Safeguarding

At Exbourne CofE Primary School, we are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our children, it is our top priority. We are committed to providing a secure, nurturing, and inclusive environment where every child feels safe, valued, and supported.

Safeguarding is at the heart of everything we do. This means protecting children from harm, ensuring their emotional and physical well-being, and creating a culture where they can speak up if they feel unsafe. All staff receive regular safeguarding training, and we work closely with families and external agencies to provide the right support at the right time.

We encourage open communication between school and home, so if you have any concerns about a child’s welfare, please speak to a member of our safeguarding team. Together, we can ensure that every child in our care has the opportunity to thrive in a safe and supportive environment.

On arrival to the school please make yourselves known to the office and sign in, please be aware that ID will be checked if you are unknown to the school.
Remember to sign out when you leave the school site.
Please wear your assigned visitor’s lanyard at all times during your visit.
Please take a moment to read our visitors’ guide
Mobile phones are not allowed to be used. If you need to make or receive a call, please report back to the school office so that a quiet space, suitable space can be found for you.

Our Safeguarding Policies and Procedures

We have regularly reviewed and rigorous Safeguarding Policy and Procedures in place.

All staff including our volunteers and supply staff are required to ensure that they are aware of our procedures. All adults who work in the school are subject to Enhanced Disclosure and Barring (DBS) checks in addition to rigorous screening procedures.

All adults who work in the school are trained to take responsibility for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of pupils at the school.

Sharing Information

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child's welfare. We will always ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with their parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that this is not in the child's best interests.

Safeguarding Responsibilities

The well-being of each child is the responsibility of the class teacher under the oversight of the Headteacher.

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

Mrs Sarah Counter - Executive Headteacher

scounter@dmatschsools.org.uk

01837 851205

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

Miss Natasha Birnie - Lead Teacher

nbirnie@dmatschsools.org.uk

01837 851205

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)

Miss Hannah Whitely -Class Teacher

HWhiteley@exbourneprimary.org.uk

01837 851205

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)

Mrs Wendy Chapman - Administrator

WChapman@exbourneprimary.org.uk

01837 851205

Primary Advocate Board Chair - Emma Neath

Appointed Safeguarding Trustee - Phillip Sanders

Our Designated Lead for Looked After Children is Mrs Sarah Counter - Executive Headteacher

British Values and Prevent strategy

The Department for Education has published guidance on promoting British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. All schools have a duty to ‘actively promote’ the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. These values were first set out by the government in the ‘Prevent’ strategy in 2011.

A key part of the plan for education is to ensure children become valuable and fully rounded members of society who treat others with respect and tolerance, regardless of background. We want every school to promote the basic British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. This ensures young people understand the importance of respect and leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain.

Examples of the understanding and knowledge pupils are expected to learn include:

an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
an understanding that the freedom to hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law
an acceptance that people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour
an understanding of the importance of identifying and combating discrimination.

As a school, we ensure that our policies and procedures for Safeguarding pupils are frequently updated and revised with all staff. Pupils’ safety is of the highest priority for all staff and adults at St James

Our school is part of Operation Encompass.

Operation Encompass is a national police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Violence and Abuse and which is in place in every police force in England and Wales.

Children were recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act.

Operation Encompass means that the police will share information with our school about all police attended Domestic Abuse incidents which involve any of our children PRIOR to the start of the next school day.

Operation Encompass will ensure that a member of the school staff, known as a Key Adult, is trained to allow them to liaise with the police and to use the information that has been shared, in confidence, while ensuring that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have been involved in, or exposed to, a domestic abuse incident.

Online Safety

The internet is incredible and opens up a whole world of exciting possibilities for both children and adults. But as adults, how do we keep track of what children are accessing and how do we make sure they’re staying safe?
E-Safety is an important part of keeping the children safe therefore E-Safety is taught to all pupils to show them how to stay safe online. We have security measures in place in school to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material.

The best way to children safe online is for our school to work with parents to ensure the e-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.

Help for parents and carers
There are lots of websites which can show you how to keep your child(ren) safe.
Innocent searches online can lead to not so innocent results. But parental controls can help keep your child safe. The NSPCC website has step by step instructions for setting up parental controls. Click here to access the NSPCC site
Has someone done something online that has made you or a child or young person you know, feel worried or unsafe?
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre CEOP delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and ‘e’ world. Often it is referred to as an online 999.
Kidsmart has some clear rules for keeping children safe when they are online and lots of other tips for adults and children.

https://www.childnet.com/resources/supporting-young-people-online

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Parents Against Child Sexual Exploitation (PACE) are the leading national charity working with parents and carers of sexually exploited children. It is important that all parents have an understanding of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and this site helps to explain what child sexual exploitation is, whilst providing support for parents who think their child is being exploited.
When you enter the site then click on the link for parents for advice on how to talk to your child
http://paceuk.info

remove a nude image shared online

The RHC button is an asset of SWGfL, a charity working internationally to ensure all benefit from technology, free from harm.
The button has been developed to offer anyone living in the UK a simple and convenient mechanism for gaining access to reporting routes for commonly used social networking sites, gaming platforms, apps and streaming services alongside trusted online safety advice, help and support. It also provides access to an online mechanism for reporting online harm to the RHC service for those over the age of 13 where an intial report has been made to industry but no action has been taken. RHC will review content in line with a sites' community standards and act in a mediatory capacity where content goes against these.
Children under 13 years of age are encouraged to tell an adult that they trust about what has happened and to ask for their help in reporting this going through our how we can help resource together.
RHC also have advice and links to reporting routes for other online harms people may come across or face, such as impersonation, privacy violations and intimate image abuse.
The RHC button provides a gateway to the RHC reporting pages, an area of the RHC website offering:

links to reporting routes on commonly used sites for 8 types of online harm
help, advice and support on what to do if experiencing or witnessing harm online
signposting to industry partners reporting forms and the ability to report legal but harmful content directly to RHC for further investigation

Reporting to RHCReports can be made 24/7 through the online reporting forms and helpline practitioners will review and respond to reports within 72 hours between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday.
Reports can be made to RHC by anyone over the age of 13. SWGfL operates 3 helplines and to be sure you're getting the right support take a look at the Helpline flowchart to find out who can best support you.