‘Our school is committed to safeguarding children and promoting children’s welfare and expects all staff, governors, volunteers and visitors to share this commitment and maintain a vigilant and safe environment. Everyone has a responsibility to act without delay to protect children by reporting anything that might suggest a child is being abused or neglected. It is our willingness to work safely and challenge inappropriate behaviours that underpins this commitment. Stockton Wood Primary School seeks to work in partnership with families and other agencies to improve the outcomes for children who are vulnerable or in need.’
‘Stockton Wood Primary School ensures children learn in a safe, caring and enriching environment. Children are taught how to identify risky, unsafe or problematic situations, how and when to seek help, how to develop positive and healthy relationships and how to avoid situations where they might be at risk including by being exploited.
School also has a statutory responsibility to share any concerns it might have about a child in need of protection with other agencies and in particular police, health and children’s services. Schools are not able to investigate child protection concerns but have a legal duty to refer them. In most instances the school will be able to inform the parents/carers of its need to make a referral. However, sometimes the school can in certain circumstances share information without the consent of the family and may be advised by children’s services or police that the parent/carer cannot be informed whilst they investigate the matter or make enquires. We understand the anxiety parents/carers understandably feel when they are not told about any concerns from the outset. The school follows legislation that aims to act in the interests of the child.
Our school is part of a project, which is run between Merseyside schools and Merseyside Police. The project called Operation Encompass, has been designed to provide early reporting of any domestic violence incidents that occur outside school, which might have an impact on a child in school. This is done through a notification to school following an incident. The project ensures that at least one member of the school staff, known as the Key Adult, is trained to liaise with the police and to use the information that has been shared, in confidence. In this way, we aim to support each child who has been involved in, or witnessed, a domestic abuse incident. The Key Adult at Stockton Wood Primary is Mrs Clovis. If she receives an Encompass notification she will make sure that a person the child trusts is available to help – if the child needs this. A lot of the time this support is silent; keeping a careful eye on him or her and make sure the child has a calm school day. The confidential information is ordinarily not shared with all staff, just an agreement on how to help, if needed. All schools have a duty to share any information with other organisations if they feel a child is at risk of being hurt. The Key Adult may contact other organisations. This is described in our child protection policy. The sharing of information from the Police allows the school to be ready to help your child straight away, and it means that parents are aware that the Key Adult knows that something has happened. Parents can come and talk to our Key Adult at any time. The Key Adult can point you towards other people that can help. Our aim is to support children and their families.
Our school will always seek to work in partnership with parents and other agencies to ensure the best possible outcomes for the child and family’
Safeguarding information for parents: http://www.safeguardingresourcehub.co.uk/