Safeguarding

In our school, the welfare of our children is paramount.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting their welfare and expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All staff understand their responsibility to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Annual safeguarding training is undertaken by all members of staff and governors at the start of each academic year. All staff and governors are required to read - and sign that they have read - the current guidance in 'Keeping Children Safe in Education'. 

We will work, and be seen to work, in an open and transparent way. We use safeguarding checks in all our recruitment processes. All our staff are given appropriate induction and practical guidance for safe working practice - about which behaviours constitute safe practice, which behaviours should be avoided and what to do if they are concerned about any child in school.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy which can be viewed in the policy section of our website.

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

We actively support the Government's Prevent Agenda to counter radicalism and extremism.

Our Child Protection/ Safeguarding Lead is Mr. S. Kearon (Headteacher).

Our Deputy Safeguarding Lead is Mrs. J. Morris

Mrs. S. McCluskey is our governor with responsibility for child protection and safeguarding.

Reporting concerns:

Concerns about the safety and welfare of children:

If you are concerned about the safety or welfare of a child, please act without delay. You can contact our Designated Safeguarding Leads or the Local Authority (details below).

Concerns about the conduct of adults:

If you have concerns about the conduct of any adult working with children in school (no matter how small), please contact the headteacher immediately or contact the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) - details below. If your concern relates to the conduct of the headteacher, please contact the Chair of Governors or the LADO.

Contact information:

Designated Safeguarding Lead (Mr Shaun Kearon)

01257 462466

head@ourladyallsaints.lancs.sch.uk

Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (Mrs Jess Morris)

01257 462466

mrsmorris@ourladyallsaints.lancs.sch.uk

Lead Governor for Safeguarding (Mrs Sue McCluskey)

01257 462466

smccluskey@ourladyallsaints.lancs.sch.uk

Lancashire School Safeguarding Officers (Victoria Wallace and Michelle Lewis)

01772 531196

school.safeguarding@lancashire.gov.uk

Local Authority Designated Officer (Tim Booth, Donna Green or Shane Penn)

01772 536694

LADO.admin@lancashire.gov.uk

Operation Encompass

Our school is part of Operation Encompass. This is a police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse.  

Operation Encompass is a unique Police and Education early intervention safeguarding partnership which ensures that a child’s school is informed, prior to the start of the next school day, that there has been a domestic abuse, vulnerable child or missing incident to which the child or young person has been exposed, and which might then have an impact on them in school the following day.

Each school is informed of all such incidents, not just those where an offence can be identified or those which are graded as high risk. The partnership recognises that all domestic abuse, vulnerable child and missing incidents can be harmful to children and young people.

This information will be shared throughout the year, including holidays and weekends. Information will only be shared with the school by the police where it is identified that a young person was present, witnessed or was involved.

Nominated members of staff, known as a Key Adults, have been trained to liaise with the police. At Our Lady and All Saints, our Key Adults are our Designated Safeguarding Leads: Shaun Kearon and Jess Morris. They will be able to use information that has been shared with them, in confidence, to ensure that the school makes provision for possible difficulties experienced by children or their families. The Key Adults will keep this information confidential and will only share it on a need-to-know basis, for instance, to teaching staff of the child. It will not be shared with other staff or school pupils.

This national initiative has been implemented across the whole of the Lancashire Police area. If you would like some more information about it, you can view it online at www.operationencompass.org. We are keen to offer the best support possible for our pupils and a recent review of Operation Encompass showed that it is beneficial and supportive for all those involved.

We have also posted information about local Domestic Abuse services and helplines. 

Early Help Offer

Our role in school is to provide support, advice and information to the families within our school community. We can help you with any worries you may have about your child’s education and wellbeing and we are also here as someone to talk to if you need support for yourself. Any advice and support that we offer will be confidential, although concerns relating to the safeguarding of children will always be dealt with in accordance with school’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. We may not have all the answers, but we will be able to point you in the direction of appropriate people who will be able to provide support.

Support for families includes: 

• Providing information and signposting to other services in your local area. 
• Liaising with external services e.g. Children Social Care.
• Attendance and support at school.
• Support during appointments and in meetings.
• Advice and support to promote good attendance.
• Referrals to outside agencies e.g. Learning Disability Team, Inclusion and Engagement Support Team, and Speech and Language Therapists.
• Guidance with access to training and parent workshops.
• Emotional support for parents
• Lead on Early Help Assessments and Team Around the Family meetings. 
• Give parents access to disability events and training events.

The Early Help lead in school is Mr. Shaun Kearon. Other staff form part of the Early Help Assessment if it is deemed appropriate. 

Early Help - working with you and your family

What is Early Help?

Every family encounters challenging times at some point. Early Help means working with you and your family so that small problems do not become big problems. Early Help is for everybody; for families with children and young people of any age, and it is your choice whether or not to access it.

Why would I want Early Help?

There are lots of reasons why people look for Early Help. It could be that you are worried about your child’s health, development or behaviour, or how they are doing at school. It may be that you are worried about money or housing and how that is affecting your family. Perhaps your child or family is affected by domestic abuse, drugs, alcohol, or crime. Perhaps your child is a carer a sibling with SEND, or perhaps you have had a bereavement in the family that has been challenging.

Where can I get Early Help?

If you feel that you and your family need support to help solve some problems, please do not hesitate to contact us.  

What will happen when I ask for early help?

We will invite you into school to discuss the problems you are experiencing. We  will ask what help and support you think you might need. This is called an Early Help Assessment.

An Early Help Assessment is nothing to be anxious about. It is just a conversation to work out how best to help you and determine appropriate support. You can talk about what is going well and what you are proud of as well as what you are finding challenging.

We will also discuss your child/children to ensure that their needs are understood and whether support is necessary. 

What happens next will be different for every family. If an Early Help Assessment is carried out and actions are identified, we will then call Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings. Again this is nothing to be worried about. It just ensures we have a regular meeting with all professionals involved to get the best outcome for the family.  You have control over what happens next.

Consent

All of this is consent based. If consent is withdrawn at any time, then the process ends. If you decide you would like to engage with Early Help, the lead professional will ask if they can share details of your conversation with relevant agencies. This will only occur if you give your permission. This is to ensure that the people who support you are able to understand your needs.