Keeping Children Safe
The safety and welfare of your child is paramount to all at Our Lady's Catholic Primary School.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school. All concerns are passed through the members of staff who are trained as 'Designated Safeguarding Leaders' in school in compliance with statutory requirements. All staff and governors receive regular safeguarding training.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Miss Cahill, Headteacher. She is supported by Ms Lavery our Pastoral Manager, and Mrs Copland (DHT) who are also trained DSLs.
Miss Cahill is also the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for any concerns regarding extremism or radicalisation.
If you have any serious concerns about your child or any other pupil at Our Lady's please do not hesitate to contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead who knows who to contact for the best advice and help and is experienced in using the appropriate degree of confidentiality.
For the best interests of all our children we use the following safeguarding measures:
Cause for Concern
Teachers are asked to report any causes for concern to the School Safeguarding Team using a written proforma. Any concerns will be shared with parents as early as possible as more often than not there are extremely reasonable explanations for the concern. Concerns may range from children being visibly upset to persistent lateness to children 'disclosing' concerns.
All lateness and absences are recorded by the School Office and referred on to the DSL. Reasons will be sought for all absence or lateness. Attendance is monitored through these systems and referrals to the Safeguarding Team can be made. Parents will always be informed of concerns around attendance at the earliest point. If attendance concerns continue the school will refer via Fast Track on Atttendance.
Both these measures can be early indicators which allow us to offer help and support through our Pastoral Manager and help us to safeguard all the children in our care and their families.
For further information, see our Safeguarding, Looked After Children and E-Safety Policies or the following documents/links:
Operation Encompass
In conjunction with local Police, Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School is involved in Operation Encompass.
The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident. Following such an incident, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared. Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff (called Key Adults) are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.
Our Key Adults are:
- Miss Cahill (Headteacher and senior DSL)
- Mrs Lavery (Pastoral manager and DDSL)
- Mrs Copland (DHT and DDSL
Online Safety
We are delighted to announce that Our Lady's Catholic Primary School have shown our commitment to protecting our pupils online and have worked with National Online Safety to deliver an interactive online workshop for all our parents & carers.
The course can be taken at your own convenience and covers:
- Information about online dangers and the newest platforms
- What online risks to look out for and how to protect your child
Please find below the URL you need to visit to register your account You will need to complete your details and select “I am a: Parent/Carer” from the dropdown:
https://lms.nationalonlinesafety.com/school/OurladysCatholic
Once you have registered, you will be able to access the “Online Safety for Parents and Carers’ course and National Online Safety’s Resources (which includes 50+ online platform guides on the latest social media channels and games). This aims to help empower parents with the knowledge to protect their children from the dangers of the internet.
If you have any questions, or trouble accessing the course please contact support@nationalonlinesafety.com.
Here's how you can help to keep your children safe online when using computers, tablets, smart phones or games consoles:
The leaflet below offers guidance on safe use of Facebook and help with privacy settings. The license agreement for Facebook states that children must be aged 13 and over.
Did you know the license agreement states that users should be 16 years and over? While the app doesn't promote inappropriate content itself it does allow users to send and receive unmonitored messages sharing location, photos, videos and contacts.
Reporting Concerns
If you have any concerns regarding e-safety please report them to the DSL or Headteacher without delay.
Useful Links and Documents
Children and parents may also find it useful to look at these sources of information related to E-Safety.
