Safeguarding
St Martin's CE Primary School is committed to the highest standards in protecting and safeguarding children in our care.
Safeguarding is about keeping children and young people safe from abuse or neglect. All those who come into contact with children and families in their everyday work, have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. We are committed to this and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
This section will offer important information to parents and carers regarding issues surrounding Safeguarding and Child Protection. It also provides information on how we safeguard your children at St Martin’s.
Alongside St Martin’s CE Primary School’s own policies and procedures, additional information may be posted to give advice, facts and resources to support parents and carers to help protect their children.
Designated Safeguarding Leads
The Designated Safeguarding Lead for St Martin’s is: Mrs K Lees (Deputy Headteacher)
Deputy Designated Safeguarding leads are: Mrs R Rought (Headteacher), and Miss K Hunt (SENDCO).
Our Safeguarding Governors are: Mrs V Kavanagh (Chair) and Mrs J Cooksey.
Safer Recruitment
We have a number of staff members and governors trained in the safer recruitment process.
Mrs R Rought - Headteacher
Mrs K Lees - Deputy Head
Mrs M Judge - Business Manager
Mrs V Kavanagh - Chair of Governors
Ms J Roberts - Vice Chair of Governors
Reporting a Concern
If you have concerns that a child you know is at risk of serious harm through Abuse or Neglect, it is important that you report your worries to the correct agency.
The link below will direct you to Sandwell Council’s page, which tells you how to report a concern.
You can also report your concerns to the NSPCC who will offer you support and advice if you are feeling worried about a child’s safety.
If you think a child is in immediate danger then you should contact the police 999
or Sandwell Council Children’s Social Care Team: 0121 569 3100
Below is the link to the Sandwell Children's Safeguarding Partnership. Sandwell Children's Safeguarding Partnership (SCSP) is a statutory board and ensures that all organisations that work with children work together to keep children and young people safe from harm. SCSP undertakes this role through providing training, the development of policies and procedures and awareness training.
Important documents
Domestic Abuse:
St Martin’s Primary School is a part of Sandwell's Operation Encompass. This project is run jointly between school and West Midlands Police. Operation Encompass is a strategy used to inform schools when a child has been exposed to domestic abuse.
It aims to ensure schools are notified in a timely manner of any Domestic Abuse incident where a child was either present or registered at the address. This early notification should mean that, in most cases, schools are alerted in readiness for the children arriving at
school the first working day following an incident.
School is then able to monitor the child and provide support if necessary.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse or domestic violence, or know someone who is, school can provide a wide range of support. You can also contact Black County Women's Aid on 0121 553 0090
PACE (Parents against Sexual Exploitation) is a national charity that works with parents and carers whose children are sexually exploited. PACE offers one-to-one telephone support, national and local meet-ups with other affected parents and information on how parents can work in partnership with school, police and social care.
Online Safety
Children and young people spend lots of time on the internet. They may go online to research information for homework or to play games, chat with friends and make new ones. The internet holds a massive amount of useful information and can also be a really good way of learning about new things and keeping in contact with friends and family. It can also be a very dangerous place so it is important that children are protected and monitored when they are online.
How we keep children safe when they are online in school?
Online Safety Lessons
We start computing lessons with an e-safety reminder in all year groups. We remind children about lots of important safety rules about using the internet, the risks that they could face and what to do if something happens that they are worried about.
Filtering is how we stop any harmful content coming through to our devices in school whilst the children and staff are online.
We have an internet connection which is provided through LGFL (London Grid for Learning), which uses Webscreen filtering, which is made specifically to protect our pupils from content such as: pornography, race hatred, gaming, sites of an illegal nature, whilst using our school network.
Chatrooms and social networking sites are blocked sites except those that are part of an educational network or approved Learning Platform.
We only unblock other social networking sites for specific purposes eg Internet Literacy lessons
There is no pupil access to music downloads and shopping sites – except those approved for educational purposes.
When pupils are using the internet to search, they use Google Safe Search, which ensures that no inappropriate content comes through.
Monitoring is how we know what a child is doing on a device at all times and are alerted if anything concerning is typed.
We use software called ‘SENSO’ to monitor all our devices in school. Senior staff are alerted when a child has typed something concerning into a device and we can see a screenshot of what has happened. This may be something as simple as a rude word, or as serious as a child being worried about something at home, a sign that they are struggling emotionally, or that they are interested in something concerning.
Children are taught to log in to a device using their own login, so that staff be alerted to individuals who have used a device for something concerning, they are aware that they have to be responsible users of the devices in school and to log off again once they have finished their tasks.
If an alert comes through, we will speak to the child about it and inform parents if necessary, so that this can be followed up at home. If the concern is related to safeguarding, we may contact external services for support.
