Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
At Hartburn Primary School we believe that everyone is equally loved and accepted. Staff and Governors are concerned that all aspects of school life are “fair” and “safe” for children, staff, parents/carers and the wider community.
We have a range of policies in place and available on our website and in school that are designed to achieve a fair, safe and harmonious environment. Policies provide guidance on the acceptable standards of behaviour expected of all staff, governors, children and adult visitors to our school.
Hartburn Primary School adheres to the definition of safeguarding used in the Children Act 2004 and in the Department for Education and Skills (now DfE) guidance documents “Working together to safeguard children” and “Keeping Children Safe in Education”, to promote children’s and our school communities’ welfare.
This can be summarised as:
- Protecting children from maltreatment
- Undertaking that role to ensure children have optimum life chances
- Ensuring that children growing up with safe and effective care
- Preventing impairment of children’s health or development
Our governing body supports the school by complying with the Education Act 2002 (section 175) and we keep up to date with guidance issued by the Secretary of State and Local Authority.
We follow Department of Education and local authority guidance on safeguarding children and safer recruitment to ensure we provide a safe environment and take action to identify and protect any children or members of our learning community who may be at risk of significant harm.
Through self-review and monitoring we promote safe practice and ensure that adults working with children receive the necessary training for their roles. We work in partnership with other agencies providing services for children and their families to promote their well-being.
Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs):
Hartburn Primary School is committed to ensuring all members of our diverse and multicultural community are able to deal with life’s challenges. We have a passionate and highly skilled professional team of staff supported by Mrs Armstrong (DSL) and Mrs Hawes (Deputy DSL) who provide information, advice and guidance for our pupils, parents and staff.
The Designated Safeguarding Leads will promote the school ethos and be an ambassador for Hartburn Primary School and the community we serve. At Hartburn we all have a responsibility to ensure children are safeguarded and that priority is given to the Safeguarding Policy and Procedures in all the work we undertaken. DSLs works tirelessly to ensure that children are safeguarded by dealing with issues by providing a non-judgemental, caring and confidential environment for them to work through their problems and difficulties. They regularly undertake training and meet with outside agencies to keep up to date with new and current legislation as well as statutory guidance. As such they are able to work with other agencies, provide advice, give guidance and introduce their services to the school community if appropriate.
Working together:
We can only be successful in keeping children safe if staff and parents work together to ensure that children are able to voice their concerns. It is important that adults speak to their children about how they can keep safe, teach them how to behave appropriately, set rules and deal with challenging behaviour.
On this page we have a number of resources and links to other websites to help us all to access the appropriate support.
If you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to contact the school. We may be able to help or direct you to get advice about keeping you and your children safe.
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 ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
Policies and Procedures:
We have a number of policies and procedures in place to safeguard children. We actively support the Government’s Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.