Safeguarding

Safeguarding Statement

Patcham Junior School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. It expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We have several policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy/Safeguarding Policy which can be viewed here.

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

We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mark Rodericks (Deputy Headteacher). Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is Alister Sutherland (Headteacher). The Governors with responsibility for safeguarding in our school are Marion Rajan and Derrick Davis.

Front Door for Families

When the school has a safeguarding concern about a child, a referral will need to be made to Front Door for Families (FDFF) with the parent or carer being informed first unless the child is in immediate danger. Front Door for Families is made up of professionals with different areas of expertise who work together to assess, decide and coordinate how best to support children, young people and their families where there are concerns. For more information, please see the FDFF’s website -https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/frontdoorforfamilies/help-and-support-families

Photographs and Videos

Whilst lots of parents and carers really enjoy seeing photos and film clips of their child’s school life, we are very mindful of our duty of care towards all our pupils. We take the issue of safeguarding seriously and this includes the use of photographic and film recordings.

Any photographs or film clips taken by parents, carers and relatives at school productions, sports days or other events are for the enjoyment of individual families. They must not be used in any way that could potentially place a child at risk. This would include publishing images in any form of print or on the internet including social networking sites.

We understand that in exceptional circumstances, a parent or carer may not wish their child to be photographed or filmed in this way. If this is the case, then please contact the headteacher to discuss how this can be best achieved.

Occasionally, the local press will be invited to take photographs of school events and special achievements. We like to use photographs of our children on our website, in school documents, for parent/carer information meetings, newsletters and on our display screens around the school. This is covered in our photo consent form which we ask parents to sign on entry to the school. This can be viewed here Photo/Video Consent Form here Photo Consent.docx

Please also see our Safeguarding leaflet for all visitors, trainee teachers, volunteers and those on work experience which is downloadable below.

Operation Encompass

Our school is part of Operation Encompass. This is a joint project with Sussex Police which started in September 2018. The project provides early reporting to schools of any domestic abuse incidents involving children (incidents in which a child was present, ordinarily resides at the incident location or with an involved party).

We know that children and young people can be significantly affected through witnessing or being exposed to domestic abuse and this operation will allow our school to better support our pupils/students and their families. A nominated member of school staff, known as a Key Adult, has been trained to liaise with the police. Our Key Adult is Mark Rodericks and Deputy Head Teacher, and the Deputy Key Adult is Alister Sutherland and Head Teacher. They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the right support is available should it be required by a child/young person and/or their family. We are keen to offer the best support available to our pupils/students and we believe this is going to be extremely beneficial for all those involved. Additional information about Operation Encompass is available at www.operationencompass.org

Online safety

At Patcham Junior School, we:

• Recognise that online safety is everybody’s responsibility;
• Group online safety risks into three areas: content, contact and conduct. These are known as the 3 Cs of online safety.
• Expect that every member of the school community is aware of the policies and procedures for safety; and how these work in practice and what to do when things go wrong;
• Audit the training needs of all staff and provide training to improve their knowledge of and expertise in the safe and appropriate use of new technologies;
• Work closely with families, when required, to help them ensure that their child/ren use new technologies safely and responsibly both at home and at school;
• On occasions, use pupils’ and families’ views to develop online safety strategies;
• Provide an age-related, comprehensive curriculum for online safety which enables pupils to become safe and responsible users of new technologies;
• Regularly share online safety information with families at meet the teacher in September, the school monthly newsletter and termly online safety letters about the 3 Cs.
• Systematically review and develop their online safety procedures, including training, to ensure that they have a positive impact on pupils’ knowledge and understanding.