Staying Safe Online At Home
The internet is an amazing resource, filled with lots of fun, useful and entertaining things to explore. To use it in the best and safest way possible, it’s important to know how to navigate it safely, so we’ve created this page to provide you with the tools and skills to help you do this.
Setting Parental Controls
Many of the big internet providers offer filters to help you protect your children from age inappropriate content on devices in your home. The parental controls, which are free, can be activated at any time by following these helpful setup videos.
Follow the links to be directed to the videos.
BT Sky Virgin Media Talk Talk
National Online Safety App
Take a look at this AMAZING FREE app from @natonlinesafety.
Packed with the latest #OnlineSafety guides, it will empower you to keep children safe in the online world! Raising hands Download today by visiting or clicking on the image below >> https://hubs.ly/H0YpFLs0
National Online Safety have also produced some useful written guides for the steps needed to set parental controls on electronic devices.
Top Tips for E-Safety at Home
- Keep the computer in a family area not in the child’s bedroom.
- Use ‘child lock’ or filter settings on your Web browser to help prevent unsuitable site access by your child.
- Regularly supervise the sites your child is visiting.
- Encourage your child to use their Favourites list to access the sites you have approved to prevent accidental entry to unsuitable sites.
- Discourage your child from using social Networking sites e.g. MSN, Facebook, Bebo etc. to keep them safe from cyber bullying.
- Teach your child to switch the monitor off or close the laptop lid, then fetch or tell you if something unsuitable appears on the screen. This is what we do in school.
- Agree with older children what sites they are allowed to access.
- Keep all personal details private and be aware of stranger danger.
- Above all, encourage your child to talk to you about the web sites and electronic devices they are using at home and school.
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) has lots of information about how to keep your children safe online. The link to the website is below.
The NSPCC also offers lots of helpful tips and advice that parents can use to keep their children safe on the internet and social networks. The link below outlines the risks and dangers children can face when using the internet and advice on how to set parenting controls on computers, tablets and mobile phones.
Child Sexual Exploitation
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is a firm of sexual abuse which sees children / young people being manipulated or coerced into sexual activity for receiving something such as gifts, money, food, attention, somewhere to stay etc.
Technology is vey often used to groom victims. This may occur through social networking sites and mobile phones with internet access.
Charitie such as NSPCC and Barnardos have been campaigning to raise the profile of this form of abuse. Information regarding CSE can be found here:
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
In April 2014 every school in England received new safeguarding guidelines and detailed information on identifying to and responding to Female Genital Mutilation. FGM is a procedure carried out on young girls between the ages of infancy and 15 years of age. FGM is classified as a form of child abuse in the UK. It therefore makes the procedure of it a serious Child Protection issue.
It is illegal for anyone to perform FGM in the UK or to arrange for a child to be transported to another country for the procedure. The maximum sentence for carrying out FGM or helping it take place is 14 years in prison.
There is lots of information and support online for parents/carers concerned about this subject or if you know someone that is a risk.
Contact the Police if you think that a girl or young woman is in danger of FGM and is in the UK
Contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (020 7008 1500) if she may have already been taken abroad.
The NSPCC has detailed advice on how to spot the signs, symptoms and effects of FGM and provides support for people who are concerned about a child or who have been affected themselves.
PREVENT
As part of our ongoing safeguarding and child protection duties we fully support the Government’s PREVENT strategy.
At St Martin’s we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British Values. Our approach is very much part of our curriculum, culture and processes. We see it as an integral aspect in promoting the safeguarding and well-being of our children.
The Prevent Strategy
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.
Since July 2015 all schools have a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” This duty is known as the PREVENT Duty for schools.
This means that we have a responsibility to protect children from extremist, extreme or violent views.
Importantly, as an educational setting we can provide a safe place for pupils to discuss these issues so that they better understand how to protect themselves. We feel that it is important for children to have access to an environment in which they feel safe to discuss challenging views.
What does this look like in school?
Many of the things that we already do in school to help children become positive , happy members of society help contribute to the Prevent strategy. This includes exploring other cultures, developing thinking skills and a positive self - identity and promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy.
We also protect children from radicalisation, for example by using filters on the internet to ensure children are not able to access extremist material.
Designated PREVENT Leads
The Designated PREVENT Leads are Mrs R Rought (Headteacher) and Mrs K Lees (Deputy Headteacher).
Our PREVENT Governor is Mrs V Kavanagh (Chair).
PREVENT Training
The statutory guidance refers to the importance of PREVENT awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas.
Reporting concerns
Report illegal or harmful information, pictures or videos you've found on the internet. You can make your report anonymously. If you need to make a report you can use the link below: