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St. Paul's Church of England Primary School

St. Paul's Church of England Primary School

Safeguarding Pupils

Every school must have a Child Protection Policy - often referred to as the school's Safeguarding Policy. The aim of the policy is to ensure that our school has effective measures in place to safeguard your children from the potential risk of harm and that the safety and wellbeing of the children are of the highest priority in all aspects of our school's work. Having the policy in place ensures that all members of our school community:

  • Are aware of their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and child protection
  • Know the procedures that should be followed if they have a cause for concern
  • Know where to go to find additional information regarding safeguarding
  • Are aware of the key indicators relating to child abuse
  • Fully support the school's commitment to safeguarding and child protection.

Safeguarding is not just about protecting children from deliberate harm. It presents schools with a wide range of issues that they need to be prepared for.  

Concerned?

Acting quickly can make all the difference.

If you think a child might be suffering neglect or abuse, it can be difficult to know what to do. But your action is vital in making sure that child gets the help they need.

If you are concerned about a child in Kent call the Kent Safeguarding Children Board reporting line on 03000 411111.

For more information about the Kent Safeguarding Children Board please visit their website https://www.kscb.org.uk/

Alternatively you can call Childline if you are an adult or a child, on 08001111. Childline can also be reached online at www.childline.org.uk

If you think the child is in immediate danger, you should call the police.

It is a requirement that schools be fully engaged, involved and included in safeguarding arrangements (Working Together to safeguard Children 2018), and they must set out how they will work together with any relevant agencies (Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021). St. Paul's has strong relationships with health, children's services, the police and legal services (these partners are define in section 16E of the Children Act 2004). To safeguard our children, we will attend attend meetings, and be required to share information that will safeguard children. We are required to follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018, but these are not barriers for justified information sharing to keep children and young people safe.

At St. Paul's we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mr Johnson (Head of School). Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Mr Hulme, Mr Dickens, Mrs Stoneham and Mrs Simmons. The Governor with responsibility for safeguarding in our school in Mrs Hilary Wilder (Foundation Governor).

To contact any of our safeguarding leads please contact the school office on 01322 664324

Safety on the Web

St. Paul's encourages parents and children to visit the CEOP www.thinkuknow.co.uk to keep you and your friends safe with Hector Protector and his friends. Security on our computer system is a high priority because there are so many users. This website has lots of fun activities which children can gain vital information on staying safe.

If you or anyone you know is worried about Child Exploitation, Online Protection or anything related to Internet safety please click the link below which will take you to the CEOP reporting website: https://www.ceop.police.uk/Ceop-Report/

Internet access at St. Paul's is filtered by our Internet Service Provider (ISP) but ultimately, parents and guardians of minors are responsible for setting and conveying the standards that their children should follow when using media and information sources. We also have a secondary filtering provided by a dedicated internet server/router. This provides additional filtering which allows the children to only view certain pages.

What we recommend and teach the children about Personal Security Guidelines

Pupils should:

Never reveal personal information, either their own or others, such as home addresses, telephone numbers and personal e-mail addresses etc.

Not use photographs of themselves on their web pages unless the parent/guardians have given permission to do so.

Never meet people in person that they have contacted on the internet without a parent/guardians permission.

Notify their teacher whenever they come across information or messages that are dangerous, inappropriate, or make them feel uncomfortable.

Be aware that the author of an e-mail or web page may not be the person they claim to be.

Access Permission

Pupils are responsible for appropriate behaviour on the schools computer network just as they are in the classroom or in the school playground. Communications on the network are often public in nature. General school rules and the Behaviour Policy apply and it is expected that users will comply with the guidelines of this policy.

At the beginning of each year children are taught a series of E-Safety lessons the build their knowledge of how to stay safe online. The children also have refresher lessons each term.

Parental Support

Pupils could potentially have unfiltered, unsupervised Internet access at home. All parents should be aware of the concerns and benefits of school Internet use. Parents are therefore encouraged to look at government guidance available on the Internet to help in the supervision of their children. We have also organised and will continue to organise E-Safety training for parents.