Safeguarding and Child Protection
Article 19: You have the right to be safe.
We take the well-being of our pupils seriously at Penwortham and are fully committed to the safeguarding and welfare of all the children in our care. Safeguarding and child protection are of the highest priority for leaders, staff and governors who all have a clear understanding of their statutory duties. The school has a collective responsibility to ensure our pupils are well cared for and safe from all forms of harm, therefore staff are vigilant and well trained; policies and procedures are consistently implemented and regularly reviewed.
If you have a safeguarding/child protection concern, please contact the following Safeguarding Leaders:
Sandie Andrews - Headteacher/Designated Safeguarding Lead
Litsa Anderson - Deputy Head /Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Andy Murning - Deputy Head/Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Sophie Lewis - Assistant Head/Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Emma Redgrove - Assistant Head /Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Nadia Bedeau - Assistant Head /Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Penwortham Safeguarding and CP Policy 20222023
Keeping children safe in Education 2022
Parents Guidance - Tutors Coaches
Parent Guidance - Tutors Leaflet Format
The latest edition of the government’s guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (HM Government September 2018) states that all organisations have a statutory responsibility to safeguard children and promote their welfare. It outlines that 'Effective safeguarding arrangements in every local area should be underpinned by two principles:’
1. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility: for services to be effective each professional and organisation should play their full part; and
2. A child-centred approach for services to be effective, they should be based on a clear understanding of the needs and views of children.’
We are duty bound to follow the guidance outlined in ‘Making Arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children’ (Department of education and skills 2005) and the ‘Keeping children safe in Education’ document 2022.
All staff at Penwortham have signed to say that they have received and read a copy of the document, which you can find by following the link below:
Keeping children Safe in Education 2022
Keep Children Safe in Education - community languages
All staff at Penwortham have signed up to the school’s the Safe Working Practice Agreement.
We have adopted a culture of vigilance in the school, and outlined below is a representation of the various features that create a safer environment within our organisation:
Safer recruitment
Robust Staff induction
Clear policies
Regular staff training
Strong pupil voice
Broad and balanced curriculum
Supervision of lead staff
Managing allegations
Features of a safer and open culture
- An open culture; no secrets
- Safeguarding and abuse are discussed openly; A belief that ‘it could happen here’
- Clear procedures for reporting concerns
- Support for children and adults who do raise concerns and a commitment to take action
- A code of conduct that makes clear what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour
- Policies and procedures that are put into practice
- Good induction and use of probationary periods
- A full commitment to safeguarding and an ongoing culture of vigilance
- Safeguarding is core, not an add-on
- Increasing awareness through regular training and discussion
- Everyone has a basic awareness of safeguarding and abuse
- Commitment to safeguarding is publicised
- There is a nominated child protection/safeguarding lead person
- Ensure people know what to do with concerns
- To be clear on how concerns are dealt with
Taking concerns seriously:
- Offer support to all involved
- Deal with immediate danger to the child.
- Explore to clarify concern.
- Report to and liaise with other agencies
- Do not ignore
- Clear whistle blowing policy in place
Setting acceptable standards of behaviour
Why setting standards of behaviour are important:
- Boundaries and expectations of roles
- No assumptions that people know what expected behaviour is
- Risk of interpretation without clear standards.
- To protect adults by giving clarity on what they can and cannot do
- To protect children by showing them what behaviour is acceptable and unacceptable from adults
- To clarify expectations of children and what is and not acceptable behaviour on their part.
A Code of Conduct:
- Sets out what is good and appropriate behaviour between adults and children
- Is not exhaustive
- Is concerned with key behaviours in relation to children, young people and their families
- Applies to all adults, paid and unpaid.
Induction, probationary periods and supervision and management
- Induction: set clear standards and expectations for ALL new staff, not just people new to the profession;
- Cover key policies and obtain signed declarations from all staff, volunteers, and governors which secure all individuals agreement to comply with all relevant policies, procedures and statutory guidance
- Probationary period: closely monitor new recruits; deal with issues early on
- Supervision and management: be aware of what people are doing; look for signs of inappropriate relationships or behaviour with children, and deal with them promptly.
