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    Foston Church of England VC Primary School

    Love, Learn and Grow Together

    Safeguarding

    What should I do if I am worried about a child? 

    How to report your safety concerns

    If you believe that a child is immediate danger from significant harm, dial 999 to report it to the Police.

    If you are concerned about a child and they are not in immediate danger, you can call 01609 780780 to talk anonymously to a North Yorkshire duty Social Worker or call the NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000 or email: help@NSPCC.org.uk.

    A Universal Referral Form (along with further information about what to do if you are worried about a child) can be found here on the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership website.

    Allegations against staff – contact the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) – 01609 533080

    Safeguarding at FST Primary Schools Federation 

    FST Primary Schools Federation is committed to ensuring the welfare and safety of all children in our schools. We all share a responsibility for our pupils' safety and wellbeing. If you have any concerns about the needs or welfare of a child, please don’t hesitate to speak to one of our Safeguarding Team.

    Our Safeguarding Team

     

    Katie Stringer
    Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Foston and Langton

     

    India Tordoff
    Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
    Stillington and Terrington

     

    Vicki Allon
    Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (dDSL)
    Pastoral and Attendance Lead
    All Schools

     

    Sarah Moore
    Executive Headteacher
    Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (dDSL)
    All schools

     

    Zara Midwood
    School-based Designated Safeguarding Lead
    Foston

     

    Catherine Hunter
    School-based Designated Safeguarding Lead
    Stillington

     

    Stephanie Rutherford
    School-based
    Designated Safeguarding Lead
    Terrington

     

     

     

     
    Corinne Cross
    Safeguarding Governor
    cofg@foston.n-yorks.sch.uk

    FST Primary Schools Federation takes its safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. In fact safeguarding is central to the work that we do. We recognise the vital importance of robust procedures and practices which lead to a safe learning environment for every child in which they can thrive. We understand that there is a need to promote a culture where there is a shared responsibility for every aspect of safeguarding and to create an arena of safety for all our children.

    Whether we are planning school visits to enrich our curriculum or inviting adults into our school, we understand that it is our primary duty to keep children safe.

    All North Yorkshire schools, including Foston, Stillington and Terrington, follow the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (NYSCP) procedures. We will, in most circumstances, endeavour to discuss all concerns with parents about their child/ren. However, there may be exceptional circumstances when the school will discuss concerns with Social Care and/or the Police without parental knowledge (in accordance with Child Protection procedures). The school will, of course, always aim to maintain a positive relationship with all parents. The school’s Child Protection Policy is available publicly through the school website, in hard copy (from the school office) or via email (please request a copy using the ‘Contact Us’ details on our website).

    Through our policies and procedures, we will:

    • Ensure that we employ staff who are suitable to work with children.
    • Create a culture where staff know that their behaviour with children must adhere to an agreed Code of Conduct.
    • Create a culture where inappropriate behaviour is challenged at every level within the federation.
    • Ensure that we have procedures and policies which keep children safe while they are in our care, regardless of the activity they are engaged in.
    • Ensure that we have procedures and policies which keep staff safe while they are carrying out their duties.
    • Ensure that there are clear rules and boundaries for children to follow, in order that their behaviour does not impact on the safety of one another.
    • Ensure that we teach children strategies that will help them deal with dangerous situations outside school.
    • Ensure that FST Primary Schools Federation complies with legislative responsibilities regarding the management of hazards to health.

    Our recruitment processes for all posts in school are rigorous and conform to current recommended guidance to do our utmost to ensure that only those suitable to work with children are employed. We ensure that those staff involved in recruitment have undergone the latest Safer Recruitment Training.

    We have a Code of Conduct in place (known as Safer Working Practices) which sets out detailed policies and procedures for staff to follow – these have been put in place to keep everybody safe.

    Child Protection Policy and School Practice Guidance

    Our Child Protection Policy ensures that when a child makes a disclosure, there are appropriate procedures in place to ensure that action is taken to support the child. You can read our Child Protection Policy here, and our Child Protection Manual – School Practice Guidance here.

     Of course, safeguarding the children within our care is much wider than just policy documents. We aim to create a culture of safety at school where children feel valued, respected, and cared for in a building that is safe, well maintained, and conducive to learning. Our policy documents are shared with key stakeholders and implementation is monitored by our governing body and senior leaders in school. Our governing body have an overarching responsibility for checking that our school complies with necessary regulations. Their recommendations are implemented in full.

    Behaviour In School

    We know that a contributor to children’s safety is high expectations and standards of behaviour. Whilst our behaviour policy sets out how behaviours in school are managed, we teach children to uphold our school values, which contributes to everybody’s safety.

    You can read the Governing Board’s Statement of Behaviour Principles here, and our Behaviour and Discipline Policy here.

    Where can Parents get Support and Advice from to Keep their Children Safe? 

    The North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership has a fantastic variety of resources to support you in keeping your children safe. https://www.safeguardingchildren.co.uk/parents-carers/

    These sites may also be useful:

    Digiduck Stories | Childnet 

    NYSCP (safeguardingchildren.co.uk) 

    The National Grid for Learning – Safeguarding (lgfl.net) 

    Real stories | ACT Early 

     Online Safety:

     In our schools, we spend a great deal of time teaching the children how to stay safe online, specifically through our Computing and PHSE curriculums (which can be viewed on the school’s website), regular internet safety days and through the school council’s whole-school safeguarding focus activities.

    Here are some useful links to help children and their carers stay safe online:

    Child Exploitation and Online Protection – CEOP Education (thinkuknow.co.uk)

    The National Crime Agency’s CEOP Education team aim to help protect children and young people from online child sexual abuse through their education programme, providing training, resources and information to professionals working with children, young people, and their families.

    National Online Safety is an organisation whose mission is to make the internet a safer place for children. They hope to achieve this through equipping school staff, parents, and children with the knowledge they need to understand online dangers and how best to react should an incident arise. Free online safety guides for parents:  https://nationalonlinesafety.com/guides

    Staying safe online | Childline 

    Keeping children safe online | NSPCC 

    APPS

    Age limits are there to protect children. Here is a useful reminder of the age restrictions of some popular platforms to help parents and carers decide how appropriate they are for a child to access and what level of supervision needs to be in place:

    How do our schools support children and families who are affected by domestic abuse? 

    We are part of a project that runs jointly between all schools, academies and colleges in North Yorkshire and North Yorkshire Police called Operation Encompass. This project has been designed to provide early reporting to schools and any domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of normal school hours and that might have had an impact on a child attending our premises the following day. This information will be shared at the earliest opportunity between Monday to Thursday and, when an incident occurs on a Friday, Saturday or a Sunday, the police will contact us the following Monday. The Headteacher, known as a key adult, has received awareness training to enable them to liaise with the police. They use the information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. Information will be shared where it is identified that a child or young person was present, witnessed or was involved in a domestic abuse incident. Please visit www.operationencompass.org for more information.

    We can also provide support for families by making referrals to IDAS who are a North East charity who specialise in supporting people affected by domestic abuse. Please visit https://idas.org.uk/   for more information.

    Other links

    We take Safeguarding extremely seriously at our school. As staff and governors, we refer to the documentation below for guidance. All staff are trained in child protection and are aware of what procedures to follow if concerns are raised.