Safeguarding

St-Francis’ Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils. We believe that:

  • All children have the right to be protected from harm;
  • Children need to be safe and to feel safe in school;
  • Children need support which matches their individual needs, including those who may have experienced abuse;
  • All children have the right to speak freely and voice their values and beliefs;
  • All children must be encouraged to respect each other’s values and support each other;
  • All children have the right to be supported to meet their emotional, and social needs as well as their educational needs – a happy healthy sociable child will achieve better educationally;
  • Schools can and do contribute to the prevention of abuse, victimisation, bullying, exploitation, radicalisation, extreme behaviours, discriminatory views and risk taking behaviours; and
  • All staff and visitors have an important role to play in safeguarding children and protecting them from abuse.

Safeguarding is defined as

  • Protecting children from maltreatment;
  • Preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
  • Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
  • Taking action to enable all children to have the best life chances.

St Francis’ Primary school will fulfil their local and national responsibilities as laid out in the following documents:

Talking to your child about online sexual harassment – guide for parents

Talking to your child about online sexual harassment – poster for parents

 

Useful Links

CEOP
Childline Website
Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory guidance for schools and colleges (DfE Sept 2022)
Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools: Departmental Advice (DfE November 2018)
Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges
The Children Act 2004
The Education Act 2002 s175 / s157
The Procedures of Newham Safeguarding Children Board
Working together to safeguard children (DfE July 2018)
Youngminds Website
Band Runner

Our Safeguarding policies can be found by clicking on the link.

Operation Encompass

This operation is a national partnership between all schools, families and the Police. The intention is that all parties will be informed immediately of any reported domestic abuse. The reason for this relates directly to the impact that domestic abuse has upon the success of young people in education. Children can be victims of domestic abuse when they are directly targeted for violence/abuse or if they are accidentally assaulted in an incident with others.
Children can also be seriously affected by witnessing domestic abuse. If the Police are made aware of an incident of domestic abuse, they will notify the school by 11am of the following morning. The school will then decide the appropriate support that is required for the student. The information will be shared with the appropriate members of staff.
Click on the link  to access Operation Encompass website.

Roles & Responsibilities

Key personnel at St-Francis’ are:

Safeguard Designated Lead (DSL): Ms N Scott
Deputy Safeguard Designated Lead: Ms M Haarhoff
Children Sexual Exploitation: Ms N Scott
Online Safety: Ms S Keaney
Child Protection / Safeguarding Governor: Ms L Elias