Safeguarding
SAFEGUARDING AT OVER HALL
Over Hall Community School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of 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. We believe all staff and visitors have an important and unique role to play in child protection. For this reason, staff safeguarding training is a priority and updates take place regularly within the school year.
AT OVER HALL WE BELIEVE:
- Schools can contribute to the prevention of abuse
- All children have the right to be protected from harm
- Children need to be safe and feel safe in school
DESIGNATED SAFEGUARDING LEADERS AT OVER HALL
The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Anna Hopley. The Deputy DSL is Jessica Schuettke, Deputy Headteacher, Sarah Marshall, Assistant Headteacher and Laura Ackerley, SENDcO.
We also have a Designated Safeguarding Governor, Mr Ian Percival . All of the named Safeguarding Officers have undertaken the relevant training.
All Safeguarding information will be dealt with in a confidential manner.
SAFEGUARDING POLICIES
General information about safeguarding related policies and practices within our school can be found in the policies section of the website.
OPERATION ENCOMPASS
Our school participates in partnership with Cheshire Police-via Operation Encompass, a procedure which ensures that we can we can better support any child where a domestic incident has been reported to Police from their home.
This is done through a phone call to school following an incident.
The procedure 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 Over Hall Community School is Mrs Anna Hopley. If she receives an Encompass call/email, she will make sure that a person the child trusts is available to help – if the child needs this. Most of the time this support is silent; keeping a careful eye on him or her and making 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 Safeguarding 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. The Key Adult can point you towards other people that can help. Our aim is to support children and their families.
YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OPERATION ENCOMPASS VIA THE FOLLOWING SITE:
http://www.operationencompass.org/
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT KEEPING YOUR CHILD SAFE?
If you want to know more about keeping children safe from sexual abuse, there is a Home Office supported website providing information and advice called Parents Protect.
WHAT IS PARENTS PROTECT?
THE WEBSITE...
.....is an information and resources website which aims to raise awareness about child sexual abuse, answer questions and give adults the information, advice, support and facts, they need to help protect children.
THEIR AIM…
...is to help parents and carers better protect children from sexual abuse. Our most important task is to prevent sexual abuse from taking place in the first place. We believe we can do this by:
- Helping to dispel some of the common myths around child sexual abuse
- Giving parents and carers practical information that will help them keep youngsters safe from harm.
We understand that child sexual abuse is something we’d rather not think and talk about – but we believe the best way of protecting children is for adults to do just that! By not being afraid to talk about the issues, we become much better able to understand the steps we can take to keep our children as safe as possible.
For confidential information and advice contact the ‘Stop it now!’ Helpline: 0808 1000 900
REVIEW OF SEXUAL ABUSE IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
Ofsted was asked by the government to carry out a rapid review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges. This report summarises the findings and recommendations:
PREVENT
All staff at Over Hall we regularly update their training around the government's Prevent Strategy. This strategy aims to safeguard vulnerable people from being radicalised to supporting terrorism or becoming terrorists themselves.
Survivors of Sexual Violence: 0808 802 9999
Samaritans: 116123
Suicide Prevention Helpline: 0800 689 5652
http://www.educateagainsthate.com
IART (integrated access and referral) 0300 123 7047 Option 1 for concerns about a child Option 2 for domestic abuse service
Child Line – 0800 1111
NSPCC (anonymous referral) - 0808 800 5000
Starting well (school nurses and health visitors) 01606555285
Muir Housing – 0300 1231222
Weaver Vale Housing Trust -01606813300
Police (non-emergency ) - 101
RASASC – Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre - 01925 221546 or 01244 907710
Domestic Violence (Women’s Aid) 0808 2000 247 or 0117 944 44 11
Salvation Army – 01606 552168
ManKind Initiative - 01823 334244
ONLINE SAFETY
TOP TIPS:
How can I make my connected home more secure?
There things you can do to help make your connected home safer for your child:
- Do your research:Research different products online and read reviews. This is a great way to find out more about a product including age restrictions and credibility, as well as hearing directly from other parents.
- Read the manual:Read the manual provided by the manufacturers. Information should be given about the privacy of the device, how it connects to the internet, and information about any app which may need to be downloaded in order to use the device.
- Set up parental controls:Make use of the parental controls available on your home broadband and any internet enabled device in your home. You can find out more about how to use parental controls by visiting your broadband provider’s website.
- Use safe search:Enable the ‘SafeSearch’ function on your connected device and web search engines. This will allow you to limit the material your child can see when online. It is important to understand that no parental control or ‘SafeSearch’ function is 100% effective. This cannot be used alone to protect your child from accessing age-inappropriate material.
- Change the default password:When you buy a connected device or toy, change the default password. Use a strong password that cannot easily be guessed and do not share this with others.
- Set your Bluetooth to ‘undiscoverable’:Many connected devices are Bluetooth enabled. This means they are able to connect to nearby devices without having to connect to the internet. If the device has Bluetooth, set this to ‘undiscoverable’ so your child doesn’t share data or pair with an unknown device.
- Review and/or delete audio files:Some connected devices or toys work by listening to your child’s voice commands, so these devices usually record and keep these audio files to work properly. Refer to the manual and find out how to review and/or delete audio files. If there’s a microphone on your child’s connected device, you can turn on the ‘mute’ button. This will stop the device from recording and storing audio files.
- Talk to your child:Include connected devices in your online safety conversations, reinforcing the message that if your child sees or hears anything that makes them feel worried, they can speak to you or another adult they trust. Read further information on starting the conversation about online safety.
- Supervise your child:If your child is primary school aged, supervise them when they are online or using a connected device. You should keep the connected devices your child uses in communal areas of the home such as in the kitchen or living room.
Useful links to help you
Gaming: what parents need to know