“Steeple Morden Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff, visitors and volunteers to share this commitment”

 

Our Safeguarding Team

Mrs How, our Headteacher, is our The Designated Safeguarding Lead. 

Mrs Pauline Luebcke, Assistant Headteacher, is the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Mr David Beavan, Assistant Headteacher, is responsible for online safety / e-safety.

Dr Liz Martin and Mrs Debbie Littlefair are the link Governors for Safeguarding.

 

Steeple Morden Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all members of the school community to share this commitment. To this end we will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.

The safety and wellbeing of all children and young people is of paramount importance. We recognise that parents and carers send their children to school each day with the expectation that the school provides a safe and secure environment in which their children can flourish. We therefore have a wide range of measures in place to ensure this is put into practice and is maintained.

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Child Protection

School staff are trained to be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures  to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.

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We listen to our children and take seriously what they tell us. All school staff are trained in safeguarding procedures, and children know the adults they can talk to if they have any concerns.

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Parents and carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to concern about a child's welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. The school should make parents/carers aware that records of safeguarding concerns may be kept about their child. They should be informed that school staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including referrals to other agencies.

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Local procedures state that “Consent should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, unless seeking consent would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made.” This includes allowing them to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, if it cannot be reasonably expected that a professional gains consent, or if to gain consent would place a child at risk.

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Where there is a need to share special category personal data, the Data Protection Act 2018 contains 'safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows professionals to share information.

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In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right support. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.

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School will seek advice from Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the members of staff in the school responsible for Child Protection (known as the Designated Lead or Officer) are charged with carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interest of the child all children.

 

Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, any person who has care of a child “may….do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the child’s welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social Care and the Police investigate any concerns further.