Patcham Infant School & Nursery Class

Safeguarding

Safeguarding Statement

Patcham Infant School and Nursery Class is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Safeguarding/child protection policy which can be found in the link below:

Safeguarding and child protection policy and procedures for Schools September 2024

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in the partnership with other agencies, when there are concerns about a child's welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child's welfare.

Our Designated Safeguarding lead (DSL) is Katy Meegan (Deputy Headteacher). Our Deputy DSL is Helen Hawkins (Headteacher). The Governor with responsibility for safeguarding in our school is Kate Dorrian.

Front Door for Families (FDFF)

When the school has a safeguarding concern about a child, a referral will need to be made to the FDFF. FDFF is made up of professionals with different areas of expertise who work together to assess, decided and coordinate how best to support children, young people and their families where there are concerns.

For more information on FDFF click HERE

Photographs and Videos

Whilst lots of parents and carers really enjoy seeing photos and videos of the children's school life we are very mindful of our duty of care towards all our pupils. We take the issue of safeguarding very seriously and this includes the use of photographic and video images.

Any photographs or videos taken by parents, carers and relatives at school productions, sports days and other events are for the enjoyment of individual families. They must not be used in any way that could potentially place a child at risk. This would include publishing images in any form of print or on the internet including social networking sites.

We understand that in exceptional circumstances a parent or carer may not wish their child to be photographed or videoed in this way. If this is the case, then please contact the headteacher to discuss how this can be best achieved.

Ocassionally, the local press will be invited to take photographs of school events and special achievements. We like to use photographs of school events and special achievements. We like to use photographs of our children on our website, in school documents, for parents information meetings, newsletters and on our screen displays around the school. This is covered in our photo consent form which we ask parents to sign on entry to the school. This can be viewed here:

Photo/Video Consent Form

Operation Encompass

Our school is part of Operation Encompass. This is a joint project with Sussex Police which started in September 2018. The project provides early reporting to schools of any domestic abuse incidents involving children (incidents in which a child was present, ordinarily resides at the incident location or with an involved party).

We know that children and young people can be significantly affected through witnessing or being exposed to domestic abuse and this operation will allow our school to better support our pupils/students and their families. A nominated member of school staff, known as a Key Adult, has been trained to liaise with the police. Our Key Adult is Katy Meegan and Deputy Head Teacher and the Deputy Key Adult is Helen Hawkins and Head Teacher. They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the right support is available should it be required by a child/young person and/or their family. We are keen to offer the best support available to our pupils/students and we believe this is going to be extremely beneficial for all those involved.

Additional information about Operation Encompass is available by clicking HERE

Information about a wide range of services for families is available by clicking HERE

If you have any concerns or further questions please contact our Key Adults and we would be happy to discuss this further.