SafeguardinG
Bowker Vale Primary School is committed to creating a happy and safe environment for our children to learn.
This page will help you to understand how we keep your children safe by telling you:
- How children can be harmed
- What we must do to keep your children safe from harm
- What you must do as a parent/carer to help your child be safe and enjoy school
Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy can be found here.
Our Learning Ambassadors recently helped to write a Child Friendly Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy, which has been shared with the children and is displayed widely around school, have a look here.
Useful Contacts
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL);
Rachel Jacques, HT
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSL;
Jen Griffin, DHT
Kate Allely, AHT - Maple Class
Jo Heald – Lotus Room
Kathy Thomason, AHT - Upper School
Catherine Jacob, AHT - EYFS
Child Protection
This is an important subject in which all staff receive regular training. Our priority is to work with you but there may be times when we have to involve other people and agencies.
Everyone has a responsibility to keep all children safe from harm. Harm is identified in four ways:
Physical:
This is when a child is deliberately hurt or injured.
Sexual:
This is when a child is influenced or forced into sexual activity. This can be a physical activity or a non-physical such as being made to look at inappropriate images.
Emotional
This is when a child is made to feel frightened, worthless or unloved. It can be by shouting, using threats or making fun of someone. It can also be when children see their parents, or visitors to the home, fighting or using violence.
Neglect
This is when a child is not being taken care of by their parents, including safety implications from immediate family members. It can also be poor hygiene, poor diet, not keeping appointments for additional support, not coming to school or being left at home alone.
What School Must Do
A child should be able to go to school and feel safe so that they can achieve their very best.
- Anyone who works with children or volunteers to work directly with children at Bowker Vale Primary School will have a DBS Police Check to make sure they are safe to work with children and then trained to identify child abuse and what to do if they are concerned.
- The school has a Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Jacques (Headteacher) as well as other designated safeguarding leaders: Mrs Griffin (Deputy Head), Miss Allely (AHT), Miss Thomason (AHT), Mrs Kershaw and Miss Carling (Assistant Heads on maternity leave) and Mrs Heald (Lotus Room). All our Safeguarding team have completed training to ensure that they know what to do when a concern is brought to them.
- We will always listen to you and work closely with you if we are concerned about your child but there may be times when we are not able to discuss this concern with you. Sometimes we will need to contact Children’s Services or the Police. The school has a safeguarding policy which tells you more about this. The policy is available on the school website and a copy can be requested at the office.
- We will help your child to learn about keeping themselves safe. Lessons can include healthy eating, anti-bullying, online safety, road safety, healthy relationships, drugs and alcohol awareness. As part of these lessons your child will be told what to do if they are worried or concerned about their safety.
What Parents / Carers Must Do
Parents and carers are the most important people to keep their children safe.
You should always:
- Feel confident to raise concerns about your child.
- Talk to school if you need help or support or are concerned about anything at school.
- Read the school policies about safety issues.
- Let the school know if your child has a medical condition.
- Let the school know if your child has an injury or a bruise and how they got it (we may contact you if you haven’t told us).
- Let the school know if you have any court orders relating to the safety of your child
- Let us know who will be dropping off your child and two other emergency contact numbers. You must inform the school of any changes to agreed arrangements.
- Let the school know if there are any changes to your circumstances such as a house move, a new contact number, a change of name, a change of parental relationship.
- Let the school know if your child is going to be absent and why.
Safeguarding Issues
As a Rights Respecting School, we view all adults as Duty Bearers of children’s rights, including staff.
Attendance: Your child’s attendance is monitored daily and significant absences are always followed up by the school Attendance Team. The policy is available on the school website and a copy can be requested at the office.
Behaviour: Bowker Vale Primary has a whole school charter for the whole school community that must be followed to keep everyone safe and happy. Children will be taught to know and respect rights for themselves and for others. We understand that children do sometimes fall out and this will be dealt with by an adult who will support the children to resolve the situation.
Bullying: The school takes all cases of bullying very seriously and will work with children and families to try to resolve any problems. The school has an anti-bullying policy which is available upon request from the office and on the website.
Health and Safety: Everyone at Bowker Vale Primary has responsibility to keep adults and children safe. The school has a clear health and safety policy which everyone must follow. The school have fully trained First Aiders to deal with any accidents at school.
Online Safety: the school recognises that technology plays an important role in the education of children and is committed to safeguarding children in the virtual world. We regularly focus on on-line safety in our lessons with children.
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
Every school must have a Child Protection Policy - often referred to as the school's Safeguarding Policy. The aim of the policy is to ensure that our school has effective measures in place to safeguard your children from the potential risk of harm and that the safety and wellbeing of the children are of the highest priority in all aspects of our school's work. Having the policy in place ensures that all members of your school community:
- Are aware of their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and child protection
- Know the procedures that should be followed if they have a cause for concern
- Know where to go to find additional information regarding safeguarding
- Are aware of the key indicators relating to child abuse
- Fully support the school's commitment to safeguarding and child protection.
Safeguarding is not just about protecting children from deliberate harm. It presents schools with a wide range of issues that they need to be prepared for.
