St. Michael's CE School
Working Together For The Good Of All
“St. Michael’s Church of England School, established upon Christian foundations and living out the Christian faith, is committed to providing every child with an excellent education.”
SAFEGUARDING
Safeguarding is the ‘golden thread’ running through the ethos and culture of our school and in all that we do
"Schools and colleges and their staff are an important part of the wider safeguarding system for children. This system is described in the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all practitioners should make sure their approach is child-centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child."
(Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021)
At St. Michael’s we are acutely aware of the importance of ‘Keeping Children Safe In Education', and take notice of, and adhere to all the national and local policies and guidance in regard to Safeguarding Children and Young People. We also extend this to staff and visitors to our school.
We are fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children at all times. We expect all staff, governors and volunteers to share this commitment, and training, monitoring and reporting procedures are in place to ensure this commitment is realised. (School Commitment Declaration Link).
We aim to provide a safe environment that is conducive to learning. We also aim to identify children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, and take appropriate to keep them safe in school and at home when required.
As a school we ensure that safeguarding and child protection are at the forefront of all that we do and are part of the whole school policy and procedures. We view safeguarding not just as 'words' but as the all important actions we take to keep all those in our care safe.
Adults in our school take all welfare concerns seriously and encourage children and young people to talk to us about anything that worries them.
As a school we follow and adhere to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) where it is stated: 'Good safeguarding requires a continuing commitment from governing bodies, proprietors, and all staff to ensure the safety and welfare of children is embedded in all of the organisation’s processes and procedures, and consequentially enshrined in its ethos.' (Paragraph 324)'.
At St. Michael's, safeguarding is the golden thread that permeates throughout all that we do both socially and academically and it an important part of our school ethos and culture. There is a whole-institution approach to safeguarding and all staff and governors at the school recognise their statutory role and responsibility to read Part 1 and Annex A of the document below. The school is compliant with this reading. We have also added the link for translation versions to ease the reading.
Furthermore, the staff sign a 'Safeguarding Declaration' as outlined in their annual job description, demonstrating a full commitment to safeguarding and all that it entails for those who work at our school.
Training: The school is fully compliant with the Safeguarding training requirements. Please click on the training link at the bottom of this tab.
Summer Refresher Challenges
The staff and Governors are regularly challenged to ensure that they are fully conversant and understand their role and responsibility. As part of the start of Summer term challenge, staff and Governors were asked to read and review the documents below which is a combination of a series of challenges that have been put forward this academic year to date.
We will always act in the best interest of the child. Below are the documents the school adheres to:
St. Michael’s CE School pupils are taught about safeguarding, including online, through various teaching and learning opportunities, as part of providing a broad and balanced curriculum. Children are taught to recognise when they are at risk and how to get help when they need it. Please refer to the relevant safeguarding policies.
Keeping Children Safe In Education 2022 (KCSiE)
The school is preparing for the changes/updates in KCSiE 2022. Staff and Governors are familiarising themselves with the changes in readiness for the new academic year,
General Safeguarding Role and Responsibilities
The Board of Governors and staff of St. Michael’s CE School fully recognise their statutory responsibilities and duties placed upon them to have arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of all pupils at the school. We recognise that all staff, including volunteers, have a full and active part to play in protecting pupils from harm. Members of the Board of Governors and all staff who work at St. Michael's sign the termly 'Safeguarding Declaration' confirming their understanding of their role and responsibility as outline in the Department of Education publication: "Keeping Children Safe in Education".
The Leadership Team and staff promote a culture of safeguarding that is the ‘golden thread’ running through all that we do to provide a safe, caring, positive, and stimulating environment where pupils can learn and which promotes the social, physical and emotional wellbeing of each individual pupil. We have developed a ‘child-friendly’ safeguarding policy for the children to develop an understanding of what it all means to them:
This very important page and additional information links below outline how we put ‘Safety and Security First at St. Michael’s’ and has direct links to the relevant pages on our school website and gives an overview of our school procedures. This page will be updated as/when information changes.
Termly Information For Parents
Each term we send our regular safeguarding updates for parents so that they are kept informed about policy, procedures and how we fulfil keeping their children safe whilst at school. We also have a regular articles in schools "Weekly Web Update" supporting safeguarding of pupils in our school and what we do to ensure they feel safe, secure and happy. Please click on the following link for the latest letter:
Summer Term 2022: Safeguarding & Wellbeing Information overview to Parents
Spring Term 2022: Safeguarding & Wellbeing Information Overview to Parents
Autumn Term 2021: Safeguarding Information letter to Parents
Please also click on the tabs below which give further information relating to information for parents, Covid19 information and school training.
Useful Safeguarding Information for Parents
At St. Michael's CE School we adhere to the Department for Educations statutory publication entitled "Keeping Children Safe In Education" (KCSiE). In this document is is stated:
"Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all practitioners should make sure their approach is child-centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child."
Our Leadership Team, staff and governors work to ensure that safeguarding, and all that it entails as outlined in KCSiE, is demonstrated as part of our positive school culture and ethos and is an important part of our school's everyday life.
Part of this culture also involves keeping parents and carers informed of the policy and procedures we have in place as well as signposting them to relevant websites and external agencies for information and support.
The links below are signposts to support parents and carers.
NSPCC
The general parent support page from the NSPCC has a wealth of information to support many issues
Talk PANTS and Pantosaurus is a fantastic NSPCC resource to support children. Talk PANTS helps children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell someone they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried.
