Safeguarding
In this section
Our Head of School, Mrs Doughty is the Designated Safeguarding Lead and designated person for Child Protection; should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact her.
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Designated safeguarding Lead: Mrs Doughty
Designated Lead for Looked After Children: Mrs Doughty
Designated Lead for Anti-Bullying: Mrs Doughty
Designated Lead for E-Safety: Mrs Doughty
Link Governor for Safeguarding: Mrs Mary Washbrook
Link Governor for Looked After Children: Mrs Mary Washbrook
Link Governor for SEND: Mrs Mary Washbrook
Link Governor for Anti-Bullying: Mrs Mary Washbrook
Link Governor for Health & Safety: Mr Jon Moon
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Safeguarding: further information
The Limestone Peak Federation ( Dove Holes, Peak Dale and Taddingon) operates a whole school approach and ethos to safeguarding and protecting children. Where safeguarding is concerned, we maintain an attitude of “it could happen here”. We recognise that everyone in the school has a role to play to keep children safe; this includes identifying concerns, sharing information, and taking prompt action. Safeguarding and child protection is incorporated in all relevant aspects of processes and policy development. All systems, processes and policies operate with the best interests of a child at their centre.
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We ensure that all children are safeguarded while on or off school premises and are proactive about anticipating and managing risks that children face in the wider community and online. To support this the school assesses the risks and issues in the wider community when considering the well-being and safety of its learners. Due to the context of our school, our children may be at greater risk of domestic abuse, emotional abuse and neglect.
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To protect our learners, we have a Prevent action plan/risk assessment and are part of the Stopping Domestic Abuse Together (SDAT) initiative. We have a clear Online safety and SRE curriculum alongside our safeguarding curriculum which permeates through the life of the school we protect our learners by providing them with a voice and always being open to listening to them.
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The Limestone peak Federation recognises we have an important role to play in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and contributes to multi-agency working as set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children(2018). As a relevant agency, the school/college understands its role within local safeguarding arrangements and operates in accordance with the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children multi-agency procedures, including the local criteria for action (known as the Threshold document) and local protocols for assessment in Derby and Derbyshire (note: this is currently under review). The school/college is also aware of and implements any local learning where appropriate, such as those as outlined in DDSCP Briefing note: safeguarding school age children and learning from case reviews and other DDSCP briefing notes located in the multi-agency safeguarding children procedures document library. At the Federation, we work closely with our Early Help team, The school nurse, and the Mental Heath Triage service.
Our community
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At Peak Dale, there is a strong working village community who are supportive of the schools. The proportion of children eligible for free school meals and Pupil Premium are lower/inline with national averages. The number of children who have an education, health and care is lower than national.
Our school is committed to safeguarding, promoting the welfare of all its pupils and to protecting them from the risks of harm. The Governors expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment by demonstrating their understanding of how each individual adult working on behalf of the school has an active part to play in protecting children from harm and promoting their welfare. Our links to our local community are strong; we share safeguarding advice with our parents via noticeboards in school, the school website and a weekly newsletters. We have good transition procedures in place with our feeder nurseries ; the children visit school regularly prior to starting school in September, the staff visit the nursery setting and parents are involved and informed during transition.
As a community, we have to be aware of the challenges presented by living in a very non- diverse and monoethnic area with a significant number of parents who work yet find it difficult to make ends meet but who do not qualify for universal credit nor free Public school meals. Other contextual safeguarding concerns such as the many quarries in the locality which pose a risk of drowning are mitigated against as far as possible with our year round swimming programme and water safety sessions.
Unresolved parental conflict and separation can be another common challenge to our children’s wellbeing. All staff must be clear about their own role and that of others in providing a caring and safe environment for all pupils and must know how they should respond to any concerns about an individual child that may arise.
To this end the school will ensure that all staff (whether permanent or temporary) and volunteers know who the senior designated leads are with overall responsibility for child protection. The Designated Leads for Child Protection details can be found on Page 25 of our Safeguarding policy. In the absence of the designated person we will ensure that we have a member of staff who has the knowledge and skills necessary to deputise. All staff will receive training during their induction period, and annually thereafter in order that they are equipped with the skills needed to keep children safe.
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The school will always follow safe recruitment procedures so that we can be confident that all adults working in our school are safe to do so.
Safeguarding Statement
At all schools within the Federation, we want our pupils to grow up as confident, happy young people. We want our schools to be a place where everyone feels safe, secure and supported. We want teaching to be effective and engaging, and learning to be enjoyable and fun. We want all our children, regardless of their background or ability, to reach their full potential and to be proud of their work and achievements. We want there to be clear communication between school and home, and for parents to feel fully involved. We value, and want to be valued by our local community. We are dedicated to working together to achieve this for our school. Our safeguarding arrangements are underpinned by four key principles:
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Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility: all Staff/anyone who has contact with a child or young person including Governors and volunteers should play their full part in keeping children safe;
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We will aim to protect children using national, local and school child protection procedures;
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That all Staff/anyone who has contact with a child or young person including Governors and volunteers have a clear understanding regarding abuse and neglect in all forms; including how to identify, respond and report. This also includes knowledge in the process for allegations against professionals. Staff, (Governors and Volunteers) should feel confident that they can report all matters of Safeguarding in the School where the information will be dealt with swiftly and securely, following the correct procedures with the safety and wellbeing of the children in mind at all times;
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That we operate a child-centred approach: a clear understanding of the needs, wishes, views and voices of children.
Important Contact Details:
Starting Point (For all Safeguarding Concerns) Tel: 01629 533190
Out of hours Call Derbyshire Tel: 01629 533190
NSPCC - National Helpline Tel: 0808 800 5000
Childline – Tel: 0800 1111
Child Protection Manager (Schools) Debbie Peacock Tel: 01629 531079
Email: Debbie.peacock@derbyshire.gov.uk
Derbyshire County Council Child Protection/Safeguarding Team Tel: 01629 532178
Early Help Offer – Taddington and Priestcliffe CE Primary School
Early Help Statement
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The Limestone Peak Federation understands the importance of helping children and families early. We will endeavour to support you to the best of our ability so that things do not escalate to statutory services and your child’s education is not affected.
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An early help assessment is important around early help, but school can offer a myriad of other support and signposting for our pupils and their families so we operate an ‘open door policy’ encouraging parents to approach school if needed to speak to the (DSL) or our ‘in house’ welfare team ( JSe- psychologist and governor, LW- Early help worker*) * LW is also a parent and will not make an Early help assessment or provide formal support, school take on this role with the support of Sara Atherton Atherton | Early Help Advisor for High Peak North Dales | Early Help Development Team | Derbyshire Children’s Services | Mobile: 07772 882161.
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LW is part of the welfare team offering initial informal support for the school in some cases.
What is Early Help?
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Every family has its ups and downs. Being a parent is hard work and there are no instructions. Sometimes, you or your children may need extra support. This may be before your children are born, when they are very young, or throughout their school years. There is nothing to be ashamed of in asking for help.
Early Help helps you recognise what’s going well for you, where you may benefit from extra help, and who is the best person to work with you and your family to make this happen. This may be through an Early Help Assessment (EHA).
Early Help Assessment
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This starts with an Early Help conversation. You’ll chat with an Early Help Lead in school (DSL) or Local authority worker about what’s going well and what’s not going well for you and your family, and they will let you know what sort of help is available.
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This conversation might lead to an Early Help Assessment (EHA). This is how we get a full picture about the whole family. We use it to help you see what is working well and identify the areas you could do with a bit of extra support.
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It‘s your choice to take part in the assessment and you can choose who else should be involved. A good assessment is done with you not to you.
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Every person and family are different, but an Early Help Assessment (EHA) will:
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Help you see what’s going well and not so well for your family
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Help you and others to see what support you might need
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Create a picture of your family’s circumstances, which can be shared with your permission, so you don’t have to repeat yourself to different workers
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Help you to be part of a team of people working together on the same plan to get things going well again.
What happens after the EHA?
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With your permission, people from different organisations working with your family will share information and work together to help support you and your children.
This could be school, health visitors, mentors, school, etc. This may then be followed by a ‘Team around the family’ meeting.
Why do I need to give my permission (also known as consent)?
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Your personal information belongs to you. Agencies can’t share your information unless you agree, because your information is protected by law under the Data Protection Act.
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What is a ‘Team around the family’ meeting?
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The family and workers involved come together to make a support plan. This is reviewed at regular intervals to ensure that progress is being made for your family and that the right support is in place.
At this meeting, you’ll choose a ‘lead worker’. This can be any one of the people working with your family – you might choose the worker you see most often, or the person you find most approachable.
Your lead worker will arrange the review meetings and be someone you can speak to at any point about any concerns or issues you and your family are experiencing.