How do we Safeguard Children?
Safeguarding of children is the highest priority in St Michael’s CE Primary School and as a result, we have 2 Designated Teachers for Child Protection and they always have their training up to date. All members of staff also attend regular safeguarding training. Two members of staff have Safer Recruitment Training. Governors receive regular updates about the levels of Child Protection.
Our Designated Safeguarding Leads are: Gavin Johnston (Head Teacher) and Cate Groome-Mackay (Assistant Head Teacher). Both can be contacted via the school office (01665 602850) or through adminstm@stmichaels.ncea.org.uk
We also have a Designated Person for Looked After Children to ensure that these children have their educational outcomes monitored. St Michael’s CE Primary School is often complimented on the excellent Policies and Procedures for Child Protection. Written records are kept in a locked filing cabinet and information is shared with other agencies where it is appropriate to do so.
The school would, if necessary involve the Local Authority Designated Officer or work with the LA to ensure that appropriate action is always taken. We work closely with other agencies who also have a responsibility within safeguarding such as Children’s Services, the Education Welfare Officer, School Health and Northumbria Police.
Attendance is monitored carefully to ensure that children do not go missing in education and access their educational entitlement. At St Michael’s we are proud supporters of Operation Endeavour, Operation Encompass and Operation Encompass – the next steps (see below).
All staff are trained in Safeguarding including e-safety and staff sign ‘Acceptable Use’ policies for social media and electronic devices. Staff receive ‘in house’ child protection training in addition to that of the Local Authority. They are aware of the main policies pertaining to Child Protection including that of ‘whistleblowing’. Staff induction also includes training on how to assess and manage risk and all risk assessments are signed off by Senior Managers. Incidents and accidents are recorded to track issues and take action as required.
All visitors must sign in to school. Anyone working in school who is not a member of school staff is subject to scrutiny prior to working within school and an up to date DBS is required. The School Business Manager keeps stringent records in relation to this.
School Governors do regular Health and Safety checks in school. This is invaluable when evaluating Health and Safety policies in school.
Download and view the following documents:
- Keeping Children Safe in Education, published by HM Government in September 2023
- Working Together to Safeguard Children, published by HM Government, updated February 2018.
- Inspecting Safeguarding in Early Years, published by OFSTED in September 2019.
