Buckingham Park Primary School is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for children, staff and visitors and promoting a climate where children and adults will feel confident about sharing any concerns.
We aim to safeguard and promote the welfare of children by protecting them from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in our school is the responsibility of the whole school community. All adults working in this school are required to report instances of actual or suspected child abuse or neglect to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
If you have any Safeguarding or child protection concern, you should contact the staff below at school. You can find the full “Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy” on our Policies page.
The school's policy applies to the whole of the school's workforce, along with volunteers, governors and any contractors working on the school site.
Our safeguarding procedures focus on 5 main elements:
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Staff recruitment and selection - ensuring that all staff (volunteers etc.) have been appropriately checked for their suitability, using the Safe Recruitment procedures.
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Raising awareness of safeguarding issues and equipping children with the skills needed to keep them safe.
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Developing and implementing procedures for identifying and reporting cases, or suspected cases, of abuse.
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Supporting pupils who have been abused, in accordance with an agreed, child-centred plan.
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Establishing a safe and nurturing environment free from discrimination or bullying, where children can learn and develop happily.
We recognise that because of their day-to-day contact with children, school staff are ideally placed to observe the outward signs of abuse. Staff in schools will therefore:
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Report any inappropriate behaviour / activities to designated staff.
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Establish and maintain an environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk and are listened to.
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Ensure that children know that they can approach any adult in school if they are worried and they will receive a consistent, supportive response.
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Provide, within the PSHE curriculum, opportunities for children to develop the skills they need to recognise, and stay safe, from abuse.
Our pupils are continually taught and encouraged to live healthy lifestyles and adopt safe practices. Our safeguarding policies and practices help to ensure that they are safe, happy and healthy.
Adults have a tremendous impact on young children and with this in mind adults at Buckingham Park Primary -
- are good role models for children
- enjoy their work and working with children
- are conscientious and hard-working
- welcome visitors to school
- recognise and value strengths in each other and use these to support everyone
- work within the agreed policies of the school
- promote a happy, caring and safe school
- encourage children to think for themselves, ask questions and find answers
- create an environment of trust whereby children are trusted to work seriously
- challenge and support children in their learning.
There are many policies in place to safeguard our children including:
Child Protection
This is sensitive area in which all staff receive regular training. Buckingham Park Primary School and other services for children and families all work together to support the needs of children. There is also a named governor for child protection. The child protection policy can be viewed by parents on request.
Attendance
Children’s attendance at school is monitored on a daily basis and notable absences or patterns of absences are followed up by the Attendance manager and deputy head and in more serious cases the Education Welfare Officer.
Behaviour
High standards of behaviour are expected in our school. Our Behaviour Policy sets out how we promote good behaviour and deal with any problems. Our children are frequently reminded about our school rules and they know that we have them in order for everyone to be happy and keep safe.
Healthy Relationships
Relationships play a vital part in children's wellbeing. Healthy relationships help children to feel secure and supported. Forming healthy, positive relationships helps children feel safe and supported as they develop. At Buckingham Park Primary School we teach our children about healthy relationships. All our staff are equipped to recognise and respond sensitively and consistently to students who may have experienced unhealthy relationships.
Below are some of the ways we do this:
- Teaching specifically about healthy and unhealthy relationships e.g. the importance of respect, boundaries and personal space, respecting differences, happiness, improving and supporting relationships, courtesy, bullying including online bullying, seeking and giving permission.
- Promoting and modelling healthy relationships.
- Encouraging children to develop positive relationships with peers of all dispositions.
- Allowing children to learn about ways to have healthy friendships through opportunities such as being playground friends.
- Supporting children to develop their emotional literacy.
- Teaching children how to communicate effectively with each other.
- Supporting children to understand ways to safely deal with conflict.
- Children are also taught about e-safety including healthy online relationships; further support is sent to parents and carers. The school's online environment and keeping children from online harm are regularly reviewed and monitored.
Our PSHE and Relationships curriculum, focuses specifically on Healthy Relationships. It covers concepts such as: online relationships, mental wellbeing, keeping yourself safe, caring friendships, families and people who care for me. Children are taught about trusted adults and who they can speak to if they have a worry, including Childline. All children are supported to access this learning. Content for some SEND children may need to be tailored to meet the specific needs of the child.
We take a whole school approach to respectful relationships; it is incorporated within our behaviour policy, championed by every member of staff and is a central part of our culture, ethos and expectations.
Health and Safety
Everyone at Buckingham Park Primary School knows they have a responsibility to ensure children and adults are able to work in a healthy and safe environment. All staff are trained in first aid and are able to deal with illnesses and accidents should they occur.
Online Safety
The aim of this guidance is to inform all staff of best practice around e-safety and draw attention to existing local and national guidance on this subject so that we can maintain the safest possible learning and working environments for children and staff alike. The document has been created in line with national and local guidance.Follow this link for more information about online safety.
Acceptable Use of ICT
This policy states what is acceptable in terms of use of hardware, use of the internet and publishing content. It is intended for all ICT users at Buckingham Park Primary: staff, children, governors etc. Acceptable use of ICT is defined as activities that provide children with appropriate learning experiences or that allow adults to enhance their own professional development.
Safer recruitment and selection
This aspect is taken very seriously. Governors and the school ensure that all staff new to the school and volunteers who work in school on a regular basis undertake a CRB check and full references are acquired before the person takes up post.
The 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. As a school we have due regard to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. In order to protect children in our care, we must be alert to any reason for concern in the child's life at home or elsewhere.
Staff are trained to identify children who may be vulnerable to radicalisation and know what to do when they are identified. Protecting children from the risk of radicalisation is part of our safeguarding duties.
As a school we build our children's resilience to radicalisation by promoting British Values and how to challenge extreme views. Developing children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is at the centre of all we do. Our school is a safe space where they can understand the risks associated with extreme views and develop knowledge and skills to challenge these views. We are aware of the increased risk of online radicalisation and teach our children how to keep themselves safe online. We have suitable filtering systems in place to ensure that children are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet in school.
Our PSHE and Relationship curriculum, enables children to explore sensitive issues and equips them with the knowledge and skills to understand and manage difficult situations. They are taught ways to recognise and manage risk, make safe choices, and recognise when pressure from others threatens their own wellbeing. Children are taught to develop positive character traits through our school values.
For more information on the PREVENT strategy, please click the link here.
You can find out more by reading this leaflet for parents.
NSPCC Underwear Rule - PANTS
The NSPCC have some very easy to use documents regarding safeguarding and staying safe. Teach you child the Underwear Rule and help protect them from abuse. It's a simple way that parents can help keep children safe from sexual abuse - without using scary words. The NSPCC Underwear Rule can be found by clicking:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/underwear-rule/
Talk PANTS and you've got it covered
PANTS is a really easy way for you to explain the Underwear Rule to your child:
- Privates are private
- Always remember your body belongs to you
- No means no
- Talk about secrets that upset you
- Speak up, someone can help
Our School Safeguarding Curriculum
The documents below set out how we teach the children to keep themselves safe. If you would like a paper copy please let us know.