Great Ouseburn Community Primary School

Safeguarding Information for Parents / Staff / Volunteers

Links to the school policies and procedures around safeguarding and child protection can be found on the policies page, or by clicking HERE

Statement

At Great Ouseburn Primary School, we recognise our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children. We make every effort to provide a safe and welcoming environment underpinned by a culture of openness where both children and adults feel secure, able to talk and believe that they are being listened to.

"Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all practitioners should make sure their approach is child centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child." Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023

This applies to teaching staff, teaching assistants, non-teaching staff, premises staff, Governors, volunteers and anyone else who is responsible for, or is in contact with, children in our school.

At Great Ouseburn Primary School, our aim is to safeguard and promote our pupil’s welfare, safety, health and guidance by fostering an honest, open, caring and supportive climate.

The pupils’ welfare is of paramount importance.  Great Ouseburn Primary School fully recognises the contribution it can make to protecting children and supporting pupils in schools.

 If you are concerned about the safety of your child, or a child you know, you should act without delay.

Prevention

At Great Ouseburn Primary School we aim to establish and maintain an ethos where children feel secure and are encouraged to talk and are listened to.

We recognise that for children, clear lines of communication with a trusted adult helps prevention. All class teachers ensure that children know they can be approached at any time if children in their care are worried or in difficulty.

In line with our Anti-Bullying policy, the children are taught that all bullying behaviour is unacceptable, regardless of who bullies, how it is delivered or what reasons are given to justify bullying actions.

In line with our E-Safety policy, children are taught how to keep themselves safe when using technology. Further advice and information can be found at:

www.stopitnow.org.uk                       www.ceop.gov.uk                    www.iwf.org.uk      Home - Clever Never Goes

 

Opportunities for children to talk about their feelings and emotions are provided regularly during RE lessons and also through our SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) curriculum when issues such as bullying and keeping safe are planned for and discussed in class in order to equip children with the skills they need to stay safe from abuse.

Assemblies and focus weeks are regularly used to reinforce these issues. Each class has a ‘worry box’ where children are able to write down and ‘post’ to the adults in their class any concerns that they have in school or at home.

Protection

Staff at Great Ouseburn Primary School are recruited and selected in strict accordance with the Child Protection guidelines. This applies to all staff, whether teaching or non-teaching, full or part time, volunteer helpers and students on placement.

Filtering and Monitoring

We have robust procedures for filtering and monitoring the use of the internet in school, using RM SafetyNet and Mobile Guardian. Further details can be found here.

Attendance

We monitor attendance as part of our Safeguarding procedures and ask parents to inform us by phone 01423330296 or email admin@greatouseburn.n-yorks.sch.uk if their child is going to be off school for any reason.

Where children are absent from school without parents having informed us, we call between 9.05 and 9.20am to check where the child is. This can be followed up with a home visit or a referral to Social Care if the child cannot be located. We also look for patterns of absence and lateness as a way of monitoring the safety of children. You can find our Attendance Policy here.

Roles and Responsibilities

All adults working with or on behalf of children have a responsibility to protect children. There are, however, key people within Great Ouseburn Primary School and the Local Authority who have specific responsibilities under Child Protection procedures.

The adults in the Safeguarding Team at Great Ouseburn Primary School are:

Mr Nick Oswald - Designated Safeguarding Lead

Miss Annette Cartwright - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Miss Florence Irvine - EYFS Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mr Chris France - Chair of Governors

The Safeguarding Governor is Mr Phil Taylor

These key people are the point of contact for parents, staff, voluntary helpers and all other adults involved in school who have concerns about a child’s safety. Our Headteacher will ensure that these staff members have appropriate time and resources made available to them to enable them to fulfill their duties in this sensitive area.

 

The qualified First Aiders at Great Ouseburn Primary School are:

Mrs Louise Spearing 

Miss Jasmine Parnaby

Mr Tol Binbay

Miss Annette Cartwright

Miss Florence Irvine

The First Aiders have ‘workplace’ qualifications, which are regularly renewed.

 

The Health and Safety representatives at Great Ouseburn Primary School are:

Mr Nick Oswald (headteacher)

Miss Anwen Scarisbirck (administrator)

Mrs Sue Scott (Site Manager)

Mrs Rebecca Purssord (Governor)

Training

All staff receive and be able to access Child Protection training relevant and appropriate to their role through our induction process, staff meetings, INSET and Local Authority Child Protection courses.

This will include training in procedures to follow, signs to note and appropriate record keeping. All staff, whether paid or unpaid, have access to appropriate training so that they are able to react appropriately should an incident occur.

All staff will be trained to recognise and respond to situations where a child may be considered to be at risk.

Great Ouseburn Primary School will ensure that all of these key adults attend regular training relevant to their role.

The Governors will receive Child Protection training in line with their role.

Temporary staff will be made aware of this policy through notices throughout school, information guidelines and the staff handbook.

Likewise, visitors, volunteers, students and all adults working with the children will be made aware of the policy.

Procedures

If your child is being bullied, we will follow our anti-bullying policy procedures to stop it. It is very important that your child understands that we need to know it is happening because bullying will not stop if it is kept secret.

If there is a serious complaint, for example violence or persistent bullying, please see the Headteacher.

Otherwise, speak to the relevant member of staff first. If you do not wish to speak to the member of staff or the issue is not resolved, discuss the complaint with the Headteacher. If you feel the resolution is inadequate, follow the schools complaint procedure.

Where it is believed that a child is suffering from, or is at risk of, significant harm, we will follow the procedures set out in our Child Protection Policy. Any action we take will be in the interests of the child.

If an allegation is made against a member of staff, inform the Headteacher.

In the absence of the Headteacher it should be reported to the Assistant Headteacher (unless the allegation is against the Assistant Headteacher).

If an allegation is made against the Headteacher, it must be reported to the Chair of Governors, Mr Chris France.

 At Great Ouseburn Primary School, we recognise that schools do not operate in isolation. For this reason, every effort will be made to maintain positive working relationships with all staff, parents and colleagues from other agencies to ensure that good lines of communication are maintained and that we are all working together for the protection of the children in our care.