Safeguarding

Mary Exton Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils. We believe that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and ensure that all of our staff, Governors, visiting professionals, volunteers and visitors have undergone all safeguarding checks before working with our children.

If you have any concerns regarding a child's safety please contact a member of the Designated Safeguarding Team. If it is urgent, please call 999.

Safeguarding means:

protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
preventing harm to children’s health (mental and physical) or development
ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

Child Protection is part of the safeguarding process and focuses on protecting individual children who have been identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.

Sometimes we need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that are our concerns about a pupil are discussed with parents/carer first, unless we have reason to believe that such a discussion would be contrary to the child’s welfare. Working with outside agencies enables us to ensure that our families are getting the support they need.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment including our Child Protection Policy. Our curriculum covers all aspects of safeguarding including; Healthy Relationships; My Body - My Rules, Bullying, FGM, Online Safety, Radicalisation and the NSPCC PANTS Rule. Safeguarding is our priority within all subjects and extra-curricular activities.

Mary Exton Primary School is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for children, staff and visitors and promoting a climate where children and adults will feel confident about sharing any concerns which they may have about their own safety or the well-being of others. We aim to safeguard and promote the welfare of children by protecting them from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

The School’s Child Protection Policy policy draws upon duties conferred by the Children Acts 1989 and 2004, The Children and Families Act 2014 and the guidance contained in “Working Together to Safeguard Children”, the DfE’s statutory guidance “Keeping children safe in education”, Ofsted Guidance and procedures produced by the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children's Partnership. We also have regard to the advice contained in DfE’s “What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused” and “Information Sharing – Advice for practitioners”. The policy is applicable to all on and off-site activities undertaken by pupils whilst they are the responsibility of the school.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in our school is the responsibility of the whole school community. All adults working in this School (including visiting staff, volunteers and students on placement) are required to report instances of actual or suspected child abuse or neglect to the Designated Safeguarding Lead who is a member of the school’s leadership team.