Christ Church Church of England Primary School Safeguarding

The basis of this statement is provided by the latest version of the statutory guidance ͚Working Together to Safeguard Children͛ and ͚Keeping Children Safe in Education͛. This statement and the linked guidance cover all children in our School.

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 states:

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all practitioners should make sure their approach is child centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child.

The purpose of this statement, and the directions it provides are planned, implemented and regularly reviewed in order to:

1. Protect children from maltreatment and significant harm

2. Prevent impairment of children’s physical and mental health and wellbeing

Most importantly, this involves taking action to enable all children achieve the best results they can.

Our safeguarding network is underpinned by an ethos of constant vigilance. All staff have a pivotal role to safeguard children and they are duty bound to provide help for all. We should identify concerns early and implement school policy to prevent concerns from escalating to a point where a child is at risk of significant harm.

Action will be taken to promote the welfare of all children and this will be done even if they are not suffering harm or are at immediate risk. Where a child is suffering significant harm, or is likely to do so, action will be taken to protect the child. In the case of physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect, the school will make a referral to Children’s Social Care. In a case where an actual offense has occurred involving sexual violence or harassment, school will immediately call the police. In order to fulfil our safeguarding duties, Christ Church CE Primary School have a robust suite of Safeguarding Policies and Procedures.

These include:

CHILD PROTECTION AND SAFEGUARDING POLICY 2023-24

Designated teacher for Children in Care & previously looked-after children.

ONLINE SAFETY POLICY

Sexual abuse in schools policy 

Safe Recruitment and Vetting

Preventing Extremism and Radicalisation policy

The named Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputies are Mrs Lynskey and Mr Williams and Mrs Kirkham respectively and together they are responsible for safeguarding across the School.

If you have any concerns, please contact your child’s class teacher in the first instance on 01925 492422. Equally, if you feel you need to, you can contact Mr Williams or Mrs Lynskey directly by contacting the school office.

This Statement complies with: Children’s Act 1989 and 2005 Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 - and Keeping Children Safe in Education - Statutory Guidance 2023

While there are huge benefits to being online to stay connected to family and friends the government recognises many parents feel concerned about the activities and content their children are accessing. This guidance outlines resources to help keep children safe from different risks online and where to go to get support and advice.

It is important to have regular conversations about staying safe online

Keep your child safe online and to encourage children to speak to you if they come across something worrying online.

Talk to your child about the importance of creating a safe online environment, including keeping any log-in details and passwords safe.

These resources will support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices:

This is a link to parent advice around the dangers of children being pressured into sharing sexualised images of themselves; Internet Watch Foundation

• Thinkuknow by the National Crime Agency - Child Exploitation and Online Protection command (NCA-CEOP) - resources for parents and carers and children of all ages to help keep children safe online
• Childnet has developed guidance for parents and carers to begin a conversation about online safety, as well as guidance on keeping under-fives safe online
• National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) - guidance for parents and carers to help keep children safe online

• ‘The NSPCC has released this guide to support those difficult adult/child conversations: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/online-safety-blog/want-to-talk-about-it-making-space-for-conversations-about-life-online/

• UK Safer Internet Centre - tips and advice for parents and carers to keep children safe online - you can also report any harmful content found online through the UK Safer Internet Centre
• Inclusive Digital Safety Hub and Online Safety Hub, created by South West Grid for Learning in partnership with Internet Matters - support and tailored advice for young people with additional learning needs and their parents or carers
• Parents’ Guide to Age Ratings explains how the British Board of Film Classification rates content, and gives parents advice on choosing online content well

Child sexual abuse

If you are concerned call 999 or report it to the NCA-CEOP.

If your child has been a victim of child sexual abuse – online or offline – and you believe they are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police. The police will continue to respond to emergency calls.

If you are concerned that your child has been a victim of online sexual abuse or you are worried about the way someone has been communicating with your child online, you can report it to NCA-CEOP.

