Safeguarding

Ainsdale St. John's CE Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all members of the school community to share this commitment.

To this end we will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.

The safety and wellbeing of all children and young people is of paramount importance. We recognise that parents and carers send their children to school each day with the expectation that the school provides a safe and secure environment in which their children can flourish.

We therefore have a wide range of measures in place to ensure this is put into practice and is maintained.

Child Protection at Ainsdale St. John's CE Primary School

Our school staff are trained to be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Sefton Safeguarding Children’s Partnership policies and procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.

Parents and carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to concern about a child's welfare, including risk from abuse and neglect. The staff will seek to discuss any concerns with the parent/carer and, where possible, inform them of the referral to Children Social Care. This will only occur where such discussion will not place the child at increased risk of significant harm.

In accordance with local information sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children are safe and receive the right support at the right time.

School will seek advice from CHAT (Children's Help and Advice Team) when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school responsible for Child Protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead) is charged with carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interest of the child.

Policies

We have a number of policies in place at Ainsdale St. John's, which support our ethos for ensuring our children are safe, secure and in an environment where they can learn, thrive and shine.

These are available from our policies section.

Robust Recruitment Procedures

As a school we take time to assess all applications and include clear expectations around safeguarding and suitability to work with children.

We apply these protocols and expectations to regular volunteers too. Candidates should be expected to answer questions around safeguarding in their recruitment selection day.

Induction and Training

All our staff and volunteers have an induction schedule, which includes safeguarding training plus every member of staff has formal training every year.

This knowledge is maintained throughout the school year with 7-minute briefings, regular reminders and updates from the Sefton Safeguarding Children’s Partnership.

PSHE Curriculum and E-Safety Curriculum

Through our Personal Social and Health Education curriculum, children will learn how to keep themselves safe (age appropriate).

Similarly, with IT taking a leading part in our children's everyday lives we teach them how to be safe online.

Please see links in the online safety section of 'parents and carers' to offer support for parents and carers too.

Designated Leaders

We have three members of staff who undertake the Designated Safeguarding Lead role (DSL) for child protection and safeguarding. We also have a governor responsible for safeguarding.

Lorna O'Brien (Headteacher) - Designated Safeguarding Lead

Ella Giles and Amanda Horsley (Assistant Headteacher) - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads

Christine Thursfield - Governor responsible for safeguarding

Operation Encompass

In conjunction with Merseyside Police, Ainsdale St. John's is involved in an initiative called Operation Encompass.

The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident.

Following such an incident, children can arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared.

Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff (called Key Adults) are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.

At Ainsdale St. John's our Key Adult is Lorna O'Brien (Headteacher).

This is a valuable initiative that means we can continue to support and help children and families within our school community when they need it the most.

You can find our more by visiting www.operationencompass.org.

Site Security

We have stringent management and maintenance of our site to ensure it is safe and secure which includes management of visitors to our site.

All visitors must sign in and wear a visitor sticker if they are not to be unaccompanied on site and be escorted unless they have met our vetting requirements to work in school unsupervised.