Safeguarding Information

At Petersfield, safeguarding our pupils is our highest priority. All staff members are aware of the systems in school which support safeguarding and are responsible for safeguarding children's wellbeing.

Designated Persons

Our Designated Child Protection Trained staff are:

Designated Safeguarding Leads for Child Protection: Mrs Laura Penrose and Ms Lynsey Perkins

The Nominated Governor with responsibility for child protection is Mrs Linda Meredith.

Designated Officer for Looked After Children: Mrs Laura Penrose

Designated Officer for Post Looked After Children: Mrs Laura Penrose

Designated Prevent Lead: Mrs Laura Penrose

Pupil Premium Staff Lead: Mrs Laura Penrose

Designated Domestic Abuse Lead: Mrs Laura Penrose. You can find out more about Domestic Abuse at https://www.cambsdasv.org.uk/.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children's health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes. (Keeping Children Safe in Education).

We ensure that all staff are recruited in line with our Safer Recruitment procedures to ensure high quality and appropriately vetted teachers. We ensure that all adults and volunteers who come into contact with pupils are appropriately checked and supervised.

We ensure a safe, welcoming environment in which pupils learn and become resilient and questioning individuals who are mindful of how to keep themselves and others safe both in our community and online.

Please see the relevant pages in our Prospectus to find out more about how we safeguard pupils by ensuring the appropriate provision is in place for:

Safeguarding and Child Protection Statement

Under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 (as amended), we are required to have arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.

The school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board’s procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.

Parents/carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse and exploitation. Parents/carers should know that records of safeguarding concerns may be kept about their child. They should be informed that school staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including referrals to other agencies.

Local procedures state that “Consent should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, unless seeking consent would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made.” This includes allowing them to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, if it cannot be reasonably expected that a professional gains consent, or if to gain consent would place a child at risk.

Where there is a need to share special category personal data, the Data Protection Act 2018 contains ‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows professionals to share information.

In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.

Schools will contact Children’s Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children.

In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.

Schools will contact Children’s Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children.

Young Carers

Do you know someone who is a Young Carer? Are you a young carer? A young carer is someone under the age of 18 who looks after a family member or friend who has a physical or mental health condition, or misuses drugs or alcohol. They may also look after brothers, sisters or elderly relatives too. Our young carers' champion is Mrs Penrose and she can support you in school. You can also find out about the support @Centre33camb provide for young carers here: https://centre33.org.uk/help/caring/

Holding power

Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, any person who has care of a child “may….do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding promoting the child’s welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social Care and the Police investigate any concerns further.

Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass - Petersfield Church of England Aided Primary School takes part in a jointly run operation between Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council, Cambridgeshire Constabulary and our school, which is called Operation Encompass. Encompass has been set up to help schools and colleges to provide support to children who have been present at incidents of domestic abuse and violence. We know that children can be significantly physically or emotionally harmed when they are involved in, present at or are a witness to domestic abuse. The school will receive a confidential, secure email from Cambridgeshire’s Education Safeguarding Team, now working across both Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, before 9am or as soon as possible on the morning after any domestic incident which Cambridgeshire Police have attended where a child at their school has been involved in, present at or witness to domestic abuse. The school has Designated Safeguarding Leads who have received training from the Education Safeguarding Team to allow them to use the information that has been shared to ensure that the right support is available for children and their families who have been involved in or have witnessed such incidents. We are keen to offer the best support possible to our pupils and we believe this is going to be extremely beneficial for all those involved. If you have any concerns or questions, then please contact Mrs Penrose, via the school office email or telephone number and we will be happy to discuss this further. Further information about the project can be found on the Safeguarding Policies page.