Safeguarding
A Whole School Commitment to Safeguarding
At St Stephen's Church of England Primary School, our first priority is the safety and welfare of our pupils. The school has a culture of safeguarding - it is everyone's responsibility and everyone's priority.
Our Designated Senior Leader for safeguarding is Miss Greenhalgh. She and her team of Deputy DSLs (Miss Livesey, Mrs Garstang, Mrs Haughton and Mr Coxhead) work to ensure that child protection and safeguarding messages are fully understood by all in school. We have a commitment to keeping children safe and deliver regular training for all staff and volunteers.
Safeguarding pupils includes ensuring provision of many things from providing a culture of safety through effective health and safety processes and systems, to managing behaviour and child protection concerns. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and pupils thrive in an environment where they feel safe.
Our behaviour, staffing and inclusion policies are reviewed each year and the Safeguarding policy is updated with regards to key advice from the "Keeping Children Safe in Education" guidance documents and other key legislation. A copy of these policies can be found below.
Reporting Concerns
Anyone can report a safeguarding concern. The NSPCC website has advice about the signs, symptoms and effects of child abuse and neglect.
Concerns about the safety and welfare of children:
If you are concerned about the safety or welfare of a child, please act without delay. You can call Lancashire Children's Social Care on 0300 123 6720 or, after 5pm, call 0300 123 6722. If you think a child is in immediate danger – don't delay, call the police on 999.
You can also contact our Designated Safeguarding Leads at St Stephen's (details below).
Concerns about the conduct of adults:
If you have concerns about the conduct of any adult working with children in school (no matter how small), please contact the headteacher immediately or contact the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) - details below. If your concern relates to the conduct of the headteacher, please contact the Chair of Governors or the LADO.
Contact information:
Designated Safeguarding Lead (Miss F Greenhalgh)
01772 556306
deputy@st-stephens.lancs.sch.uk
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads
01772 556306
bursar@st-stephens.lancs.sch.uk
Chair of Governors (Mr J Ward)
jason.ward@st-stephens.lancs.sch.uk
Lancashire School Safeguarding Officers
01772 531196
school.safeguarding@lancashire.gov.uk
Local Authority Designated Officer
01772 536694
Lancashire County Council Children's Social Care
0300 123 6720 (8am - 5pm)
0300 123 6722 (5pm - 8am)
Operation Encompass
Our school is part of Operation Encompass. This is a police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse.
Following the report of an incident of domestic abuse to Lancashire Police, the school’s Operation Encompass Key Adult (the Safeuarding Lead) will be informed before the start of the next school day. This knowledge, given to schools through Operation Encompass, allows the provision of immediate early intervention dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.
The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in or witness to a domestic abuse incident. Domestic abuse impacts children a number of ways. Children are at increased risk of physical injury during an incident, either by accident or because they attempt to intervene. Even when not directly injured, children can suffer significant when witnessing the physical and emotional suffering of a parent.
Further information on Operation Encompass can be found on the following website:
https://www.operationencompass.org/
The Operation Encompass Key Adults at St Stephen's are:
Ms F Greenhalgh (Deputy Headteacher and Lead DSL)
Mr J Coxhead (Headteacher and Deputy DSL)
