Safeguarding

Here at SS Simon and Jude we are dedicated to ensuring that all children are kept safe at all times. If you have any concerns at all and wish to talk to someone please come into school and have a chat with our designated safeguarding leads Miss Katie Jones (Principal) and Mrs Paula Coleman (Learning Mentor). The school’s link governor for Safeguarding is Mrs Claire Sharpe. 

Please see our Policies page for our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. This has been written in line with the statutory guidance Keeping children safe in education – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What is safeguarding?

Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.

Safeguarding means:

• 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 is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.  All staff receive safeguarding training on an annual basis and regular updates are given on a regular basis.

TYPES OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Abuse: a form of maltreatment of a child. Anybody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Types of abuse may overlap.

Physical abuse: a form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.  More information on Fabricated or Induced Illness can be accessed here.

Emotional abuse: the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and adverse effects on the child’s emotional development.

Sexual abuse: involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening.

Neglect: neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development.  Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse.

INDICATORS OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Our staff will look out for any of the following indicators and take the appropriate action. The child may:

• Show unexplained or suspicious injuries such as bruising, cuts or burns, particularly if situated on a part of the body not normally prone to such injuries
• Have an injury for which the explanation seems inconsistent
• Describe what appears to be an abusive act in which they were involved – verbally or in written form such as an essay or drawing
• Show unexplained changes in behaviour – e.g., becoming very quiet, withdrawn, or displaying sudden outbursts of temper or hysteria. Academic work may suddenly deteriorate
• Demonstrate age-inappropriate sexual awareness
• Engage in sexually explicit behaviour in games/PE or other areas
• Be distrustful of adults
• Have difficulty in making friends or be prevented from socialising with other children
• Showing signs of depression, self-injury, suicidal tendencies
• Not being taken to medical appointments
• Lose weight for no apparent reason
• Become increasingly dirty or unkempt, with inadequate or damaged clothing

The above list is not exhaustive and the presence of one or more of the indicators will not be proof that abuse is actually taking place. It is not the responsibility of members of staff to decide that abuse is occurring, but it is their responsibility to act on any concerns. If you are worried about a child, you also have the responsibility to report your concerns. This can be done through the following link Worried about a child? – Bolton Safeguarding Children

Teaching staff are also aware of specific safeguarding circumstances as listed below.

Domestic Violence

SS Simon and Jude CE Primary School is an Operation Encompass school. Operation Encompass means that our school will be told, prior to the start of the next school day, when police have attended an incident of domestic abuse where there is a child or young person who attends our school who is related to any of those involved in the incident. Children can be negatively impacted on by this experience so it is crucial that they get the right support at the right time. Further information can be found in the parents’ poster below.