Government
Advice to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm is a government website and brings together sources of information about the main risks children may be particularly vulnerable to during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and signposts you to help and support available.
Wandsworth Council
Thrive Wandsworth supports safeguarding from the Local Authority.
LADO: Local Authority Designated Officer
Wandsworth Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP)
At St. Michael's, as part of our Vision we work in partnership with external agencies to support and keep children in our care, Wandsworth Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) is one such partnership.
WSCP is jointly led by the Police, Clinical Commissioning Group and the Council. We are responsible for protecting children and young people in Wandsworth from harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation, and promoting their welfare.
Please click on the link below to find out more about WSCP
COVID-19 Safeguarding Information: Click here for further information
COVID 19 Safeguarding Risk Assessments 2021
Previous COVID Addendum Statements
Safeguarding Training: Click here for further information
Staff Training
As outlined in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021 it states 'the training that staff receive 'including online safety training, is integrated, aligned and considered as part of the whole school or college safeguarding approach and wider staff training and curriculum planning.' (Paragraph 117)
Our CPD programme is reviewed regularly to ensure that all the knowledge staff need is included and, more importantly, that they understand how it is to be implemented within our school.
Whole School Staff Training
Staff receive ongoing safeguarding training to ensure that they are all compliant with the schools safeguarding expectations and also well informed about local/national updates. The training includes:
Annual KCSiE training which is led biannually by an external safeguarding consultant / in-house Senior Leader.
Half termly and start of each new term updates through the Senior Leadership Safeguarding Team.
Weekly 'Safeguarding Challenge' bitesize challenge questions via email from the Head and Phase Leaders on specific areas /current topics.
KCSiE Annual Training
September 2021: Safeguarding and Prevent training was led by an external provider (Cognus: Sutton: Hayley Cameron, Safeguarding Manager) on Thursday 2nd September 2021. All aspects were covered and included up to date information relating to the 2021 revised publication of KCSiE 2019. The school is compliant with the expectations set out in KCSiE.
Additional Safeguarding Training
The additional training is listed below - the most recent being at the top.
May 2022: All teachers and support staff members: Defibrillator training (18/5/22) - led by an external consultant. Supporting the safety of staff, pupils and the wider community.
May 2022: De-escalation Training: Training was held to support staff with de-escalation during 'difficult' events. This is a continuation of our commitment to keep children safe.
April 2022: Prevent on line training: All staff are currently undertaking accredited Prevent training virtually
April 2022: All SLMT members & 1st Aiders: Defibrillator training (20/4/22) - led by an external consultant. Supporting the safety of staff, pupils and the wider community.
March 2022: Assistant Heads & Middle Phase Lead attended DSL training led by Cognas (Sutton) (9th March)
January 2022: Whole school start of term safeguarding refresher in-school training. This also included a reminder about professionalism of all staff and reinforcing school expectations (4th January)
October 2021: The School Business Manager attended safer recruitment training ( 8th October)
October 2021: The Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher attended DSL Refresher training (7th & 8th October)
September 2021: The Headteacher attended the accredited course 'Safeguarding for Governors' with Octavo Training.
2020: Safeguarding and Prevent training was in-house and led by members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) during the start of academic year Inset training. All aspects were covered and included up to date information relating to the revised publication of KCSiE 2020. The school is fully compliant.
2019: Safeguarding and Prevent training was led by an external provider (Cognus: Sutton: Jenny Rowley, Safeguarding Manager) on Monday 2nd September 2019. All aspects were covered and included up to date information relating to the 2019 revised publication of KCSiE 2019. The school is compliant.
Leadership Refresher Training
October 2021: The Headteacher attended accredited safer recruitment for Governors with Octava (11th & 18th October)
October 2021: The Headteacher and Acting Deputy Headteacher attended refresher two day accredited DSL training with Wandsworth Local Authority (7th/8th October).
October 2021: The School Business Manager: Safer Recruitment training with the Local Authority (8th October).
May 2021: The Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher attended refresher Prevent training with the Local Authority (10th May).
March 2021: The Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and two assigned governors attended safer recruitment training at the Southwark Board of Education (16th March).
February 2021: The Assistant Headteacher attended refresher safeguarding lead training with the Local Authority (5th February).
January 2021: The Assistant Headteacher attended refresher safeguarding lead training with the Local Authority (21st January).
November 2020: The Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher attended refresher safeguarding lead training with the Local Authority (4th November).
November 2020: The Headteacher has attended ‘Safer Recruitment Governor Training’ in her capacity as a Governor at another school. The school is compliant with the statutory requirements (17th November).
Safer Handling Staff Training
The whole school attended and completed training in safer handling on Wednesday 3rd November 2021. This training was led by an external leader. The following session included the presentation below:
COVID 19 Virtual Online Training (May 2020)
All members of staff undertook online safeguarding refresher training as part of the COVID19 CPD training. The staff reviewed the policy and procedures, refreshed themselves with the school safeguarding website tabs and also completed an online safeguarding course in May 2020. This supported the reinforcement of their role and responsibilities towards safeguarding during COVID19 lockdown.
The Ofsted publication: “Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings” outlines the expectations for the Inspection Body when visiting the school.
This overview of our Safeguarding arrangements (below Tabs) are intended to give an overview of the policy and procedures we have in place at St. Michael’s CE School for Staff and Governors. It is not an exhaustive overview, rather one that is reviewed and updated regularly. The main safeguarding portfolio is the central source of evidence for the school.