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Safeguarding

Claregate Primary School Logo

Safeguarding Definition

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Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as:

  • protecting children from maltreatment;

  • preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical 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.

(The term ‘children’ includes everyone under the age of 18.)

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Claregate Primary Commitment to Safeguarding and Child Protection

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At Claregate Primary School we are committed to safeguarding children and young people and we expect everyone who works in our school to share this commitment.

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Adults in our school take all welfare concerns seriously and encourage children and young people to talk to us about anything that may worry them.

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Safeguarding Contacts in School

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Designated Safeguarding Lead – Miss L Evans

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads – Mr M Murphy, Mr D Saunders

Child and Family Support Worker -  Mrs B Fielding is also trained to Safeguarding Level 3 – equivalent to the DSL staff and will assist in some cases.

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Communication with Parents

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Our school will always discuss concerns with parents/carers and consent for any referrals should be sought unless to do so would:

 

  • Place the child at risk of significant harm or further risk of significant harm.

  • Place a vulnerable adult at risk of harm.

  • Compromise any enquiries that need to be undertaken by children’s social care or the police.

 

The school will endeavour to ensure that parents have an understanding of the responsibilities placed on the school and staff for safeguarding children.

 

In the best interests of safeguarding children there may be occasions when the school has to consult with other agencies without a parent or carer’s prior knowledge. Our first concern and responsibility is the child’s welfare and we have a duty to protect children first and always. Such consultation may result in a formal referral which could prompt visits from social care and/or the police. We fully understand that this can be a very distressing set of circumstances. Our school will follow the procedures required by Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together.

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Curriculum

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Child safety issues and child protection will be addressed through the curriculum where appropriate, especially through PSHE education, Computing and E-Safety, Citizenship, Relationships and Health Education (RHE) and British Values. We use a variety of resources and approaches to teach the children how to keep themselves safe, build resilience and manage risks. 

 

The curriculum, and in particular PSHE Education, includes an emphasis on appropriate relationships, building confidence and resilience in pupils as well as developing preventative strategies to ensure their own protection and that of others.

 

Opportunities are provided for pupils to develop the skills and strategies they need to stay safe from abuse, including age appropriate discussions about healthy relationships, their bodies and being able to say no to requests that they do not want to carry out. Clear advice and guidance is built into all sessions to ensure that pupils understand that there are a range of contacts they can turn to for advice and support as well as knowing where and how to report abuse.

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Child Sexual Exploitation

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Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is a form of sexual abuse which sees children/young people being manipulated or coerced into sexual activity for receiving ‘something’ such as; gifts, money, food, attention, somewhere to stay etc. Technology is very often used to groom victims.  This may occur through social networking sites and mobile phones with internet access. CSE has gained a large amount of media attention over the last year as lots of services involved with children and young people have noticed a big rise in cases involving CSE. 

 

Charities such as NSPCC and Barnardos have been campaigning to raise the profile of this form of child abuse. 

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Internet Safety

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Children and young people spend lots of time on the internet.  They may go online to research information for homework or to play games, chat with friends and make new ones. The internet holds a massive amount of useful information and can also be a really good way of learning about new things and keeping in contact with friends and family.  It can also be a very dangerous place so it is important that children are protected and monitored when they are online.​

 

CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) has lots of information about how to keep your children safe online and parental controls.  The link to the website is below.​

 

CEOP - Thinkuknow

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Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

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In April 2014 every school in England received new safeguarding guidelines and detailed information on identifying and responding to Female Genital Mutilation. FGM is a procedure carried out on young girls between the ages of infancy and 15 years of age.

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Female Genital Mutilation is classified as a form of Child Abuse in the UK.  It therefore makes the procedure of it a serious Child Protection issue. It is illegal for anyone to perform FGM in the UK or to arrange for a child to be transported to another country for the procedure. The maximum sentence for carrying out FGM or helping it to take place is 14 years in prison.

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There is lots of information and support available online for parents/carers concerned about this subject or if you know someone who is at risk:

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  • Contact the Police if you think that a girl or young woman is in danger of FGM and is still in the UK.

  • Contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (020 7008 1500) if she’s already been taken abroad.

 

The NSPCC has detailed advice on how to spot the signs, symptoms and effects of FGM and provides support for people who are concerned about a child or who have been affected themselves. The link to the website is below.

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NSPCC FGM

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Useful Websites

Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together

Wolverhampton’s website for Safeguarding. On this site you will be able to find the form for Safeguarding Referrals.

NSPCC

National Website for keeping children safe.

Child Exploitation

Information on Child Exploitation.

Child Abuse

General Information about Child Abuse

FGM

Help website for FGM.

Government Information

Preventing Radicalization

Information on Preventing  Radicalization

NSPCC

Supporting Children Worried about Terrorism

Reporting a Concern of Abuse or Neglect

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If you have concerns that a child you know is at risk of serious harm through Abuse or Neglect it is important that you report your worries to the correct agency. 

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  • The link below will direct you to the City of Wolverhampton Council's Social Service page, which tells you how to report a concern.

 

       Wolverhampton Social Services

 

  • Below is the link to Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together. Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together (WST) is a statutory board which has been set up as part of the Every Child Matters government reforms. WST ensures that all organisations that work with children work together to keep children and young people safe from harm. WST undertakes this role through providing training, the development of policies and procedures and awareness raising.

 

        Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together

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Wolverhampton CAMHS Local Transformation Plan

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The Wolverhampton CAMHS Local Transformation Plan (2015-2020) was developed by Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group along with our partners in response to the publication of Future in Mind - promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing (report of the government's Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce in 2015).

 

The vision of the original plan was to use the additional Future in Mind funding to transform mental health services for children and young people in Wolverhampton by building capacity and capability at critical points across the system so that by 2021 it was easy to see the progress made in closing the gap in services provided and ensuring sustainable improvements in mental health outcomes for children and young people in Wolverhampton. 

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Whilst progress continues to be made in many areas identified in the original plan, there is still a distance to travel to ensure that children and young people in Wolverhampton are able to access the Emotional Mental Health and Wellbeing services as well as specialist CAMHs that they require and at the appropriate time. 

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This refreshed plan aims to provide the narrative around the distance we continue to travel, current services and work still to be undertaken taking into account priorities set out in the most recent Long Term Plan. It will articulate impacts and outcomes of additional funding, challenges which still present areas of concern within the system and actions to be taken to mitigate against them.  

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https://www.royalwolverhampton.nhs.uk/your-health/mental-health-information-resources/wolverhampton-camhs-local-transformation-plan/

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