SS John & Monica Catholic Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All staff share in this commitment.
Safeguarding and Child Protection (Keeping Children Safe in Education)
Your child’s welfare is of paramount importance to us. It is our statutory duty of care to safeguard your child. We will also seek external support if we have any concerns about your child and, in some instances, this may mean that we consult with other agencies even before we contact you.
The procedures we follow have been laid down by the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board. If you want to know more about this procedure, please speak to the Headteacher, a member of SLT or a DSL.
At SS John and Monica's, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff, governors, parents, volunteers and visitors to share in this commitment.
If you want to know more about this procedure or you have a concern about a child, please speak to the Head teacher Mrs M Elliott (Designated Safeguarding Lead), Mr Ullah Deputy Headteacher, Mrs Riches, Miss Millar and Mrs Nicholls (SENCO) who are all Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSL's).
Children's Advice & Support Service
The Children's Advice and Support Service (CASS) provides a single point of contact for professionals and members of the public who want to access support or raise concerns about a child.
We want to keep all children and young people in Birmingham safe from harm. If you are concerned about a child please contact CASS who will listen, assess your concerns and can take action if a child is at risk.
Contact details
Monday to Thursday: 8:45am to 5:15pm
Friday: 8:45am to 4:15pm
Telephone: 0121 303 1888
Emergency out-of-hours
Telephone: 0121 675 4806
To report a concern about a child or to request support for a child or family go to:
https://lscpbirmingham.org.uk/working-with-children/safeguarding-concerns
For all related policies, go to Parent page, Policies.
Leads for other Safeguarding matters:
Single Point of Contact (SPOC): Mrs M Elliott
Educational Visits Co-Ordinator: Mrs M Elliott
Looked- After Children Lead: Mrs M Elliott
Mental Health Lead: Mrs M Elliott.
Operation Encompass key adult: Mrs M Elliott
SS John and Monica Early Help Offer
What is Early Help?
Early Help means providing help for children, young people and families as soon as problems start to emerge or where it is likely that issues will impact negatively on children’s outcomes.
Early Help…
• is for children of all ages and not just the very young,
• can be very effective in supporting a child, young person and/or their family to step down from statutory services as well as preventing the escalation of issues.
• is important because there is clear evidence that it results in better outcomes for children.
Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Safeguarding Children’s Trust recognises that Early Help is a term that describes much of the everyday work of schools.
Early Help in Birmingham
The vision of all partner organisations working with children and families in Birmingham is to improve children’s lives by working in partnership to raise aspirations, build achievement and protect the most vulnerable.
This is based on the belief that:
• Children, young people and families develop resilience if there are protective factors in place such as: a positive relationship with an adult; good literacy and communication skills; good school attendance; and, parents in or actively seeking/ready for work
• Children’s needs are best met when help is offered in a universal setting within a socially mixed group and early on when problems start to emerge
• Children and young people’s needs are best met when addressed in the context of the whole family, meaning that parents/carers/siblings’ needs are addressed with consent as part of a holistic and integrated Early Help response
Early Help services should support and strengthen families so that they can thrive.
The Role of Schools
Day to Day Support
Most families, most of the time, can get on with their lives quite happily with little or no outside help. If they need help it is usually provided by universal services, such as schools.
Focused Pastoral Support
All families can have times, however, when difficulties arise and they either may not recognise it or may not know how to start putting things right. Schools play a role in supporting families to address these difficulties through more focused pastoral support, which might include bringing in support via an external agency.
Early Help Assessment
For those children and families whose needs and circumstances make them more vulnerable, or where schools need the support of other agencies to meet the needs of the family, a coordinated multi-agency approach is usually best. In Birmingham this is achieved through undertaking an Early Help Assessment and assigning a Lead Practitioner to work closely with the family to ensure they receive the support they require. Schools should be a key partner in any multi-agency work to support families
The following four commitments are the core elements to SS John and Monica Catholic Primary School’s Early Help Offer.
By implementing these commitments SS John and Monica Catholic Primary School aims to ensure:
• Pupils, parent/carers and staff are clear on the Early Help support available through the school
• Clarity for partners, supporting improved multi-agency working
• Delivery approaches of Early Help support for more vulnerable families are up to date with local offers
• Commitment to the personal development and well-being strand of the Ofsted Framework
The following lists show what Early Help Support is available at SS John and Monica Catholic Primary School:
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Safeguarding and Staying Safe |
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Primary Offer |
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Attendance |
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Primary Offer |
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Supporting Families |
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Primary Offer |
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Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs |
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Primary Offer |
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Transition |
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Primary Offer |
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Curriculum |
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Primary Offer |
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Safeguarding Curriculum
Great importance is placed on identifying opportunities in the taught curriculum for children to learn about safeguarding. Our broad curriculum gives pupils opportunities to experience life in all its diversity, to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills that significantly impact on personal development, behaviour and welfare and equips every child with the knowledge and skills required for personal safeguarding.
