Safeguarding Children

At Hazlemere Church of England Combined School, the health, safety and well-being of every child is our paramount concern. We listen to our pupils and take seriously what they tell us. Our aim is that children will enjoy their time as a pupil in this school. We promote the fact that Safeguarding our pupils is everybody’s responsibility.

We want to work in partnership with you to help your child to achieve their full potential and make a positive contribution.

To promote a safe environment for pupils, our selection and recruitment policy includes all checks on staff and regular volunteers’ suitability including Criminal Records Bureau checks, as recommended by Buckinghamshire County Council in accordance with current legislation.

In accordance with our responsibilities under section 175 of the Education Act 2002, we have a Designated Person for Child Protection (Mrs Bhabra) who has received appropriate training for this role. It is her responsibility to ensure that all staff in contact with children receive child protection awareness training on a regular basis.

On rare occasions our concern about a child may mean that we have to consult other agencies. Unless it is not safe for a child, we would always aim to achieve this with a parent’s consent. The procedures, which we follow, have been laid down by the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board, and the school has adopted a Child Protection Policy in line with this for the safety of all. A copy of the school’s Child Protection Policy can be found on the website under Policies. If you want to know more about our procedures or the policy, please speak to the Mrs Bhabra or your child’s class teacher.

Mrs Bhabra, the Headteacher is the named individual in charge of Child Protection, Safeguarding, Safer Recruitment and Looked After Children.

Mrs Opiola is the deputy in charge of Child Protection, Safeguarding and Looked After Children.

Mrs Asare Archer is the deputy in charge of Child Protection, Safeguarding and Looked After Children.

Mrs McDonald, our SENDco  is also the deputy in charge of Child Protection, Safeguarding and Looked after Children and Safer Recruitment.

Mrs Krok Paszkowska, Safeguarding Governor

Our designated staff are always available to provide support and can be contacted through the school’s office.

For more information and support please follow the links to Bucks Safeguarding Children Board or Bucks Family Information Service:

http://www.bucks-lscb.org.uk/

https://www.bucksfamilyinfo.org/kb5/buckinghamshire/fsd/home.page

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021

Safeguarding in the Curriculum

We plan to constantly challenge children to think deeply about safeguarding matters and their own personal physical and mental wellbeing. We value pupils’ questions and give them space for their own thoughts, ideas and concerns. We give them opportunities across the curriculum to explore values, personal rights, responsibilities and equal opportunities that develop moral concepts that impact positively on safeguarding, promote British values and prevent radicalisation and extremism. 
There are many opportunities throughout our Learning in school to explore safeguarding issues.

• Practical safeguarding opportunities are planned into the curriculum. For example: 
• Road and rail safety (including out of school visits, bikeability, work with police officers in the community)
• Poolside and water safety through swimming lessons
• Fire awareness (including visits from the local fire service)
• Visits to school from medical staff
• Visitors from charities such as Barnados, NSPCC, the dogs trust to do focused projects
• Work from local voluntary sector services particularly around safe transition to Secondary school
• Online safety quizzes and training
• The use of ICT mentors and house Captains as  leaders in school
• What to do if you are separated from your group (in relation to school visits)
• Safe use of technology including password security and privacy settings

• We have developed an open and safe learning environment in which pupils express their views, seek help and help others, they make use of our Worry and Wish Box to share concerns with staff. The promotion of equality of opportunity and diversity, for pupils and staff, helps prevent any form of direct or indirect discriminatory behaviour. Our children learn to not tolerate any prejudiced behaviour. Our behaviour policy promotes making good choices and exhibiting good learning behaviours.

• Class times are time for sharing ideas, addressing concerns and promoting important values. Assembly time and circle times are used to promote personal safeguarding matters and explore themes. For example, we talk about anti- bullying including cyber bullying and British values including how these values are promoted in our multi – faith society. Staff and children are quick to challenge stereotypes and the use of derogatory language in lessons and around school. Our school reflects the diversity of pupils’ experiences and provides pupils with a comprehensive understanding of people and communities beyond their immediate experience including the role of women in society and different family groups including same sex couples. Throughout the curriculum there are planned opportunities to promote all forms of equality and foster greater understanding of and respect for people off all faiths (and those with no faith), races, genders, ages, disability and sexual orientations, through their words, actions and in their influence. Opportunities are created in a variety of subjects to address areas of safeguarding, for example, themes are highlighted through novels in English lessons.

Time is taken at the beginning of every new school year to reaffirm school values, expectations and rules for living and learning at Hazlemere CofE School. This good start to the year, with everyone clear about their roles and responsibilities, sets the tone for the rest of the year and leads to excellent safeguarding outcomes.

Safer Recruitment

Hazlemere Church of England Combined School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and requires all staff and volunteers to share and demonstrate this commitment in every aspect of their work. We have created a culture of safe recruitment and adopted recruitment procedures that help deter, reject or identify people who might pose a risk of harm to children.

Alongside the Headteacher, the Governing Body will act reasonably in making decisions about the suitability of the prospective employee based on checks and evidence including: criminal background (via the Disclosure and Barring Service), barred list, prohibition status (in the case of teachers), Disqualification Declaration (where required) and other necessary checks together with references and interview information.

Early Help

Early Help in Buckinghamshire is now provided by the Family Support Service (launched 2nd September 2019).

The Family Support Service provides a wide range of support to children, young people and families in Buckinghamshire. This includes open sessions for early years children and parents/carers at Family Centres and you can drop in anytime during the week at our three Family Centre Plus sites. All activities at Family Centres are free for children, young people and families.

The Service has been carefully designed to provide better, more targeted support for vulnerable families who face a range of issues or more complex challenges.

The service provides one-to-one support to families and individuals in a setting that is most comfortable to them, like their home, a local community setting or somewhere else.

The service offers open-access sessions and health services for early years children and parents from a network of 16 Family Centres across the county, which also offer a range of support for parents with children aged up to 19 years (or up to 25 years for young people with special educational needs and disabilities).

The Service is there for the whole family, not just children but for parents and young people too. Families are able to refer themselves to the service or may be supported by a school, health or other professional who will do that on their behalf

What is early help? Early help is a way of getting extra support when your family needs it, but getting it as soon as difficulties start, rather than waiting until things get worse. It’s for children and young people of any age. Help can come from all kinds of services and organisations who work together to support your family. You might be using some of these services already, but we want to make sure they are providing the right support for you and your family’s needs.

Why would I seek early help? It could be that you’re worried about your child’s health, development or behaviour or perhaps because you are caring for a disabled child. Maybe your child is affected by domestic abuse, drugs or alcohol? Perhaps your child is a carer for other people?

Who do I ask? Have a chat with a teacher, health professional. They can help you look at what types of support are available and who might be able to help. Your local children, young people and families centre also has lots of services and support for families with children, some especially for children with additional needs.

Does it mean Social Services will get involved? No. If in the future your circumstances change and it becomes a possibility, we will keep you involved and work with you so that you understand what is happening and why.

What happens when I stop receiving Early Help Services? We want you to become confident and able to find your own solutions and take responsibility for your family. You can continue to use all services that are open to families and children, and if your needs change then please ask us for further help if you need it.