Create a Culture of Safeguarding

Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of each child in our care is paramount.  We know our children well, and it is this which allows us to identify when a child is not their usual self and to respond accordingly. We listen to the children; we hear their voice. We remind them regularly about safe adults they can turn to if ever they need support.

All staff, volunteers and visitors are tasked with being vigilant to the children's needs and to the signs of abuse.

We work in partnership with parents and carers for the safety of all children. We work in partnership with Children's Services and other support agencies when necessary.

Children have lessons as part of their Education in Personal Relationships to teach them about how to keep themselves safe, how to resist pressure and how to seek help when needed.

Designated Safeguard Leads

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Theresa Kenefick, the Head teacher.  All significant concerns regarding safeguarding are brought to her attention.

There are four Deputy DSLs, namely Joanne Cullen, the Deputy Head teacher, Heidi Shanks, Rachel Wheeler and Sophie Mundy, who are senior teachers. We are all trained in all aspects of safeguarding and regularly update our understanding.

If any parent or carer ever has a concern about the safety or wellbeing of a child, they should contact Theresa Kenefick.

Monitoring Safeguarding Concerns

We have strong monitoring systems in place to ensure that all statutory requirements are met. Staff are required to regularly review their understanding of school policies and procedures to keep themselves alert to the responsibility we hold to keep children safe. 

The Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy is on the Welcome Information page  under Policies. 

Our school monitoring system for safeguarding is CPOMs.   All staff record any safeguarding concerns on CPOMs and each incident is reviewed by the Designated Leads. Incidents and cases are reviewed regularly to ensure that the best and most appropriate support is put in place to help a child in need.

CPOMs is now commonly used in local schools, which ensures the accurate and timely transfer of records when children move schools.

A termly audit is carried out by Surrey Safeguarding Children's Partnership. The school governors also audit Safeguarding too, to ensure that they meet their statutory duties and that the school's culture of safeguarding is robust.

'It could happen here' summarises our approach to safeguarding, and we do our best to be ready to counter any instances of abuse.

Parent Workshops 

On a regular basis, we run E-safety workshops for parents and carers, which participants tell us are very useful in terms of raising their awareness of how to keep children safe online. A copy of our E-safety Policy is on the Welcome Information under Policies.

Any parent or carer who wishes to volunteer in school with hearing reading, school trips etc is required to attend an induction meeting with the DSL/Head teacher. At this meeting, time is spent discussing safeguarding and the expectation that all adults in school form part of the team of people who are keeping children safe.