Safeguarding

For children to flourish, they need to grow in an environment that nurtures and priorities their safety, happiness and wellbeing. This is why at London Fields Primary, safeguarding is at the heart of all we do.

We are proud of the safeguarding culture that we have established which unites us all in our shared commitment to protect children. 

Designated Senior Person for Safeguarding Children: Alexandra Hurst and Rebecca Austin

Deputy Senior Person for Safeguarding Children: Sharon Taylor

Nominated Governor responsible for Safeguarding & Child Protection: Caroline Tyson

 

Safeguarding

What is Safeguarding?

Safeguarding children is defined in Working Together to Safeguard Children as:

• providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge 
•  protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online • preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care 
• promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or otherwise their family network through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and where this is in the best interests of the children
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework.

Safeguarding children and child protection guidance and legislation applies to all children up to the age of 18.

What is Child Protection? 

As per, the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance, child protection is defined as part of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and is defined for the purpose of this guidance as activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suspected to be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. This includes harm that occurs inside or outside the home, including online. 

Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy  

Please click here to access our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. 

Concerned about a child? 

At London Fields Primary staff use CPOMS to report and record any concerns or disclosures. Staff will need to use personal log in details to access the system. Website link: CPOMS

Online Safety  

London Fields recognises the benefits and opportunities which new technologies offer to teaching and learning. We encourage the use of technology in order to enhance skills and promote achievement. However, the accessible and global nature of the internet and variety of technologies available mean that we are also aware of potential risks and challenges associated with such use. We teach the SMART Rules for online safety through our computing topic to guide pupils’ management of these associated risks and challenges, and equip them with the knowledge and skills to stay safe online, navigate and manage information and attend to their own wellbeing. 

To find out more please read our Online Safety Policy here or visit the NSPCC site page for keeping children safe online.

For more information, parental advice and resources about online safety please visit the following websites:

Internet Matters

ParentSafe

Virgin Media

Staff CPD 

All staff receive the appropriate training in Safeguarding and Child Protection to ensure that they are aware of our approach to safeguarding and the policies, procedures and responsibilities that we must all adhere to.  Safeguarding training is integral to our staff induction, ensuring staff have a secure understanding of important documents such as Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children. Our safeguarding training is robust and we provide bespoke CPD throughout the year to ensure this remains a key priority. 

Staff can also access a variety of online training courses. The courses are provided by Tes Institue/EduCare and cover online safeguarding, duty of care, education law and guidance. Staff will need to use personal log in details to access the system. Website link: www.myeducare.com 

The Hackney Child Wellbeing Framework

Children & Young People's Services - Resource Guide for Professionals

 The Hackney Child Wellbeing Framework focuses upon child and family need, not thresholds for services. It does, however, attempt to give an indication of what might be an appropriate approach to responding to child and family need by defining three levels:

• Universal - a response by universal services, often working individually
• Universal and Universal Partnership Plus - a response by universal services working together in universal settings and sometimes bringing additional targeted resources into a multi agency partnership plan to both assess and address concerns
• Complex/high risk – a response that requires high level specialist services, often governed by statutory frameworks, to take the lead role.

Statutory Guidance

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) - September 2024

Please click here to access the departmental guidance for Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).

Please click here to access translated versions of Keeping Children Safe in Education Part 1. Updated versions for 2024  will be made available soon.

The guidance above affirms that 'All staff should be aware of systems within their school or college which support safeguarding, and these should be explained to them as part of staff induction.

This should include the:

• child protection policy (which should amongst other things also include the policy and procedures to deal with child-on-child abuse)

• behaviour policy (which should include measures to prevent bullying, including cyberbullying, prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying)6

• staff behaviour policy (sometimes called a code of conduct) should amongst other things, include low-level concerns, allegations against staff and whistleblowing

• safeguarding response to children who are absent from education, particularly on repeat occasions and/or prolonged periods and

• role of the designated safeguarding lead (including the identity of the designated safeguarding lead and any deputies).' See annex C/page 163.

It is imperative that all staff (including volunteers) read this guidance and provide consent that they have done so (a register exists to determine this). Schools must have regard to the guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This document contains information on what schools should do and sets out the legal duties with which schools must comply. 

