Safeguarding
Safeguarding pupils is given the highest priority in our school. Pupils will only make good progress educationally, socially and personally if they feel happy, safe and secure in school. Therefore it is vital that the individual needs of our pupils are met by the adults that are caring for them. We have a comprehensive Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy that provides clear direction to staff and others about expected codes of behaviour in dealing with child welfare and protection issues.
Our safeguarding team:
The Designated Safeguarding Lead in our school is the head teacher, Julie Irving.
In the event of her absence, the following staff act as Designated Safeguarding leads:
Holly Collins - Deputy Head Teacher
Joanne Gilmour - Family Support Worker
Hannah Thornbery - Assistant Head Teacher
Helen Hawley - Assistant Head Teacher
We have a Family Support Worker, Joanne Gilmour, with specific responsibilities for safeguarding and child protection. She works closely with staff to ensure the best possible care and support for vulnerable pupils and their families.
If you believe that a child or young person is at risk of significant harm, please contact the LA Safeguarding Hub on 0333 240 1727.
There are many aspects to our work in safeguarding and protecting our pupils. The four main elements are:
Prevention: We work hard to create a positive school atmosphere where pupils feel safe and secure. We provide high quality teaching and pastoral support and we ensure that our pupils know what to do if they ever feel worried or unsafe.
Protection: We ensure that all staff are appropriately recruited, trained and supported which enables them to respond to safeguarding concerns in an appropriate and sensitive manner.
Support: Staff are fully supported in their work to provide the highest quality care and support for all pupils. Particular support is given to pupils who are considered to be vulnerable.
Action: All adults working in our school receive high quality training and support which assists them in making informed, timely and relevant decisions and taking appropriate action to ensure all pupils are safe and have the best outcomes.
Positive Behaviour
Our behaviour policy promotes three basic rights that every member of our school community has
- the right to respect
- the right to be safe
- the right to learn
Staff continually promote these rights and pupils learn about their responsibilities with regards to these rights and how to keep themselves safe. Pupils are encouraged to talk to staff about their worries and concerns and are given lots of opportunities to do this. Please read our Relationships and Behaviour Policy.
Attendance: Every Child, Every Day!
In Orgill Primary School we recognise the importance of promoting excellent attendance and appreciate that monitoring this is an important part of our safeguarding policy and procedures. Every child's attendance is monitored daily and unexplained absences are always followed up by the Family Support Worker to ensure safety and well-being. Please read our Attendance Policy.
Anti-Bullying
Everyone in Orgill Primary School has the right to feel welcome, secure and happy. Bullying of any sort prevents this from happening and goes against the ethos of our school.
When bullying does occur, victims must feel confident enough to seek the help of an adult in school to help them resolve this. We actively challenge attitudes about bullying behaviour and work hard to create a values based ethos in our school. As a result, incidents of bullying are extremely rare.
Curriculum
Our curriculum reflects the needs of our pupils and our community; it places high value upon developing our pupils socially and emotionally as well as academically. We ensure that it includes opportunities for Personal, Social and Health Education and Citizenship which equip pupils with the skills that they need to help keep themselves safe. We use the curriculum to promote self-awareness, raise self-esteem and develop assertiveness so that our pupils have the skills and strategies to ensure their own protection. We also ensure that our pupils have a good understanding of the varying forms of discrimination such as homophobia, racism and sexism and know how to challenge these behaviours and seek the support of an adult when needed.
Online Safety
In our school, we recognise the importance of technology in our pupils' lives, both in and out of school, and we make full use of the incredible potential that it offers with regards to teaching and learning. However, we also acknowledge the potential dangers to children and we are fully committed to working with our pupils and parents to minimise this danger.
Orgill Primary School has a CEOP trained Online Safety Ambassador, Molly Edgar, who leads the school's work in this area and is a valuable source of advice and support for staff, pupils and parents. Please see our designated Online Safety section on this website for further information.
Health and Safety
We have a responsibility to ensure that pupils, staff and visitors experience a safe and secure environment. The school has a comprehensive Health and Safety Policy and Procedures that all staff are familiar with and have to follow. This covers a wide range of things such as building security, first aid and fire safety.
Operation Encompass
Operation Encompass is a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. Information is shared by the police with a school's trained Key Adult (DSL) prior to the start of the next school day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident thus enabling appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.
Children experiencing domestic abuse are negatively impacted by this exposure; domestic abuse has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience and can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by enabling immediate support, making a child's day better and giving them a better tomorrow.
Operation Encompass directly connects the police with schools to secure better outcomes for children who are subject or witness to police-attended incidents of domestic abuse. Rapid provision of support within the school environment means children are better safeguarded against the short-, medium- and long-term effects of domestic abuse.
The Prevent Strategy
The Government published its Prevent Strategy in 2010 and since then there has been a growing awareness of the specific need to safeguard children, young people and families from extremism. Unfortunately, there are now many instances, nationally, of extremist groups attempting to radicalise the vulnerable members of our society to hold extremist views justifying political, religious, sexist or racist violence and an intolerance of diversity.
From July 2015, all schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security act 2015 to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism. This means that we have the same duty to protect children from extremist and violent views as we do to protect them from drugs and physical abuse.
Orgill Primary School values freedom of speech and the expression of beliefs and ideology as fundamental rights that underpin our values. Pupils and staff have the right to speak freely and voice their opinions. However, this freedom of speech comes with responsibility and free speech that is designed to manipulate the vulnerable and incite violence goes against the British values that we promote. Freedom of speech has to be subject to laws and policies governing equality, human rights, community safety and cohesion. We are very clear that exploitation and radicalisation should be viewed as a safeguarding concern in Orgill Primary School.
More information regarding our work to promote British values can be found in the Curriculum section of this website.
All of our pupils have the right to protection and they have the right to be safe. It is with this in mind that we have produced the following comprehensive policies and leaflets.