Safeguarding Statement

Pennington Infant School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school. All concerns are passed through the members of staff who are trained as "Designated Safeguarding Leads" in school in compliance with the "sharing of information" guidance.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Bev Seed, Head Teacher.  The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Liz Lawrence, Parent Support Worker and Angela Budd, Admin Officer. They are supported by a team of other staff who have also been trained accordingly.

If you have any serious concerns about your child or any other pupil at Pennington Infant School, please do not hesitate to contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead who knows who to contact for the best advice and help and is experienced in using the appropriate degree of confidentiality.

All volunteers are asked to complete an application form and enhanced DBS checks are carried out as well as reference checks.  Volunteers complete an Induction Process which includes relevant safeguarding training.

To find out more about how to keep children safe on the Internet, follow this link: http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

For the best interests of all our children we use the following safeguarding measures:

Cause for Concern

All staff and volunteers are asked to report any causes for concern to either Bev Seed, Liz Lawrence or Angela Budd through submitting a concern on CPOMS. All staff receive child protection training every 3 years, or sooner if required. Concerns may range from children being visibly upset to persistent lateness to children disclosing concerns.

Attendance

All lateness and absences are recorded by the Senior Admin Assistant, Mrs Douch. Reasons will be sought for all absence or lateness. Attendance is monitored through these systems and referrals to the Safeguarding Team, including the Education Welfare Officer can be made. Parents will always be informed of concerns around attendance at the earliest point. If attendance concerns continue the school will refer to the Education Welfare Officer. There will be no authorised ‘Leave From Learning’, only in exceptional circumstances.

E-Safety

We support our pupils’ use of the internet and seek to underpin their knowledge of safe use and protection. We provide our pupils with an awareness of how to stay safe online both in the school environment and beyond. We believe that children should adhere to the certification given to games, DVDs etc. All of the games and DVDs used at school will be rated as U.

Facebook/Social media sites

Children of KS1 age are not entitled to use FaceBook. Children will not be using social media sites during school hours. We also ask parent/carers not to name school, staff or other children on SMS

Prevent Duty

All teaching staff have completed the Prevent Training through Channel and as a result of this, staff are vigilant around ensuring all members of the school (including parents/carers) feel part of the school community.  Promoting healthy relationships both within and outside of school is an embedded aspect of our school ethos.  This includes promoting participating in groups within the local community such as Rainbows, Beavers, local sports clubs and the local Church.  We also teach the children about the importance of enjoying healthy friendships through Anti-Bullying week, Jigsaw PSHE and assemblies.  We celebrate our work with local organisations such as The Rotary Club, Praizin’ Hands, Pennington Junior School and Colton Care.  At Pennington Infant School we celebrate diversity.

Safeguarding in our Curriculum

Safeguarding is at the forefront of all we do, this includes within the learning taking place within our school. Each half term we assign a safeguarding theme to fit alongside our wider curriculum offering. Within the curriculum we support our children in how to keep themselves safe.  This includes teaching about Internet Safety, Sun Safety, Water Safety, Beach Safety, Fire Safety and Stranger Danger.  Our children know that they can talk to the adults in school about any concerns and that it is our job to keep them safe.  We have a 'safe' theme each half term in our Collective Reflections, where children can explore all of these different areas. Our medium term planning, also makes reference to the teaching we are undertaking to support the safeguarding of all stakeholders. Each half term, we allocate collective reflection time to the safeguarding theme and discuss what this means to each of us. Alongside this, safeguarding updates are shared regularly with the home via the newsletter.