The Prevent Duty  

Schools' Prevent duties to safeguard children from extremism were placed on a statutory footing by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (CTSA 2015), which was accompanied by guidance from the Home Office and Department for Education.

It is important to remember that issues in regard to radicalisation and extremism are safeguarding issues, and the same level of risk assessment and proportionate response are required.

Please click here to access the guidance about the Prevent Duty.

The Prevent duty guidance was updated in September 2023 to reflect recommendations of the Independent Review of Prevent. The guidance comes into effect on 31st December 2023. You can also refer to (Keeping Children Safe in Education) above for further information or our Safeguarding and Child Protection policy. 

 At a local level, we have refined the referral route for schools to clarify the contacts for additional support:

Contact the PREVENT team on 0208 356 8104 or prevent@hackney.gov.uk

Mandatory reporting of FGM 

From 31 October 2015 it is mandatory for teachers, health and social workers to report to the police if they find, or are told, someone under 18 has undergone FGM.

Please click here to access the guidance about FGM.

Children Missing Education (To be read alongside the Attendance/Punctuality Policy)

From September 2016, amendments to regulations require the following actions from all schools:

• All schools – are required to inform the LA when they are about to remove a pupil’s name from the admissions register.
• Schools also have to inform the LA within 5 days of registering new pupils
• For a pupil who has not returned after 10 days, the amended regulations require the school and LA to make those enquiries collaboratively, not separately. Schools should ensure that they consult with HLT before any decisions are made to de-register a child without a clear destination having been established and agreed. The Pupils Registration Regulations make reference to ‘jointly making reasonable enquiries’.

HLT has written guidance for schools which clarifies expectations, provides guidance on what constitutes ‘joint reasonable enquiries’, and gives further guidance on software updates.

Please click here for the statutory guidance about Children Missing Education.

Schools are advised to:

• Record the Future Address and address Start Date for the pupil/student or contact;
• Record the destination school in the Destination Institution field in the School History panel of the - pupil/student record;
• Record the start date in the Destination Expected Start Date field in the School History panel of the - pupil/student record; and
• Use the Communication Log or Linked Documents to store any evidence.

Use of reasonable force in schools 

The following guidance from the DfE provides clarification on the use of force:

• to help school staff feel more confident about using reasonable force when they feel it is necessary
• to make clear the responsibilities of school leaders and governing bodies in respect of this power

Please click here for the departmental advice for use of reasonable force.

Further policies and procedures

Procedure for dealing with allegations of abuse against staff/volunteers/headteacher 

London Fields Primary School is committed to providing the highest level of care for both its pupils and its staff. It is extremely important that any allegations of abuse against a teacher, any other member of staff, or volunteer in our school is dealt with thoroughly and efficiently, maintaining the highest level of protection for the child whilst also giving support to the person who is the subject of the allegation. The below Hackney guidance for allegations against staff ensures that as a school, all staff, students and parents/carers are aware of the procedures for investigation so that all concerns are dealt with consistently and efficiently. 

Allegations of abuse against staff guidance

A guide for staff and volunteers who work with children where a concern has been raised or an allegation made

Our school has a written policy outlining procedures for Safeguarding and Child Protection which complies with the Local Authority guidance. Part of our policy refers to referrals to Children's Social Care. For further information about this process, please use the link below to read our school guidance for families.

Please click here for the Hackney MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) Children's and Families Service information page.

Please click here to access the guidance for families document we have created for our London Fields community.

After school procedure for uncollected children/children missing 

 Please click here to access the procedure for uncollected children/children missing/absent at the end of the day.

Further Resources

City of London Safer Schools App

Please click here to access the free app (Please note this is not currently available - an update on the app re-launch will be provided as soon as available)

The App "includes key advice about essential advice about making your home and devices safer. It provides information about social media and how to block, mute and report anything that either you (or your child) may find worrying – from images to comments from online bullies.  The App will also help you create healthy media habits, limit screen time, learn about scams and keep your personal data safe. It will complement the information your child’s school will have made available via their communications with you and your child."

Hackney Education resource page 

City of London & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership

Safeguarding children and child protection (NSPCC)