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Safeguarding Statement

“Safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility”

Children have a right to be cared for and protected, protecting them is everyone’s responsibility. Here at St Mary’s and St Peter’s C of E School we have a duty of care to ensure that all members of the school are kept safe from harm. We are committed to provide a secure and supportive environment in which children can develop and grow into successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens who are able to make a positive contribution to society. Safeguarding children is an essential part of our holistic approach to ensure that children are protected from abuse and neglect and that every child is able to flourish and achieve their full potential.

The school’s staff, volunteers and service providers have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children as a shared responsibility with parents and other carers. To support this statement, the school may signpost to services that are specialised to promote opportunity, prevent problems, act early and act effectively if and when concerns arise.

We take Safeguarding extremely seriously. If you have concerns about a child’s developmental needs, issues around parenting or you may suspect a child is being neglected or subject to physical, sexual or emotional abuse then you can call the school on 0208 943 0476 or Single Point of Access (SPA) on the following number and discuss your concerns.

SPA: 020 8547 5008 (during office hours) 020 8770 5000 (evenings and weekends)

The Designated Safeguarding Lead for SMSP is Mrs Justine Bateman (Deputy Headteacher) and the assistant DSL is Miss Marie Richardson (Deputy Headteacher). The Nominated Governors for child protection are Matthew Young and Rev’d Mary Hawes. The role of the Nominated Governor is to meet regularly with the DSL and monitor policies and procedures to check that they are being implemented correctly.

Our safeguarding & child protection policy is available on the website. You can also view the 2023 Department for Education document guide entitled “Keeping children safe in education”.

There are five main elements to our policy:

  • Ensuring we practise safer recruitment in checking the suitability of staff and volunteers to work with children;
  • Raising awareness of child protection issues and equipping children with the skills needed to keep them safe;
  • Developing and then implementing procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse;
  • Supporting pupils who have been abused in accordance with his/her agreed Child Protection Plan (or Child in Need Plan for lower level concerns);
  • Establishing a safe environment in which children can learn and develop.

We recognise that because of the day-to-day contact with children, school staff are well placed to observe the outward signs of abuse. The school will therefore:

  • Establish and maintain an environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk, and are listened to;
  • Ensure children know that there are adults in the school whom they can approach if they are worried;
  • Include opportunities in the PSHCE curriculum for children to develop the skills they need to recognise and stay safe from abuse.

Useful websites

Online Safety

We are always looking for ways to educate children and parent/carers to be safe online. Below are websites with informative and valuable sources of up to date resources which we highly recommend:

Internet access at our school is monitored and filtered for age-appropriate content.

Safe online images

We regularly take photographs and video of the children at school, to celebrate their achievements and keep a visual record of their school life. These images and videos will sometimes be shared with the wider school community (for example, through newsletters and assemblies). Occasionally, we will also use these images on public arenas such as the school website or local newspapers. Consent is gathered for all children whose image may be used in this way. Parents who would prefer images and/or video of their children did not appear publicly can opt-out at any time by contacting the school office.

SMSP has a duty of care to protect the wishes of parents who do not want their child’s image available on-line. We would like to remind parents that it is inappropriate to put such materials in the public domain without explicit consent from the parents of any child featured (the consent of any adults in the photo/video should also be obtained). Furthermore, we would like to clarify that parents who help in school or on trips should not be taking photographs, unless specifically requested to by a member of staff.

© 2023 St. Mary's and St. Peter's CofE Primary School