These resources provide information and support for parents and carers on what to do if you’re worried about child sexual abuse:

• you can contact the NSPCC helpline (0808 800 5000) for support and advice if you have concerns about your own or another child’s safety. The Together, we can tackle child abuse campaign also provides information on the signs of child abuse and neglect
• Thinkuknow by NCA-CEOP has developed activities to support your child’s safe use of the internet
• the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Parents Protect website has advice on how to help protect children from child sexual abuse including a Harmful Sexual Behaviour Prevention Toolkit
• if you see sexual images or videos of someone under 18 online, report it anonymously to the Internet Watch Foundation who can work to remove them from the web and help to identify victims and survivors
• you can contact Stop It Now! for information and advice if you have concerns about someone’s behaviour, including children who may be displaying concerning sexual behaviour
• you can contact The Marie Collins Foundation help@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk for support, including advice and individual counselling, for your child if they have been subjected to online sexual abuse - support is also offered to parents and carers

Criminal exploitation and county lines, violence and gangs

Our page of advice to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm has information on this.

Radicalising content

This page will provide the public with clear, accessible information about the Prevent programme, advice on how to make a referral and the types of support offered through Channel. It is intended to complement existing resources such as ACT Early and Educate Against Hate.

Get help if you’re worried about someone being radicalised - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you are concerned that any family member, friend or loved one is being radicalised, you can call the police or 101 to get advice or make a Prevent referral, so that they can get safeguarding support.

Support is tailored to the individual and works in a similar way to safeguarding processes designed to protect people from gangs, drug abuse, and physical and sexual exploitation.

Receiving support through Prevent is voluntary, confidential and not a form of criminal sanction.

If you need more help, you can also contact your local authority safeguarding team.

• Educate Against Hate Parents’ Hub - resources and government advice for parents and carers on keeping young people safe from extremism, including online
• Let’s Talk About It - support for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation
• any member of the public can report terrorist content they find online through the GOV.UK referral tool - more information about what to report and what happens when you do can be found on the Action Counters Terrorism campaign

‘Sexting’ (youth-produced sexual imagery)

If you are worried about your child sending nude images or videos (sometimes referred to as ‘youth-produced sexual imagery’ or sexting), NSPCC provides advice to help you understand the risks and support your child.

If your child has shared nude images, Thinkuknow by NCA-CEOP provides advice on talking to your child and where to get help.

So You Got Naked Online created by South West Grid for Learning, has advice for young people and parents affected by sexting, also available in a SEND (Special Educational Need and Disability) version.

Cyberbullying

If you are concerned about cyberbullying, you can find government advice and information about how you can protect your child and tackle it if it happens.

Age-inappropriate content and parental controls

If you have downloaded new apps or buy new technology remember to review and adjust privacy and safety settings if you or your child is signing up to a new online service.

• Internet Matters has step-by-step guides on how to set up parental controls so that you can control what content your child can access online
• the UK Safer Internet Centre has guidance on how to switch on family-friendly filters to prevent age-inappropriate content being accessed on devices in your home
• the NSPCC has more information for parents or carers with concerns about their child seeking inappropriate or explicit content online

Apps to help children stay safe online

The BBC has a website and app called Own It. The website helps children navigate their online lives, and the free smartphone app comes with a special keyboard which can intervene with help and support in the moments that children need it the most. It can be downloaded for free in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

SafeToNet is an app for parents to help them protect their children from online risks like cyberbullying and sexting, while respecting their child’s rights to privacy. 

Mental health

If you are worried about your child’s mental health, the government has published guidance for parents and carers on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

If you are worried that someone you know is suicidal, including your child, Samaritans provides advice on how you can support others.

Support for children

If your child is worried or needs support, they can get advice and support from Childline (0800 1111) or download the ‘For Me’ app.

If you need help to support your child’s mental wellbeing, this list of online education resources for home education includes mental wellbeing resources on how to support the wellbeing of children and young people.

In conjunction with Cheshire Police, Christ Church Community Primary School is involved in an initiative called Operation Encompass.

The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident. Following such an incident, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared. Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff (called Key Adults) are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.

At Christ Church, our Key Adults are Mrs Lynskey, Designated Senior Lead (DSL), Mr Williams, Head teacher/Deputy DSL and Mrs Kirkham Assistant Head Teacher/Deputy DSL. 

This is an invaluable initiative that means we can continue to support and help children and families within our school community when they need it the most.

You can find out more by visiting http://www.operationencompass.org or by contacting Mr Williams.

If you want to report any concerns you have about people contacting you online click the CEOP report image below.

Online Safety - Guidance for Parents