Safeguarding

The school's Safeguarding officers are:

Mrs B Nesbit, Mrs S McCall, Miss D Cunningham and Mrs C Henshaw

Keeping children safe and happy is at the heart of everything we do at St Mary's Catholic Primary School. We recognise that all staff, including volunteers, have a full and active part to play in protecting our pupils from harm. We believe that our school should provide a caring, positive safe and stimulating environment, which promotes the social, physical and moral development of every child and therefore we take safeguarding extremely seriously whilst retaining a balanced and human approach.

We have excellent recruitment procedures – every member of staff has full checks and up to date references, as do visiting artists, regular volunteers, supply teachers and governors – and all staff receive appropriate training at regular intervals.

We have policies and practices that focus on ensuring the health and well-being of the children, for example: risk assessments before every class trip, a regularly updated heath and safety policy and staff presence at the school entrance at the start and end of every day.

We have well-established ways of monitoring and responding to incidents of concern, for example: unexplained absences, difficult behaviour and significant changes in physical or emotional appearance.

How can families help with keeping children safe?

• Make sure all addresses and contact numbers are up to date;
• If someone different is picking your child up, please let us know;
• Be at school on time every day at 8:45am and 3.20pm;
• Notify the school about your child’s absence – unexplained absences are a key trigger for concern;

At St Mary's we are clear that safeguarding is everybody’s business and we have a strong commitment to safeguard all our children ensuring their health, safety and well-being in all areas of our practice.

We have clear procedures and key personnel in place to ensure safeguarding in all aspects of school life.

All of our staff work together to ensure that:

• Our children feel listened to, valued and respected
• Our staff are aware of indicators of abuse and know how to share their concerns appropriately
• All our paid and unpaid staff, including governors and volunteers, are subject to rigorous recruitment procedures
• All our paid and unpaid staff, including volunteers and governors, are given appropriate support and training

Teachers and all support staff in our school play a crucial role in helping to identify where there are welfare concerns, and indicators of possible abuse or neglect, at an early stage. St Mary's is committed to referring those concerns via the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)  to the appropriate organisation, and, where appropriate, to ongoing action to meet those needs. It is vital that parents and carers understand the responsibility placed on the school and staff for child protection.

In order to ensure that our children are adequately protected, we will ensure that:

• We have a strategic safeguard lead
• We have a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and two deputy safeguarding leads who will attend multi-agency training to ensure that they are fully up-to-date with all new developments and practices in safeguarding and to meet any new legislative requirements as it emerges.
• At St Mary's our Strategic lead is the Executive Headteacher, Mrs Bernadette Nesbit. The DSL is the Head of School, Mrs McCall, and the DDSL's are the Safeguarding Manager, Mrs Henshaw and the Assistant Headteacher, Miss Cunningham . 
• All staff are trained in Child Protection awareness at least annually.
• All staff have signed a record to show that they have read and understand the DFE Guidance
• 'Keeping Safe In Education'  2023 (Part 1) has been read and understood by all staff.
• All children and their families and/or carers have access to this Safeguarding Policy via our website. Paper copies will be made available on request.

The safeguarding policy is reviewed on an annual basis by the DSL and the Governors

Key Areas of safeguarding responsibilities:

Safeguarding encompasses the following:

• Staff recruitment, vetting, appointment and training
• All aspects of child protection
• Site security and safety, including fire procedures
• Risk assessment of all activities, day trips and residential stays
• E-safety teaching, learning and procedures
• Medical and first aid procedures
• Behaviour, bullying and restraint
• Equalities and discrimination including preventing radicalisation and extremism

Separate policies and procedures are in place to fulfil our responsibility to these duties e.g. e-safety, anti bullying, whistle-blowing

Equalities and Discrimination, Radicalisation and Extremism
Children are explicitly taught that any form of discrimination on grounds of race, religion, sexuality, disability is wrong and there is a zero tolerance approach. All children and staff should be treated with care and respect. The school is vigilant in ensuring children and staff are protected from any form of extremism or indoctrination. In line with the Prevent duty, staff are trained and kept informed to recognise vulnerability and mitigate the risks. The school’s Catholic Social Teaching Education reinforces our commitment to equalities and includes the values of tolerance, respect, equality and kindness. Our RE curriculum dedicates a minimum of two weeks of each school year dedicated to the studying of other faiths; this promotes reflective thinking and questioning, freedom and openness as well as respect and tolerance for all faiths, within our multicultural community.