Safeguarding
Safeguarding at St Mary's Priory
At St Mary’s Priory, we understand that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. All members of staff receive regular training.
This covers all areas in the DFE document, Keeping Children Safe in Education (updated September 2023) – including the Prevent Strategy, FGM and Child Sexual Exploitation.
We implement a whole-school preventative approach to managing safeguarding concerns, ensuring that the wellbeing of pupils is at the forefront of all action taken. Safeguarding is a preventative agenda that helps children to achieve their full potential, regardless of negative factors such as poverty or social exclusion, by providing services and support to overcome barriers to achievement.
Reporting Concerns
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. No concern is too small. If you have any concerns, please report them immediately to our safeguarding team:
Designated Safeguarding Lead – Ciara Neli Assistant Headteacher and Inclusion Lead
Deputy DSL – Claire Reynolds Deputy Headteacher
Deputy DSL – Jorgina Joseph Deputy Headteacher
Deputy DSL - Jane Ronan Headteacher
Nominated Governor for Safeguarding - Stephen McNicholas
Keeping Children Safe in Education is the key information from the government around safeguarding and all our staff read Part 1 and its updates at the beginning of the school year. We provide regular updates and reminders throughout the year to make sure training is current. We ensure that everyone who works in our school has undergone the relevant DBS checks and are legally entitled to work in the UK. Any adult working with children will receive appropriate safeguarding training.
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 Part 1 - click here to access the document
St Mary's Priory School will work closely with health professionals to monitor pupils’ health and ensure that pupils’ with health needs receive the extra support they need to fully participate in education.
A Definition of Safeguarding
Safeguarding is a broad agenda and covers the following:
- protecting children from maltreatment;
- preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
- ensuring children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care;
- enabling children to have optimum life chances so they can enter adulthood successfully.
Safeguarding Aims
St Mary's Priory aims to provide a safe learning environment where pupils are:
- kept safe from accidents whilst at school and during outings;
- protected from maltreatment through the implementation of Haringey Safeguarding Children Board’s Safeguarding procedures and Safe Recruitment practices;
- taught to keep themselves safe via safety messages delivered through the curriculum and other forums;
- taught how to stay safe on-line and report any inappropriate material;
- made aware of the adults in school who they can talk to;
- able to feel supported, safe and protected and able to raise concerns.
Safety messages will be delivered via the curriculum, and pupils will be provided with opportunities to discuss issues they feel are affecting their safety, at school and within the community.
All visitors to St Mary's Priory receive a Safeguarding Leaflet outlining how we endeavour to safeguard all pupils.
Office staff record on our signing in database that visitors are in receipt of this information. Safeguarding our children IS and MUST ALWAYS be a shared responsibility.
Visitors to our school who can work with children unaccompanied by St Mary's Priory staff wear a green visitor lanyard. Visitors who need to be accompanied by St Mary's Priory staff wear a red visitor lanyard.
Information Sharing
We have an obligation to obtain necessary information from parents in advance of a child being admitted to school, including:
- emergency contact numbers;
- the child’s special dietary requirements, preferences or food allergies the child may have;
- the child’s special health requirements;
- information about who has legal contact with the child and who has parental responsibility for the child.
Written parental permission is requested, at the time of the child’s admission to our Nursery and school, to the seeking of any necessary emergency medical advice or treatment in the future.
IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS & CARERS TO TELL US OF ANY CHANGES TO THESE DETAILS.
We take confidentiality very seriously. Any information which we hold is treated as confidential and shared on a ‘need-to-know’ basis.
Further information is detailed in our Data Protection Policy.
Referrals to Children's Social Care
Children’s Social Care are part of Haringey’s Social Services department. The team that the school works with is called Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). When a child makes a disclosure to a member of staff, the procedure in the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy (to be found on our website) is followed. This means we would contact MASH.
Please click here to see our Parent Guide to Safeguarding Referral Process.
NSPCC (NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN) CONTACT INFORMATION
NSPCC Helpline: 0800 136 663 or 0800 800 5000
Email: help@nspcc.org.uk
ONLINE SAFETY
Currently, it is St Mary's Priory policy that photographs are permitted to be taken by parents at school events, but are to be used for their private use only, and that images (including video) that include children other than their own cannot be uploaded to the internet or posted on social media. Please refer to the school’s Safe Use of Images Policy for greater detail.
Operation Encompass
We are working with the Metropolitan Police Service as part of Operation Encompass. This is the notification to schools that a child (under 18) has been exposed to, or involved in, any domestic incident. This will ordinarily be done by the start of the next school day. Operation Encompass will ensure that a specially trained member of the school staff, known as a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), is informed. The DSL can then use the information that has been shared, in confidence, to ensure the wellbeing of the child.
EARLY HELP
St Mary's Priory Early Help offer
The purpose of early help is to prevent issues and problems becoming serious and harmful to a child or young person, their family and community. When children and families need this extra support, they often need it quickly. St Mary's Priory is committed to striving to ensure concerns, no matter how small, are listened to and supported effectively, maximising the chances of effectively safeguarding all of our children. We at St Mary's Priory believe that all of our parents and carers may need support at one time or another. One of the avenues that we have available to us is Early Help. Please click here to read our offer.
Haringey's Early Help offer
Haringey’s Early Help can become involved through a referral from School, GPs and/or other services. It is a multi-agency approach which involves all practitioners involved with the family, for example, school. From receipt of the referral, the MASH team (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) will be passing on the information to the Early Help Team. This can take up to a week. A family support worker will be allocated and will contact the family and the school.
Early Help Service can offer advice and guidance as well as practical, hands-on support, with a whole family approach. Early Help will work alongside you with other professionals to enable you to make and sustain the changes needed to improve your family situation.
Supporting you and your family, and understanding your concerns, Early Help will create an action plan describing how they will work together to help you, supported by other professionals and services.
Early Help want to understand your family’s strengths and what is not working so well. To do this, Early Help will work in partnership with you and, with your consent, alongside colleagues from school, who are also able to help. Working together, Early Help will address the issues you and your family are facing and, over time, build your confidence, knowledge and skills to enable you to deal with future challenges.
Early Help offers:
- A two-way conversation
- Practical hands on support
- Advice and guidance
- Whole family approach
For further information, please contact Ciara Neli (Designated Safeguarding Lead) via office@stmarysrcpriory.haringey.sch.uk
St Mary's Priory early help offer to families - please click this link to read the document.
PREVENT
From the 1st July 2015, schools and childcare providers have been issued with new advice and social media guidance to help them keep children safe from the risk of radicalisation and extremism.
The advice has been published to coincide with the new prevent duty, introduced as part of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, which legally requires a range of organisations including schools to take steps to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
Schools and childcare providers already play a vital role in keeping children safe from harm, including from the risks of extremism and radicalisation, and in promoting the welfare of children in their care.
The Prevent Duty: DfE Guidance (June 2015) can be accessed here: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/439598/prevent-duty-departmental-advice-v6.pdf
See link below for government guidance and support for parents, carers and educators.
Safeguarding Policies and guidance
Please click on links below for our safeguarding policy and other guidance.
Advice to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm
Working together to safeguard children
Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills updated September 2022