Safeguarding | Alder Coppice Primary School

Safeguarding Statement

At Alder Coppice Primary School we recognise that the welfare of the child is of paramount importance and takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children in its care.

Definitions of safeguarding:

"Protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children's health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes."

(Keeping Children Safe in Education)

“All agencies take all reasonable measures to ensure that the risks of harm to children’s welfare are minimised. Where there are concerns, all agencies take action to address these concerns, working to agreed local policies and procedures in full partnership with other local agencies.”

(Joint Chief Inspectors’ Report 2002).

Promoting welfare involves “creating opportunities to enable children to have optimum life chances in adulthood.”

(Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families – Government Guidance 2000).

The Governing Board will act in accordance with Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 and the supporting statutory guidance “Safeguarding Children and Safer recruitment in Education” (2006) to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in this school.

The Governing Board will act in accordance with the Working Together to Safeguard Children and Keeping Children Safe in Education to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in this school.

A Shared Objective

Everyone in the education service shares an objective to help keep children safe by:

Providing a safe environment for children to learn;
Identifying children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm and taking appropriate action with the aim of making sure they are kept safe both at home and in the education setting.

Achieving this objective requires systems designed to:

Prevent unsuitable people working with children;
Promote safe practice and challenge poor and unsafe practice;
Identify instances in which there are grounds for concern about a child’s welfare and initiate or take appropriate action to keep them safe;
Contribute to effective partnership with other agencies.

Aims of the School’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy:

The purpose of the Policy is to:

Afford protection to those children at Alder Coppice Primary School;
Enable staff and volunteers to safeguard and promote the welfare of children;
Promote a culture which makes this school a safer place to learn.

All children have the right to be safeguarded from harm or exploitation whatever their:-

Race, religion, first language or ethnicity;
Age;
Health or disability;
Gender or sexuality;
Political or immigration status.

Governors, staff and volunteers in this school understand the importance of working in partnership with children, their parents/carers and other agencies in order to promote children’s welfare.

Safeguarding

We will endeavour to safeguard children by:

Valuing them, listening to and respecting them;
Involving them in decisions which affect them;
Making sure all staff and volunteers are aware and committed to the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and Child Protection procedures;
Having other appropriate policies e.g. Staff Code of Conduct, E-Safety Guidance;
Sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving children and their parents/carers as appropriate;
Ensuring all appropriate safeguarding checks are carried out when recruiting staff;
Providing effective management through induction, support, training and the line management system;
Ensuring staff understand about “whistle blowing”;
Dealing appropriately with allegations/concerns about staff or volunteers in accordance with the Local Authority and Governing Board guidelines.

The School's Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Mrs J Randall.

The School's Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs J Bown.