Safeguarding children and young people is central to everything we do at St Teresa’s Catholic Primary Academy. Our School is dedicated & determined to vigilantly safeguarding every child.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as: protecting children from maltreatment; preventing 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. KCSIE
The full suite of current and ratified Safeguarding policies are available to interested parties on request. However, the key policies are freely available to all, and are available on this website.
At St Teresa’s, we fully recognise our responsibility for safeguarding children and young people. It is difficult to accept, but every child can be hurt, put at risk of harm or abused, regardless of their age, gender, religion or ethnicity. That is why our diligent actions ensure we:
- protect children from maltreatment.
- prevent impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development.
- ensure that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
- take action to enable all children and young people to secure the best outcomes.
The action we take at our school to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play and we recognise this and take our duty very seriously. We ensure that we operate a child-centred safeguarding system. We recognise that; children want to be respected, have their views heard, have stable relationships with their teachers built on trust, and have consistent support for their individual needs.
Our school, DSLs, governors & designated safeguarding governor recognise the duty to ensure arrangements are in place for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we will carry out this duty through our recruitment, teaching and learning, pastoral care and extended academy activities.
All members of the academy community (including volounteers and governors) will at all times establish and maintain a safe and stimulating environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk to adults they can trust and are listened to. Through training, all staff (teaching and non-teaching) will be able to recognise the signs of abuse and understand their responsibilities when a child may be at risk of harm.
Training of all staff will be updated regularly. The academy will ensure that it provides written referrals on the correct form (MARF) and insists in attendance at all meetings called when there is a concern regarding the safeguarding of one of our children.
** Dedicated Sexual Abuse NSPCC helpline 0800 136 663.
Safe Recruitment
Our School is dedicated & determined to vigilantly safeguarding every child. Our high level of rigour and diligence is used to only recruit people who are safe to work with young people. This also applies to any adult attending our school (volunteers, visitors, students). Our staff code of conduct details the high expectations we have of all adults working with children.
Staff Recruitment is beyond compliant of the guidance ‘Safer Recruitment’ the Principal , members of SLT and interviewing Governors have completed Safer Recruitment training.
At St Teresa’s we use the NSPCC principles of DETER-PREVENT-DETECT to make sure only very safe adults have contact with our pupils.
All staff including volunteers have been carefully selected and screened and all have had an enhanced DBS check prior to commencing work. Details of all checks are held in a central record. Staff will be inducted into the academy and training will be given with regard to child protection.
Designated Leaders
The Designated Child Protection & Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Stacy McHale (Principal) our Deputy Designated Leads are Mrs Picken (Assistant Principal) Mrs Price and Mrs Sohker (Pastoral Lead).
Our designated members of staff are fully trained and receive updated training on a regular basis, including additional training around specific safeguarding issues.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead ensures all confidential records are kept securely. It is the responsibility of the designated member of staff to have discussions with Social Care when concerns arise regarding the safety of a student in this college. All such students are closely monitored, including attendance, and where extra concerns arise these are always passed on to the appropriate agencies. The Designated Lead ensures that all staff are trained with regard to Safeguarding and Child Protection.
Designated Governor
Our academy has a designated safeguarding Governor, Chris Marandola, who will act as the link person between the Governing body and the Designated Leads. The Governor will review safeguarding procedures/practices including access to training through termly meetings with the Designated Person.
The Governors will ensure that sufficient time is given to carry out the duties including accessing training. Where safeguarding concerns arise regarding a member of staff, the procedures set out in Policy will be followed.
Children with an Education Health Care Plan of Special Educational Needs
We recognise that statistically children with behavioural difficulties and disabilities are most vulnerable to abuse. All staff who support these students will be aware of the need for vigilance for signs of abuse.
Parents
St Teresa’s Catholic Primary Academy believes in working closely with parents. There is an open-door policy so that parents can feel able to visit at any time to discuss concerns.
Our School is dedicated & determined to vigilantly safeguarding every child. Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy are closely monitored and used alongside our other statutory policies e.g. Special Educational Needs, Behaviour, Attendance etc.
