Safeguarding
Safeguarding
Our greatest priority as a school is to always ensure the safety, well-being and happiness of all our children.
Throughout the year we are contactable at all times via the school email: sthelensprimary@sgmail.org.uk South Gloucestershire Council’s Safeguarding Access and Response Team (ART) is also available to report concerns about a child: 01454 866000 Monday to Thursday 9.00am – 5.00pm (4.30pm on Friday) and 01454 615165 out of hours and at weekends.
St Helen’s Primary School recognises its responsibilities for safeguarding children and protecting them from harm.
Designated Senior Person for Child Protection: Mr K Chappell
Designated Deputy Person for Child Protection: Mr R Adams
Designated Governor for Child Protection: Mr Gordon
You can find our safeguarding policy here by clicking the link below: Please note this is for the academic Year 2023-24.
Child Protection Safeguarding Policy 2023-24
It is important to know that as always, we are here to help as much as we possibly can. As a school we pride ourselves on our relationship with all of our families. Our open door policy, that we talk about so much, will be there over the next few weeks and months, as children and families reconnect with school. Please be aware that we are here at any time to listen to any worries or concerns and to help support you in the best way possible.This may be through support we can give your child directly in school or by signposting you to external services that we can access, for example the services of the school nursing team. If you need anything please do not hesitate to ask and make contact with school.
In the recent Parent Survey March 2023 when asked 'My child feel safe.'
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From 82 parent/ carer responses - 97.6% agreed or strongly agreed that their children were safe in school, which is a great number and pleasing as in our school this is our biggest priority. 1 response – don’t know. 1 response- disagreed. We have a number of ways we keep your children safe, whether through curriculum lessons about anti-bullying to reminders about being safe at playtime. This is also linked to our systems in school, where we can monitor any changes in behaviour in children and record any concerns that parents and staff may have around safeguarding. Thank you for all your support in ensuring that we try to keep all our children safe at St.Helen’s. |
The South Glos Safeguarding Page can be accessed by clicking the link below:
As discussed in the newsletter please find below a number of link to recommended advice lines to aid our mental and physical health.
These links have been provided by South Glos Specialist Health Improvement Practitioners and CYP Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing team.
For adults support: https://oneyou.southglos.gov.uk/stress-less/
Alternatively, if you would like to speak to someone to find out what support is available, call 0333 577 4666 available from 11am-7pm Monday to Friday, 12pm-6pm Saturday and Sunday or email: communitysupport@southernbrooks.org.uk
https://oneyou.southglos.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid-19-useful-mental-health-information/
https://sites.southglos.gov.uk/mind-you/coronavirus-covid-19-useful-information/
The School Health Nursing Team also have a number of great links to consider during this time. Please click the link below to access the Children’s Community Health Partnership.
https://cchp.nhs.uk/cchp/explore-cchp/school-health-nursing
Compass Support
A new point of contact called Compass has been established to help families, agencies and settings navigate to the right information or support. Compass will provide advice, support, and guidance to help families and workers navigate to the right place and where to access appropriate early help.
Compass will include dedicated Compass Partnership Workers from the council.
The school has it's own Compass link worker who supports Mr Chappell in signpost the right support that is needed.
For access to the NSPCC website:
Please see below further links to well-being and mental health sites that you may find useful.
Supporting children with anxiety
Jigsaw Thornbury are running some online sessions for parents to provide some guidance and advice on supporting a child who experiences anxiety. This will consist of 3 sessions which will be an hour and a half each and will include some resources. Our school cluster has secured some places for free, so please email the school office if you’d be interested and we can send you some more information.
Other wellbeing events
Jigsaw Thornbury also offer regular wellbeing event, which can be found here: https://www.jigsawthornbury.org.uk/events/
As always, please do get in touch if we can provide any other support to you or your children.
South Gloucestershire Council’s own Safeguarding ART (Access and Response Team) is also available to report concerns about a child: 01454 866000 Monday to Thursday 9.00 am – 5.00 pm, 4.30 on Friday and 01454 615165 out of hours and at weekends.
Our ethos is that the effective safeguarding of children can only be achieved by putting children at the centre of a system where we listen and hear what they say. Every individual within our school will play their part, including working with professionals from other agencies, to meet the needs of our most vulnerable children and keep them safe.
Our school therefore, led by senior members of staff aims to provide a safe environment and vigilant culture where children and young people can learn and be safeguarded. If there are safeguarding concerns we will respond with appropriate action in a timely manner for those children who may need help or be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm.
E safety support:
Please click on the links below to access more support around helping children to stay safe online.
Where staff or others need to raise concerns, these can be to the Headteacher/Designated Person for safeguarding who will coordinate a response. Concerns can be raised directly with Children’s Social Care but we would advocate contact with the Headteacher/Designated Person first.
The designated safeguarding lead or Headteacher who is familiar with national and local guidance will share concerns, where appropriate, with the relevant agencies.
We run an annual briefing for volunteers, with some guidance around keeping children safe at St Helen’s. You can find the presentation below.