Great importance is placed on identifying opportunities in the taught curriculum for children to learn about safeguarding. Our broad curriculum gives pupils opportunities to experience life in all its diversity, to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills that significantly impact on personal development, behaviour and welfare and equips every child with the knowledge and skills required for personal safeguarding.
Safeguarding, child safety issues and child protection will be addressed through the curriculum especially through PSHE, Computing and Online Safety, Citizenship, Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) and British values.
We use a variety of resources and approaches to teach the children how to keep themselves safe, build their resilience and manage risks.
The curriculum, and in particular the PSHE and RSHE curriculum, includes an emphasis on relationships, building confidence and resilience in pupils and in developing preventative strategies to ensure their own protection and that of others. Opportunities are provided for pupils to develop the skills and strategies they need to stay safe from abuse, including age appropriate discussions about healthy relationships. Clear advice and guidance is built into the curriculum to ensure that pupils understand that there is a range of contacts they can turn to for advice and support and that they know where and how to report abuse.
Safeguarding and Child Protection
Safeguarding for Parents
The following is a list of useful websites offering free advice and support on a range of topics, tailored to parents and carers:
Child Accident Prevention Trust: Free child safety advice for parents and carers - https://capt.org.uk/pages/category/safety-advice-injury-types/
Family Lives: Offers core family support services, working in many different areas and providing tailored support around issues such as bullying, special educational needs, and support for specific communities - https://www.familylives.org.uk/
Get Safe Online: Advice for parents and carers on how to take a balanced approach to your children’s online safety - https://www.getsafeonline.org/personal/article-category/safeguarding-children/
Kooth: A digital mental health and wellbeing company working to provide a welcoming space for digital mental health care, available to all -https://www.kooth.com/
NSPCC: Support and tips to help you keep your children safe. From advice on children’s mental health to staying safe online, support for parents and what to do if you’re worried about a child - https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/
Thinkuknow: Thinkuknow aims to help protect children and young people from the threat of online child sexual abuse and exploitation - https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
YoungMinds: Lots of practical advice and tips on supporting your child – from how to encourage your child to open up about their feelings to dealing with mental health services - https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/
Safeguarding documents for Parents
Prevent Duty
What is the Prevent Strategy?
The Prevent strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. We have prepared a leaflet to explain how we have regard to this strategy which can be found on our web site or from our school reception.
Many of the things we already do in school to help children become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy.
These include:
- Exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity
- Promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy
- Developing critical thinking skills and a strong, positive self-identity
- Challenging prejudices and racist comments
- We will also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example by using filters on the Internet to make sure they can’t access extremist and terrorist material, or by vetting visitors who come into school to work with pupils.
At Ss John and Monica Catholic Primary School, we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values. Please see our British values guidance on our web site.
The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. At our school all teaching and support staff have completed training.
Prevent Duty
SS John and Monica Catholic Primary School's Commitment to Safeguarding Children on All Recruitment Material
SS John and Monica's must create a culture of safe recruitment and adopt recruitment procedures that help deter, reject or identify people who might harm children. As part of doing that, all recruitment material should indicate commitment to the safeguarding and welfare of all children. These recruitment material include:
- Job Advert
- Application form
- Job Description
- Person Specification
- Invitation to attend the interview
- Questions to ask in the interview
Job Advert
On the job advertisement state commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. For example:
‘The School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references’.
Job Description
As part of the job description, state that ‘everyone who works at … SS John and Monica Catholic Primary School is committed to promoting the safeguarding and welfare of children’. In practice this means:
- Being aware of SS John and Monica's policies and procedures regarding Child Protection.
- Becoming aware of the signs and symptoms of abuse by attending relevant courses.
- Reporting all causes for concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead
- Ensuring the safety of all pupils in the school learning environment both indoor and outdoor.
- Carrying out risk assessments in consultation with the teaching staff prior to activities.
Person Specification
The essential attributes highlighted on the Person Specification linked to the job should request:
- Commitment to on-going development of awareness of Safeguarding procedures, such as partaking in child protection training and E-Safety training.
- Positive References
- Current DBS check
- Awareness of Safeguarding procedures
Application form
- Ask for details of two senior referees who are not a related to applicant.
- Ask for ‘any convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings that are not “protected” as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013) by SI 2013 1198?
Invitation to Interview
Include request to bring along proofs of identity, evidence of qualifications and right to work in the UK.
During the Interview
- Take copies of documents
- Ask specific questions and keep a record questions and answers given. Look out for
– Give me an example of when you have had a safeguarding concern about a child. What happened?
– Tell us about a time when you took action to help protect a child.
– Describe the procedures that need to be in place to protect children.
– How in your work or life so far have you tried to ensure that children are protected?
– Give me an example of when you had safeguarding concerns over a child.
– Give me an example of where you had to deal with bullying behaviour.
– Give me an example of how you have managed poor pupil behaviour.
– What do you think makes SS John and Monica's safe and supportive?
We look out for answers that show no or little understanding or appreciation of children’s needs or expectations; inappropriate language about children; unclear boundaries with children; and answers that imply adults and children are equal or that there is are more concerned for personal gains than there is for the children’s interests.