At St. Helen’s Church of England Primary School the health, safety and well-being of every child is our top priority. We expect all staff, governors and volunteers to share this commitment to safeguarding our pupils.
We listen to our pupils and take seriously what they tell us. All school staff are trained in Child Protection, and children are made aware of the adults they can talk to if they have any concerns. Staff are trained to look out for signs of physical/emotional harm or neglect and are required to report these to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL).
The procedures which we follow have been laid down by the Medway Safeguarding Team and the school has adopted a Child Protection Policy in line with this, for the safety of all. On rare occasions our concern about a child may mean that we have to consult other agencies. We will ensure that all concerns are discussed with parent/carers first, before any referrals are made, unless we believe that such a move may be contrary to a child’s welfare.
We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Jarvis (Head Teacher)
The Deputy Safeguarding Leads are Mrs Kember (Deputy Head Teacher) and Mrs Mead (School Office Co-ordinator).
The Governor with responsibility for safeguarding in our school is Mr West.
The Child Protection Policy is available on the policies section on our website.
If you require any further information please contact the above named people via the school office.
Worried About A Child
Information, help, support and advice if you are worried about a child in Medway.
Making a referral to Medway Council Children's Social Care
If you are a member of the public with concerns that a child or young person living in Medway is suffering from harm use the following contact details:
01634 334466
Medway's First Response service
Telephone: 01634 334466
24 hour emergency number 03000 419191
Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership
https://www.medwayscp.org.uk/mscb/
Kent Safeguarding Children Board
https://www.kscb.org.uk/
NSPCC
Help for adults concerned about a child
National helpline phone: 080 88 00 5000
Help for children and young people
Call Childline on 0800 1111
Early Help
Early Help for families
There are organisations and services across Medway that can support you and your family and strengthen your relationship.
We provide support early on and as soon as it is needed to help families thrive and resolve any challenges you and your family may be facing before they become too difficult to manage.
Early Help could help with issues about:
- School, education or training
- Home and life relationships
- Health and emotional wellbeing
- Work, finances or housing
- Domestic violence or abuse
- Crime or anti-social behaviour
If you would like extra help and support, then ask a professional from your support network such as an employment or housing advisor, health professional, a teacher or youth worker for an Early Help assessment.
They will work with you to understand the issues and will get the support needed to help you and your family get back on track.
Assessments
An Early Help Assessment allows you to note what is going well in your family and what you would like to improve. You can then agree how you and your family can reach your aims which will be written into a Family Plan.
Your support worker will then sit with you and will:
- talk through what is going well to identify additional needs
- assess those needs
- develop a plan of interventions
- review your plan to make sure things are improving
Helplines
The Early Help helplines are there to offer advice and support whether you're a professional, a parent or a young person needing early help.
You can contact the helplines Monday to Thursday from 8am to 5pm or on Fridays from 8am to 4.30pm.The helplines are closed during weekends.
Chatham All Saints Children and Family Hub: 01634 338 833
Gillingham Children and Family Hub: 01634 338 877
Strood Children and Family Hub: 01634 335 533
Wayfield Children and Family Hub: 01634 337 733
For more information about Early Help in Medway please email ehspa@medway.gov.uk
Prevent Strategy
As part of St. Helen's Church of England Primary School's commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government's Prevent Strategy.
What is the Prevent Strategy?
The Prevent Strategy is a government designed to stop becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It:
- responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views;
- provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support;
- works with a wide range of sectors ( including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health).
At St. Helen's Church of England Primary School we ensure that we teach the children about the Prevent Aims. This is done through quality circle time and PSHE activities. In each year group we teach our children to be safe and recognise the possible dangers they may face. Teachers make sure that this is done in a sensitive and age appropriate way.
We also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example by using filters on the internet to make sure they cannot access unsuitable material, and by vetting visitors who come into school to work with pupils.
Photographs and Videos
Whilst lots of parents and carers really enjoy seeing photos and videos of their children’s school life we are very mindful of our duty of care towards all our pupils. We take the issue of safeguarding very seriously and this includes the use of photographic and video images.
Any photographs or videos taken by parents, carers and relatives at school productions, sports days or other events are for the enjoyment of individual families. They must not be used in any way that could potentially place a child at risk. This would include publishing images in any form of print or on the internet including social networking sites. This is emphasised before concerts and shows.
We understand that in exceptional circumstances a parent or carer may not wish their child to be photographed or videoed in this way. If this is the case then please contact the Head Teacher to discuss how this can be best achieved.
Occasionally, the local press will be invited to take photographs of school events and special achievements. We like to use photographs of our children on our website, in school documents, for parent information meetings, newsletters and on our display screens around the school. If you do not wish photographs of your child to be used for these purposes, then please contact the Head Teacher