping your child safe online.