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“Safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility”
Safeguarding Statement
Children have a right to be cared for and protected, protecting them is everyone’s responsibility. Here at Bottesford Infant School we have a duty of care to ensure that all users of the school are kept safe from harm. We are committed to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued. Safeguarding children is an essential part of our holistic approach to ensure that children are protected from abuse and neglect and that every child reaches their full potential.
The school’s community have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children as a shared responsibility with parents and other carers. To support this statement, the school may signpost to services that are specialised to promote opportunity, prevent problems, act early and act effectively if and when concerns arise. Therefore, whilst we do not want to worry you, we will liaise with Children’s Services if we have any reason to believe that a child may be at risk of suffering abuse or neglect.
In accordance with local information sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children are safe and receive the right support.
Parents/carers are normally our first point of contact, and if a suspicion of abuse is recorded, parents/carers will be informed at the same time that the record is made; we will support parents/carers and ensure we work in collaboration with them to protect children. Working with parents/carers to prevent abuse is our primary aim and only when that has failed or in emergency situations will a referral be made to Children’s Services. When a referral is made to social care parents will be notified beforehand, except when guidance from Children’s Services or the Police does not allow this.
Bottesford Infant School will seek advice from Children’s Services when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school responsible for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead – Miss Busby) is charged with carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of the child.
We cannot safeguard children alone. All children’s services agencies work in partnership with each other. There are duties and rules about information sharing but if staff, parents or carers have any concerns about a child, other parent, provider, agency or any person, they have a responsibility to report those concerns and we must record and act on them. We have a ‘Bottesford Infant School safeguarding /child protection policy’ which is underpinned by the North Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board Procedures and the document “Working Together to Safeguard Children” and Safer Recruitment guidance. The policy applies to all children and young people regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or religion. It is a requirement that all users are informed of these policies and practice guidance and what they should do if they have concerns.
The safeguarding policy is available on the school website.
Our safeguarding team is Miss Rachel Busby, Miss Zoe Labourne, Miss Nadine Parker and Mrs Maureen Holmes , if you have any concerns regarding a child or would like some support, please ask to speak to one of them.
Parents and carers play a role in safeguarding children in their community. If you have any concerns,
no matter how small, you should report them to someone who you trust will listen. Parents and children should speak to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (Rachel Busby) if they have any concerns about a child or staff member.
If you think a child or young person may be in immediate danger, call 999.
Otherwise contact North Lincolnshire Children’s Services Single Point of Contact on 01724 296500 (9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, 9am-4:30pm Friday), 08081 689667 (free phone) and 01724 296555 out of hours.
You can also call the NSPCC on 0808 800 50001
If you are a child who is worried about yourself or someone else call Childline on 0800 11 11.
For more information on Bottesford Infant Schools safeguarding procedures please refer to the safeguarding policy: https://www.bottesfordinfants.co.uk/policies/
Key Contacts (01724 862483 or office@bottesfordinfants.co.uk):
Useful Contacts:
Families can sometimes need support from a wide range of agencies. We recognise that other agencies will be able to support children and families based on their specialised work. Therefore, our role is often to signpost families to the resources that will best support their needs.
https://www.northlincscmars.co.uk/children-and-young-people/
https://educateagainsthate.com/parents/
Early Help
Bottesford Infant School works to provide Early Help to those children and families in the school community with emerging needs, which may not be appropriate for Children Services intervention. Early Help means providing support to our children and families as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life.
We understand just how complicated family life can be. From time to time, there may be situations where you need some extra help and support. If things are not right at home, please come and talk to us. We can help in many ways.
https://www.northlincscmars.co.uk/early-help/
Site Security
We have stringent management and maintenance of our site to ensure it is safe and secure, this includes management of visitors to our site.
All visitors must sign in and wear a visitor badge and be escorted unless they have met our vetting requirements to work in school unsupervised.
Operation Encompass
Operation Encompass is an initiative which enhances communication between the police and schools where a child or young person is at risk from domestic abuse. The purpose of the information-sharing is to ensure schools have more information to support the safeguarding of children and young people. By knowing that the child has had this experience, the school is in a better position to understand and be supportive of the child’s needs and possible behaviours. Operation Encompass will complement existing safeguarding procedures. Please see the website for further details: https://www.operationencompass.org
First Aid
Our staff are trained to administer first aid and where necessary, we will advise parents of any treatments undertaken in school. We also have additional paediatric first aiders to support when necessary and to manage medicine administration.
Children with long term health needs all have a health care plan that will be reviewed annually.
Please refer to our policy: https://www.bottesfordinfants.co.uk/policies/
Online safety
From learning in class to playing games at home, children are doing more on the internet than ever before – and it’s a wonderful place. However, just as in ‘real life’, it’s important to make sure your child is staying safe online.
At Bottesford Infants, we teach children about online bullying, communicating safely, and a whole host of other (constantly evolving) themes to help our children stay safe online. Online safety is taught throughout the computing curriculum.
Please see: e-safety parent guidance on our website for further information.
Wellbeing
If at any stage there is a bereavement in your family there is some useful information at Bereavement UK and Winston's Wish.
https://www.childbereavementuk.org
There are some excellent websites support with a range of wellbeing issues. These includes downloads, leaflets, books and activities as well as advice.
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/
https://www.annafreud.org/parents-and-carers/
https://www.camhs-resources.co.uk/
Come and talk to a member of staff or our learning mentor (Mrs Holmes) if you need any help of support with wellbeing/mental health concerns.