Safeguarding
Cranford Park CE Primary School is committed to safeguarding children and young people. All our staff and volunteers undergo rigorous checks, including an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, to ensure they are suitable to work with children.
DSL (Designated Safeguarding Lead); Prevent Lead: Tina Nowell (Headteacher)
Deputy DSLs: Suzanna Russell (Deputy Head); Rebecca Portch (SENCo); Victoria Wilcox (SBM)
Chair of Governors: Liz Brown
Governor for Safeguarding: Stephanie Bell
Online Safety Lead: Emma Singer
While the above roles are important, as a school we recognise that safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
- Providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
- Protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
- 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
- Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Keeping Children Safe in Education Sept 2024
Early Help
As a school, we offer bespoke 'Early Help' support to our families in any way we can in order to prevent any concerns arising. For further details of our local 'Early Help Offer' please contact the school.
In addition, we can access more specialist support for our families through a referral to the Family Support team at Hampshire. Parents can request this support, which would initially result in a telephone call from Hampshire to assess their needs and offer advice.
Child Protection
Child protection is a part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. It refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm.
We recognise our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children.
We make every effort to provide a safe and welcoming environment underpinned by a culture of openness where both children and adults feel secure, able to talk and believe that they are being listened to.
We are aware that all schools will have safeguarding and child protection issues, so are vigilant in our attitude of, “it does happen here.”
The school has comprehensive policies so that we can provide staff, volunteers and governors with the frameworks they need in order to keep children safe and secure in our school and to inform parents and guardians how we will safeguard their children whilst they are in our care.
Reporting Concerns
If anyone has any concerns regarding the safeguarding or well-being of children at our school these should be brought to the attention of the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) who is Mrs Tina Nowell, Headteacher, or to one of the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSLs) who are Mrs Suzanna Russell (Deputy Headteacher), Miss Rebecca Portch (SENCo) and Mrs Victoria Wilcox (SBM). While these staff are trained to a higher level, all members of staff at the school have completed all the relevant Safeguarding and Child Protection Training and this is updated annually. To report a safeguarding concern about the headteacher, you should contact Mrs Liz Brown, Chair of Governors.
Our safeguarding processes are continuously audited and reviewed in line with national directives and advice. We follow all Hampshire guidelines, as well as further reviewing our practice with external independent reports bi-annually. Further details and information is contained within our Child Protection Policy and Procedures, and our Safeguarding Policy, which are available on our Policies page of this website.
Online Safety
Online Safety encompasses not only Internet technologies, but also electronic communications via mobile phones, games consoles and wireless technology. It highlights the need to educate children and young people about the benefits, risks and responsibilities of using information technology.
As a school, we use Securus filtering and monitoring systems which block any inappropriate content and flag any searches which may be of concern. A weekly report is sent to our online safety lead, who follows up with the children as necessary. The headteacher and online safety lead also carry out spot checks and work together to further improve the security of our systems.
Online Safety concerns safeguarding children and young people in the digital world. It emphasises learning to understand and use new technologies in a positive way, so is less about restriction and more about educating them about the risks as well as the benefits, so we can feel confident our children are safe online.
Online Safety is concerned with supporting children and young people to develop safer online behaviours both in and out of school. Our children are taught to be SMART when online and to recognise dangers of the Four Cs (Content, Contact Conduct, Commerce).
We offer regular safeguarding advice for our parents in our 'Parenting Power' section of our newsletter. For further advice on keeping your child safe online, please see the following guidance: