Safeguarding
St Peter’s School places the highest importance on the safeguarding of all members of our school community. This covers the health, safety and wellbeing of everyone.
Our School’s Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mr Jim Holditch, Headteacher
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads: Mrs Dee Stone, Key Stage 1 Manager. Mr Kieron Eastwood, Key Stage 2 Manager. Mrs Laura Fowler, SENCo. Mrs Debbie Kalachaikis, After School Club Leader.
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE)
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018
The School has adopted the definition of the term ‘Safeguarding’ used in the Children Act 2004.
In summary this is:
- 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
- undertaking that role so as to enable those children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully.
The School’s safeguarding arrangements cover all aspects of life at School, in particular addressing these issues:
- health and safety;
- bullying;
- other harassment and discrimination, including racism;
- physical intervention;
- meeting the needs of pupils with medical conditions;
- behaviour
- off-site visits;
- intimate care;
- internet and E-safety;
- physical security of the School site;
- recruitment and vetting of staff and visitors to the school site.
Our Policies
Online Safety
Advice for children and young people on how to deal with online (cyber) bullying
- Always respect others on and offline – think about what you say online and what images you send/post and be aware that online messages can easily be misunderstood.
- Remember that anything you publish online can be made public very quickly and you will never be sure who may have seen it. Once something is posted you can lose control of who sees it and where it may end up.
- Treat your password like a toothbrush – never share it with anyone and only give your personal information like mobile phone number or email address to trusted friends. Be careful to log out of sites and apps if you share your device with others.
- Learn how to block or report online bullies or anyone behaving badly and don’t retaliate or reply to nasty messages! This is usually what the bullies are trying to get you to do. Remember that if you reply with a nasty or unkind comment then it could get you into trouble too.
- Always make sure that you save evidence of online (cyber) bullying by saving or printing out text messages, online conversation, pictures etc. Try and include as much information as possible, such as web addresses (URLs), contact numbers, user names, times, dates, locations.
- Always make sure you tell someone if you are being bullied online:
- an adult you trust or contact someone like Childline
- The service provider e.g. website, app, mobile phone provider etc where the bullying is taking place
- If a crime has been committed or someone is at risk of harm then contact the police
- If you see online (cyber) bullying going on, then support the victim and REPORT it to the website or your school, don’t be a bystander and say nothing otherwise you become part of the problem.
Online Safety Resources
Prevent Duty
Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. The Prevent strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing, violent Islamist groups and other causes.
From July 2015 all schools (as well as other organisations) have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism. This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from drugs or gang violence.
FGM
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is illegal in England and Wales under the FGM Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”). It is a form of child abuse and violence against women. FGM comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons.
Section 5B of the 2003 Act 1 introduces a mandatory reporting duty which requires regulated health and social care professionals and teachers in England and Wales to report ‘known’ cases of FGM in under 18s which they identify in the course of their professional work to the police.
Honour Based Violence
Honour based abuse is not about religion, it’s about culture. It’s to do with beliefs and customs and an expectation that people should behave in a certain way. Not doing so can be seen as bringing ‘shame’ or ‘dishonour’ on individuals, a family or a community.
But there’s no honour in inflicting pain or hurt on anyone and no excuse for abuse or violence.
Acts carried out in the name of honour such as violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation are illegal in the UK and carry substantial prison sentences.
Protocol for Dealing with cases of Domestic Abuse