Safeguarding
Our Safeguarding Team
At Shirwell Primary School we are committed to all aspects of the safety of our pupils. The physical and emotional safety of the children and adults is of paramount importance to us all. This page is a summary many of the day-to-day measures we have in place to ensure that everyone in our school family is able to learn, play and work in an environment which keeps them safe and secure.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
- protecting children from maltreatment;
- preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical 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.
Our Safeguarding Team meets regularly to ensure the practices and approaches in place are consistent and effective across the school.
Our designated team is Kelly McKeague (Safeguarding Lead) Allie Barnett (Deputy Safeguarding Lead)
If you have a concern related to safeguarding, you can call 01271850295 and ask to speak to a member of the safeguarding team.
If you have a non-urgent question related to safeguarding email shirwell@thsp.org.uk and mark it as FAO Designated Safeguarding Lead.
You can read our safeguarding policy here. All safeguarding processes and procedures are underpinned by 'Keeping Children Safe In Education' which you can access here.
Visiting the school
All visitors must enter through the main entrance on each site and report to reception where they will be asked to sign in and wear a visitor badge. We use an electronic sign-in system across which means that we have completely accurate picture of who is in each building at all times.
Maintaining a Safe Environment
We have a team of people ensuring our school environment is safe for the children and adults within it. Our Headteacher Miss McKeague is supported by trust site management. 'Formal' monitoring walks alongside day-to-day vigilance ensure our environment remains a safe place to learn, play and work.
First Aid
We have a designated First Aid space on each site and many qualified First Aiders. We are very proactive in contacting parents and carers if we are particularly concerned about a child, and do so as a matter of course if a child has a head bump. If this is to inform you of a bump but your child is well enough to stay in school, we will usually inform you at pick up. All children who are treated in the First Aid room are given a first aid form to take home with details of the injury or symptoms they have been treated for.
Behaviour
Our behaviour policy aims to ensure that all adults and children at Shirwell are able to thrive in a positive, inclusive environment. We are committed to providing the emotional and physical safety that everyone needs in order to feel secure, respected and valued. Alongside this, we place strong emphasis on offering consistent support, nurture and guidance, enabling every member of our community to be the best that they can be.
Awareness
An essential aspect of our safeguarding culture is supporting children to develop knowledge, self‑awareness and confidence. We actively teach pupils how to recognise concerns, understand their feelings, and know how and when to talk to trusted adults. This helps ensure children feel empowered to share worries and report concerns, knowing they will be listened to and supported.
Key Agencies and Contacts
Making a front door - Previously MASH - Multi-agency safeguarding hub
The purpose of a MASH is to bring together different agencies to allow fast information sharing with the purpose of making an efficient and fast decision to safeguard children If you are concerned about the safety of a child in Devon or want to speak to someone, or if you are a child worried about your own safety, you can contact our Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) by completing an online request for support form https://devoncountycouncil.outsystemsenterprise.com/MASH/homepage or by calling on 0345 155 1071.
Prevent
From July 2015 the Counter Terrorism and Security Act placed a statutory duty on schools, Local Authorities and other specified authorities and institutions, to prevent people being drawn into terrorism and extremism. The Prevent duty https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance requires all education providers ‘to help prevent the risk of people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism’. This includes safeguarding learners from extremist ideologies and radicalisation. The government has defined extremism in the Prevent strategy as: “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British Values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.”
Operation Encompass
The school is part of Operation Encompass which runs jointly between schools and Devon and Cornwall Police. This allows for early reporting and communication to schools regarding children that are exposed to domestic abuse. https://www.operationencompass.org
Early Help - What is Early Help?
Early Help is the extra support your family can get if you need it. It may be that you want to prevent a problem, or change things for your family before the problem becomes more serious.
It is not a specific service or team, it’s an approach that brings together people from a range of services and teams who will work together with your whole family to help improve the situation for everyone.
It can offer support to families from pre-birth to adolescents with all sorts of issues from parenting, employment and school attendance to emotional wellbeing or anti-social behaviour.
For more information click here
Click here for the Devon Children and Families Partnership.
Childline
Childline is a free, private and confidential service for children to talk about things that are worrying them. Contact number is 0800 1111.
NSPCC
The NSPCC help us to help children who’ve been abused, protect children at risk and find the best ways to prevent child abuse from ever happening. Encouraging your children to speak up and share their feelings help keep them safe. The NSPCC website https://www.nspcc.org.uk/ has useful information for helping parents keep children safe.
NSPCC Bullying and Cyber Bullying
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/
NSPCC PANTS Rule
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/
Mental Health
If you are concerned about your child’s mental health please speak to the GP and make your child’s class teacher aware of the concerns you have shared with your GP.
You can also get advice from:
Young minds https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
Lumi-nova- A therapeutic mobile game to help 7-12 year olds learn to self-manage their fears and worries. https://childrenandfamilyhealthdevon.nhs.uk/lumi-nova/
Websites that offer information and advice
The following organisations provide reliable information and advice to help parent/carers to support their child when experiencing emotional difficulties:-
Young Minds - Help for Parents Information about all aspects of child mental health, including a Parent Helpline 0800 802 5544.
Minded for Families - Free learning resource about mental health for parents and carers.
Happy Maps - Lots of information about health topics including mental health, organised under different age groups i.e under 5’s primary age, secondary age, young adults.
It is crucial that children learn to balance the benefits offered by technology with a critical awareness of their own and other’s online behaviour, and develop effective strategies for staying safe and making a positive contribution online, this forms an important part of our curriculum.
Things you can do at home
It is important to talk regularly with your child about staying safe online.
The following websites are helpful for parents and carers, in addition to, the newsletters sent home monthly to parents.
Staying safe online for parents/carers: Think U Know Website
Help and Advice for parents: Childnet
Setting up parenting controls
Being safe online isn’t just about telling a child not to chat with a stranger, or not to give away personal information, it’s also about controlling what a child has access to. There’s some good content out there (“How do you make slime?”) but there’s also an awful lot of content I’m sure you don’t want your child to stumble across. And it really is only one or two clicks away.
Advice about setting up parental controls can be found here.