Safeguarding and Child Protection
‘Flourishing children are to be loved unconditionally, enabled ambitiously, supported compassionately and championed relentlessly.’
( 'Flourishing for all': Anti-Bullying Guidance for Church of England Schools 2024)
Everyone deserves to live in a world free from fear. Therefore, at Bickerton Holy Trinity CE Primary School, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. We support all pupils to know their worth so they can protect themselves or know how to find the support they need.
Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs Victoria Williams head@bickerton.cheshire.sch.uk
Deputy Safeguarding Leads: Mr. Daniel Carlile dcarlile@bickerton.cheshire.sch.uk Mrs Steph Dunn sdunn@bickerton.cheshire.sch.uk
Designated Safeguarding Governor: Mrs Sandie Martin
The school safeguarding team work in conjunction with the Sports Coaching Group safeguarding team for children in wrap around care.
What is the difference between Safeguarding and Child Protection?
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
protecting children from maltreatment
preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development;
ensuring children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
Child Protection is a part of Safeguarding and promoting welfare. It refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm. We aim to proactively safeguard and promote the welfare of children so that the need for action to protect children from harm is reduced.
Our safeguarding procedures include:
Listening and hearing our children - always taking action
'The Bickerton Way' in our Behaviour policy
On-going training for staff and governors
Secure entry and exit procedures
Safeguarding procedures for visitors
Risk assessing trips
Delivery of our PHSE and RSE curriculum.
Promoting esafety
School council - promoting safety through worship eg road safety, online safety, anti-bullying etc.
ELSA sessions
Safeguarding posters in school
Please see our Child protection and safeguarding policy on the statutory information page of our website.
What is the Prevent duty?
The Prevent duty requires all schools to "have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism", under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. The duty covers all types of extremism, whether political, religious or ideological. We protect pupils from the risk of radicalisation, as part of our safeguarding duties and our duty to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils.
To do this, we:
Promote the fundamental British values in our curriculum
Make sure our school is a safe space for pupils to discuss sensitive topics, including terrorism and extremism
Have robust safeguarding procedures to identify children at risk
Work with the local authority's to determine the potential risk of individuals being drawn into terrorism in your local area
Have measures in place to protect pupils from harmful online content, including setting up appropriate filtering systems
Make sure staff receive training to help them identify pupils at risk and know how to act if they have a concern
Operation Encompass
Our school participates in a Police-led initiative called Operation Encompass: a scheme which will ensure that we can we can better support any child where a domestic incident has been reported to Police from their home.
Following a domestic incident, the Police will make contact with the school via telephone and communicate relevant information to the Headteacher. This will ensure that we are made aware early enough to support children in a way that means they feel safe, supported and listened to. You can find out more about Operation Encompass via the following site: http://www.operationencompass.org/
We are committed to working in partnership with local relevant organisations to safeguard and protect children across Cheshire and provide the best possible care and support for our pupils.
Useful links
What to do if you are a child who is being bullied
Advice for parents or carers what to do about bullying
UK children and adults to be safer online as world-leading bill becomes law - GOV.UK