Safeguarding
If you have a safeguarding concern, please contact us and ask to speak with a member of the safeguarding team.
Call: 01225 762244
Email: admin@paxcroft.equamead.org
The Safeguarding Team
Childline
Childline is a private and confidential service for children and any young person up to the age of nineteen. You can contact a Childline counsellor about anything, no problem is too big or too small.
CALL FREE ON 0800 1111
Safeguarding is the action taken to make sure children are safe from harm and flourish, physically, emotionally and mentally.
At Paxcroft Primary School the safety and well-being of our children is our absolute priority.
Safeguarding includes:
- protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
- preventing harm to children’s health or development
- ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
- taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.
Child protection focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. It includes procedures for responding to concerns about a child.
Schools have a key role to play in Safeguarding Children and Child Protection. We have regular contact with children so are in a strong position to identify signs of abuse and neglect.
We can safeguard children by:
- creating safe environments for children and young people through robust safeguarding practices
- maintaining an environment where children feel confident to approach any member of staff if they have a worry or problem
- ensuring that adults who work in the school, including volunteers, don’t pose a risk to children
- making sure staff are trained, know how to respond to concerns and keep-up-to-date with policy and practice
- teaching children and young people about keeping safe
Safeguarding may include issues such as:
- Bullying
- Child on child abuse
- Harassment and discrimination
- Racist abuse
- Use of physical intervention
- Providing First Aid
- Drug and substance misuse
- Internet Safety
- School site security
- Preventing radicalisation
- Children Missing from Education (CME)
- Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
- Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
If you have about concerns about the health and safety or well-being of a child at this school, or feel that something may be troubling them, you should share this information with an appropriate member of school staff immediately.
Do not worry that you may be reporting small matters – we would rather you tell us things that turn out to be small than have us miss a worrying situation.
If you think the matter is very serious and may be related to a child protection concern for example, physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect, you must talk to one of the people listed above immediately.
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
Encompass
ENCOMPASS is the reporting to schools, by the next school day, when a child or young person has been affected by a domestic incident. This is an initiative that has been developed to support children and young people and their families.
ENCOMPASS ensures that a member of the school staff, known as a Key Adult, is shared the information in confidence, while ensuring that the school is able to make provision for possible difficulties experienced by children, or their families, who have been involved in, affected or exposed to a domestic abuse incident.
The Key Adult at this school is Ashley Barrington-Wilding
This initiative allows us to offer the best support possible to all our pupils and we believe this is an extremely beneficial for all those involved.
Early Help Offer
We have a strong culture of safeguarding: children know they are valued and will be listened to.
We appreciate the importance of early help in our safeguarding duty, and we aim to recognise families and children who may benefit from early intervention and put this in place in a timely manner.
We ensure that our children get the support that they need, at the time that they need it. This keeps them safe and, ultimately, enables them to learn and develop.
As a school we follow safeguarding procedure set out by Wiltshire Safeguarding team alongside taking guidance from the DFE.
Prevent
As part of Paxcroft's commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government's Prevent Strategy, and prevent children from being radicalised.
The Prevent Strategy is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists, supporting terrorism, fundamentalism or extremist behaviours.
The Prevent Lead at this school is Ashley Barrington-Wilding
The NSPCC Helpline - 0808 800 500
The NSPCC helpline provides help and support to thousands of parents, professionals and families.
Year on year, the number of calls and online contacts is increasing and helping to protect more children.
The NSPCC helpline is a place adults can contact by phone or online to get advice or share their concerns about a child, anonymously if they wish. It's staffed by professional practitioners with backgrounds in jobs like teaching, healthcare and social work, who know how to spot the signs of abuse and what to do to help.
Parents and carers often have lots of questions, such as what is the right age to leave a child home alone, what to do about bullying or how to keep their children safe online.
Whatever the issue, we're here 24/7 to keep children safe. Professionals such as teachers and doctors also contact us for information and guidance. Our helpline staff will provide expert advice and support.
The NSPCC's Talk PANTS TV ad - 'There's something you need to tell me'
We're helping parents and carers talk to their children about staying safe from sexual abuse. Our suite of Talk PANTS materials featuring Pantosaurus, our friendly pant-wearing dinosaur, are designed to simplify the conversation and make it as easy as possible for parents to get this important chat underway. It's easy.
The Pantosaurus Song! | #TalkPANTS | NSPCC
Meet Pantosaurus! He's a friendly dinosaur who has an important song to sing for you, which conveys an important message. #TalkPANTS is a campaign created by the NSPCC that gives parents, carers and teachers the support they need to explain the Underwear Rule to young children aged 4-8 in a simple and age-appropriate way.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
FGM is a form of child abuse and violence against women and girls. It involves deliberately altering or injuring the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. FGM is illegal in the UK and has serious health consequences, both physical and emotional.
At Paxcroft, staff are trained to be alert to the signs that a child may be at risk of FGM or may have been subjected to FGM. In line with the law and statutory safeguarding guidance, any concerns will be treated as a safeguarding matter and reported immediately.
Our responsibilities:
- All staff have a duty to report concerns regarding FGM.
- Teachers are required by law to report to the police any known cases of FGM involving a girl under 18.
- We work closely with children, families, and external agencies to keep pupils safe.
If you are worried that a child may be at risk of FGM, please speak to our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), Ashley Barrington-Wilding, or one of our Deputy DSLs.
For further information and support, you can visit:
NSPCC – FGM Helpline