What does it all mean?

Sometimes, we may speak to you about some of our safeguarding procedures and processes. We want you to be comfortable and understand how we use safeguarding procedures in school and how we share information with other agencies. If you have any questions about this, please see a member of the Safeguarding Team.

Domestic Abuse

Operation Encompass is a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse.  Information is shared by the police with a school's trained Designated Safeguarding Leader prior to the start of the next school day after police officers have attended a domestic abuse incident, enabling appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.  

Terrorism and Extremism

Prevent is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes.  The Prevent Strategy covers all types of terrorism and extremism, including the extreme right wing, violent Islamist groups and other causes.  From July 2015 all schools (as well as other organisations) have a duty to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism.  This means we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist and violent views the same way we protect them from drugs or gang violence.  Importantly, we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues so they better understand how to protect themselves.  

Keeping Children Safe in Education is our Priority

At St Andrews CE Primary School, the health, safety and welfare of our children are of paramount importance to us.   We respect our pupils and want to provide them with a stimulating and safe environment that encourages them to flourish. 

In order to keep our children safe at school, we

• ensure that all our staff – through their induction and on going training - have a clear understanding of their responsibilities towards our children’s safeguarding
• make sure that we have a range of clear and up to date policies and procedures in place to ensure the safety and protection of our pupils in all aspects of school life
• ensure that we teach our pupils how to keep themselves healthy and safe – in and out of school
• ensure that we audit our safeguarding practices regularly so we remain vigilant
• We work with Merseyside Police to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children experiencing domestic abuse. This is called Operation Encompass and you can find more information in the letter below. We also provide a range of support within school and from other services such as health and community support. This sometimes takes the form of an EHAT and you can find out more about our Early Help offer below.
• Please do speak to a member of the Safeguarding Team if you or your child have been affected by any type of abuse; we are here to listen and can give you lots of information to support and help.

Values

At St. Andrews, our safeguarding offer starts with our Christian values which we instill in our children from their first day at St. Andrews CE Primary. Christian Values such as Respect, Reverence, Compassion, Friendship, Trust and Perseverance teach our children to be ready, respectful and responsible.  We have an open, honest and relationship centred approach at school, wherein children are nurtured and taught that they are able to confide in any adult if they are worried about anything.

Behaviour

We have very clear expectations of our children’s behaviour and these are regularly discussed in class and whole school  worship.  Our children learn from an early age that bullying in any form is not tolerated at St. Andrews CE Primary and we expect our staff to act as exemplary role models.

Inclusion and Equality

The school has a commitment to equality and accessibility for all and we believe that everyone at St. Andrews CE Primary should be treated with care, dignity and respect. Our children are explicitly taught that any form of discrimination on grounds of race, religion, sexuality or disability is wrong. In the St. Andrews UNIQUE Curriculum, RE lessons and worship, we explore different ideas, cultures, faiths and beliefs to broaden our pupil’s awareness of the world and we teach tolerance and mutual respect.