Safeguarding is Everyone's Responsibility
The welfare and safety of children is paramount. Every adult in our school community is expected to have a responsibility to safeguard children.
What is Safeguarding?
- Protecting children from maltreatment
- Preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
- Making sure children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
Policy and Useful information
On the side bar (or bottom of the screen on a mobile phone) the follwing information is available:
- School Safeguarding Policy
- Visitors Safeguarding Guidance
- Volunteer Helper Policy
- Keeping Children Safe In Education 2023
Our Designated Safeguard Leads (DSL):
Mr J Bloomfield (Headteacher) - DSL
Mrs A Capstick (Assistant Head) - Deputy DSL
Miss C Hughes (Y5 Class Teacher) - Deputy DSL
What to do if you have a safegurading concern?
Please contact our DSL if you have any concerns about the safety or welfare of any pupils, in or out of school. You may also contact our DSL to seek advice about a child who does not attend our school and we will be able to help or refer you to someone else who can.
Phone: 01327 855100
Out of School Hours Contact
If your concern is out of school hours, or you would prefer to talk to someone else not working at the school, please contact the Northamptonshire MASH team (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub).
MASH: 0300 126 7000
Emergency: 999
Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)
To contact the local authority Designated Officer for West Northamptonshire, please call Andy Smith on 07850 854309 or you can leave a message via voicemail on 01604 362993 . Alternatively please email your query to and a Designated Officer will get back to you as soon as they are able to.
Useful Contacts:
Here are some other useful contact numbers, weblinks can be found in the sidebar.
The Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children's Board website has a whole host of useful information for parents. The NSCB's vision is "working together to ensure all children and young people grow up in a safe environment".
Northampton and District Mind: 01604 634310
NSPCC: 0808 800 500
Childline: 0800 1111
Child Exploitation and Online Proctection (CEOP) 0870 000 3344
24 Hour Domestic Violence Freephone Helpline: 0808 200 0247
School Nurse Admin Hub: 0800 170 7055 (option 4 for all 0-19 services, option 5 for all immunisation issues)
Early Help
Every family goes through challenging times at some point. Early help means working with you and your family so that small problems don’t become big problems. Early help is for everybody, for families with children and young people of any age. And it’s your choice whether to have it or not.
Why would I want early help?
There are lots of reasons why people look for early help. It could be that you’re worried about your child’s health, development or behaviour, or how they’re doing at school, or perhaps because you are caring for a disabled child. It may be that you’re worried about money or housing and how that is affecting your family. Maybe your child or your family is affected by domestic abuse, drugs or alcohol or crime. Perhaps your child is a carer for other people, or maybe you’ve had a bereavement in the family that’s made life a
real challenge.
Find out more by clicking on this link - Early Help guide for parents and carers.
Speak to Mr Bloomfield, Mrs Capstick or Miss Hughes if you would like to know more.
Responsibilities & Expectations
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Safeguarding is of paramount importance and is taken seriously by every member of staff. All staff are vigilent and report and safegurading/welfare concerns to our Designated Safeguard Leaders.
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Our safeguarding procedures are robust and we encourage parents to uphold our strong safeguarding procedures within our local community. We ask all parents to be responsible for safeguarding and to report any concerns to our Designated Safeguard Leaders.
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Senior Leaders and members of the Safeguarding Committee ensure that policies are up to date and procedures are upheld at all times.
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Relevant safeguarding checks are carried out for all employed members aof staff and for volunteers who help in any way at our school.
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Our designated safeguarding governor is Lisa Baldwin.
CHILD PROTECTION
All Child Protection concerns need to be acted on immediately. If you are concerned that a child may be at risk or is actually suffering abuse, you should tell one of the Designated Safeguarding Teachers at Silverstone CE Primary.
All Adults, including the designated safeguarding teachers, have a duty of care by law to refer all known or suspected cases of abuse to the relevant agency including social services or the police. Where a disclosure is made to a visiting staff member from a different agency, such as the School Nurse etc. It is the responsibility of that agency staff to formally report the referral to the School’s Designated Person in the first instance. Recognising Concerns, Signs & Indicators of Abuse Safeguarding is not just about protecting children from deliberate harm. For Silverstone CE Primary it includes such things as pupil safety, bullying, racist abuse and harassment, radicalisation, educational visits, intimate care, children missing education and internet safety.
The witnessing of abuse can also have a damaging effect on those who are associated with any person who may have suffered abuse, as well as the child subjected to the actual abuse. This can and often will have a significant impact on the health and emotional well-being of the child. Abuse can take place in any family, institution or community setting. It can be by telephone or on the internet also. Abuse can often be difficult to recognise as children may behave differently or seem unhappy for many reasons, as they move through the stages of childhood or if their family circumstances change. However, it is important to know what the indicators of abuse are and to be alert to the need to act upon any concerns. Physical Abuse This can involve shaking, hitting, throwing, poisoning, kicking, punching, burning, scalding, suffocating and drowning. It can also result when a parent or carer deliberately causes the ill health of a child in order to seek attention through fabricated or induced illness. This was previously known as Munchhausen’s Syndrome by Proxy.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional Abuse is where a child’s need for security, love, praise and recognition is not met. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of someone else such as in Domestic Abuse or Domestic Violence. A parent, carer or authority figure is considered emotionally abusive when they are consistently hostile, rejecting, threatening or undermining toward a child or other family member. It can also occur when children are prevented from having social contact with others or if inappropriate expectations are placed upon them. Symptoms that indicate emotional abuse include:
- Clingy or attention seeking that is excessive.
- Excessive self-criticism or very low self-esteem or
- Fearfulness or withdrawn behaviour
- Lack of appropriate boundaries with strangers; too eager to please.
- Self-harm or eating disorders
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a young person or child to take part in sexual activities. Whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. This may include physical contact or viewing pornographic material including through the use of the internet. Indicators of sexual abuse include: allegations or disclosures, injuries or disclosure, genital soreness, inappropriate sexualized behaviour including play, words or drawing, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Neglect
Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs that can significantly harm their health and development. Neglect can include supervision that is inadequate, (being left alone for long periods of time), lack of stimulation, social contact or education, lack of shelter, appropriate food, clothing for correct conditions and medical attention or treatment when necessary.
Safer Recruitment & Selection
It is a requirement for all agencies to ensure that all staff recruited to work with children and young people are properly selected and checked. At Silverstone CE Primary we will ensure that we have a member of the Senior Leadership Team on every recruitment panel who has received the appropriate recruitment and selection training. We will ensure that all of our staff are appropriately qualified and have the relevant employment history and checks to ensure they are safe to work with children in compliance with the Key Safeguarding Employment Standards.
