Child Protection and Safeguarding

Catherine Wayte Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Emma Brown (Head Teacher). Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Miss Maia Hill (Deputy Head Teacher), Mrs Lisa Hawkins (SENDCO) and Mr Kevin Shammas (Head of School).

The Nominated Governor for Child Protection is Mrs Stephanie Wright.

Our school provides a safe, caring, positive and stimulating environment, free from discrimination or bullying, promoting the physical, moral and social development of the individual child, where children can learn and develop happily. 

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents/carers first. However, there may be a rare occasion when our concerns about your child may mean we have to consult other agencies even before we contact you.  The procedures which we follow are laid down by the Swindon Safeguarding Partnership and we have a number of policies and procedures in place, that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy.

Any action is taken in line with the following legislation/guidance:

Keeping Children Safe in Education (2023)
South West Child Protection Procedures (SWCPP)
Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023)
Swindon Safeguarding Partnership
The Prevent duty – Departmental advice for schools and childcare providers (2023)

Swindon Borough Council Contact Swindon (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)) Telephone: 01793 464646 Email: contactswindon@swindon.gov.uk

We are working with Sarah Turner Consulting Safeguarding Solutions. Sarah will be providing the team with independent information, advice and guidance along with the support of our statutory agencies.

 WHAT IS 'SAFEGUARDING'?

Safeguarding refers to the whole umbrella of processes we use to protect all children and to provide safe and effective care. This includes all procedures designed to prevent harm to a child. It can be difficult to accept or understand, but all children can be at risk of harm or abuse. Safeguarding legislation and government guidance says that safeguarding means that professionals have a duty to:

• protect children from maltreatment
• prevent the impairment of children’s 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 to have the best outcomes

WHAT IS 'CHILD PROTECTION'?

Child Protection is part of the safeguarding process, protecting specific individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes the child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IN PRACTICE?

The school has a legal obligation to report any concerns about a child if they feel that a child may be subject to neglect or physical, emotional or sexual abuse. This includes concerns about the child in the home and the wider environment. If we have such a concern, we will contact Children's Services at the local authority to ensure that concerns are dealt with in a manner which puts the well-being of the child as priority. We appreciate that parents and carers can find these events very worrying and upsetting. Whenever possible, we will discuss concerns with parents before seeking advice to safeguard a child; however, there are some circumstances when we are obliged to seek support from a professional trained to investigate safeguarding concerns.

TRAINING

All school staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn. All staff receive training and regular safeguarding updates. The Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Safeguarding Leads have additional training so that they can carry out their responsibilities effectively. The Safeguarding Leads give advice to staff and also liaise closely with other services such as children's social care.

Useful Resources for Parents and Carers

Please also refer to resources available on our 'Family Support Services' page.

Types of Abuse

Physical abuse - Physical abuse is when someone hurts or harms a child or young person on purpose. It includes: hitting with hands or objects, slapping and punching, kicking, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning and scalding, biting and scratching, breaking bones and drowning. It's important to remember that physical abuse is any way of intentionally causing physical harm to a child or young person. It also includes making up the symptoms of an illness or causing a child to become unwell.

Emotional Abuse - Emotional abuse is any type of abuse that involves the continual emotional mistreatment of a child. It's sometimes called psychological abuse. Emotional abuse can involve deliberately trying to scare, humiliate, isolate or ignore a child. Emotional abuse is often a part of other kinds of abuse, which means it can be difficult to spot the signs or tell the difference, though it can also happen on its own.

Neglect - Neglect is the ongoing failure to meet a child's basic needs and the most common form of child abuse². A child might be left hungry or dirty, or without proper clothing, shelter, supervision or health care. This can put children and young people in danger. And it can also have long term effects on their physical and mental wellbeing.

Sexual Abuse - When a child or young person is sexually abused, they're forced or tricked into sexual activities. They might not understand that what's happening is abuse or that it's wrong. And they might be afraid to tell someone. Sexual abuse can happen anywhere – and it can happen in person or online. It's never a child's fault they were sexually abused – it's important to make sure children know this.

Peer on Peer Abuse

Children can abuse other children. This is generally referred to as peer on peer abuse and can take many forms. This can include (but is not limited to) bullying (including cyberbullying); sexual violence and sexual harassment; physical abuse; sexting and initiating/hazing type violence and rituals.

Please use the following link to access resources specifically about peer-on-peer abuse.

Keeping Your Child Safe Online - E-Safety 

The Internet is a wonderful place, full of new ideas and experiences, but we all know that it has its own unique set of dangers, especially to children.

At Catherine Wayte Primary School, children are always under supervision when they are using the internet, our staff have had e-safety training and our network has a number of e-safety measures permanently in place - this may not be the case at home! 

This following links provide useful guidance for parents and carers. The final link will take you to out dedicated 'online safety' page with further information.

Domestic Violence

Prevent Duty Statement

On 1 July 2015 the Prevent duty (section 26) of The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 came into force.  This duty places the responsibility on local authorities and schools to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.  Catherine Wayte Primary School is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils.  As a school we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is as important as safeguarding against any other vulnerability.  All staff are expected to uphold and promote the fundamental principles of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.  We believe that children should be given the opportunity to explore diversity and understand Britain as a multi-cultural society; everyone should be treated with respect whatever their race, gender, sexuality, religious belief, special need, or disability.  As part of our commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government's Prevent Strategy.

Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation (sometimes wrongly referred to as female circumcision) refers to procedures that intentionally alter and cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is illegal in the UK.