Safeguarding

St Alphege CE Infant School and Sunbeams Nursery Safeguarding Statement

Safeguarding and Online-Safety

St Alphege CE Infant School and Sunbeams Nursery is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school. All concerns are passed through the members of staff who are trained as Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) in school in compliance with the "sharing of information" guidance.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Jacqui Spinks, Head of School. She is supported by Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads who have also been trained accordingly. The Deputy DSLs are Becky Strike (Inclusion Leader) and Liz Thomas-Friend (Executive Headteacher)

If you have any serious concerns about your child or any other pupil at St Alphege CE Infant School or Sunbeams Nursery, please do not hesitate to contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead, who knows who to contact for the best advice and help and is experienced in using the appropriate degree of confidentiality.

For the best interests of all our children we use the following safeguarding measures:

Cause for Concern

Teachers are asked to report any causes for concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead immediately following school policy and protocol. All staff receive safeguarding training on induction to St Alphege CE Infant School and Sunbeams Nursery. Refresher training is carried out annually for all staff, governors and volunteers. Any concerns will be shared with parents as early as possible. Concerns may range from children being visibly upset, persistent lateness to children ‘disclosing’ concerns.

Attendance

All lateness and absences are monitored by the Attendance Officer, Vicky Smith. Reasons will be sought for all absence or lateness. Attendance is monitored through robust school systems and referrals to the Safeguarding Team can be made if warranted. Parents will always be informed of concerns around attendance at the earliest point. If attendance concerns continue the school will refer to the Schools Liaison Officer. There will be no authorised requested absences, such as term time holiday requests, except in exceptional circumstances.

Online-Safety

We support our pupils’ use of the internet and seek to underpin their knowledge of safe use and protection. We provide our pupils with an awareness of how to stay safe online both in the school environment and beyond. We believe that children should adhere to the certification given to games, DVDs etc. Information is shared with all parents annually around how to keep their children safe online.

Online Safety risks are posed more by behaviours and values than the technology itself. At St Alphege CE Infant School and Sunbeams Nursery, we believe that there can be no substitute for a strongly established culture of safeguarding including online safety, and this is embedded into the curriculum within an integrated whole school approach. 

Facebook and Social Media

Children of KS1 age are not entitled to use Facebook or other forms of Social Media. Children will not have any access to social media sites during school hours. We also ask parent/carers not to name the school, staff or other children on SMS.

The school uses a Facebook page as an ongoing good news feed for parents and the local community. Local Authority guidelines are strictly adhered to and appropriate permissions are sought around the use of images of the children. This means of communication is closely monitored by the Designated Safeguarding Lead who also has responsibility for Online-Safety.