Safeguarding

Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has an important role to play in safeguarding children.

School staff are particularly important as they are in a position to identify concerns early and provide help for children, to prevent concerns from escalating.  Schools and their staff form part of a wider safeguarding system for children. At St Michael’s we are committed to the well-being and safety of all our children and we will always adopt a sensitive and caring approach to support them and their families.

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.

Operation Encompass

Our school receives information from Wiltshire Police in the event of any of our pupils experiencing or witnessing domestic violence or abuse. This information is shared as part of Wiltshire Police’s ‘Operation Encompass’ programme, aiming to ensure schools can offer support to these pupils when needed. Wiltshire Police aim to share this information with us before the next school day, following a domestic incident, so that we can be ready to support the pupil on their arrival to school. Wiltshire Police also confirm with school whether or not the pupil is aware of the incident, so that decisions can be made around whether or not explicit or more discreet support can be offered. In the event of an incident taking place outside of Wiltshire, the relevant Police Force dealing with the situation will pass the information to Wiltshire Police, who will then inform school via Operation Encompass.

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility

What is Child Protection?

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.

Safeguarding at St Michael’s Primary School

At St Michael’s we work to our values to ensure that every child, regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, has a right to equal protection from harm. 

Mrs Caroline Lacey is St Michael’s Safeguarding link Academy Councillor and works with the school safeguarding team to support and sustain a safe and child-centred culture across all our school.

Contact: clacey@stmichaelsprimary.uk

Our Safeguarding Teams Contact Information and Policy

Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs Helen Rutt

Email: helen.rutt@stmichaelsprimary.uk

Telephone number: 01980 670268

Telephone number (out of school hours or term time): 01985 801060

Out of hours Children/Students can seek support via Childline on 0800 1111. The phone call is free and it is a confidential helpline. 

Click here to all of our safeguarding policies

If you have a concern about a child

If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. The Police will assess the situation and take the appropriate action to protect the child.

If you are a parent or another adult who has concerns about the safety of one of our children/students, please contact Mrs Helen Rutt, our Designated Safeguarding Lead.

If the child is not at immediate risk, contact your local child protection services. Their contact details can be found on the website for the local authority the child lives in. Wiltshire Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub can be contacted on: 0300 4560108  8.45am- 5pm, out of hours 0300 456 0100.

Many people worry, “What if I am wrong?” but if we take a child-centred approach to safeguarding, we should all be asking, “What if I am right?” By raising a concern, you could be protecting not just one child, but future children. Whenever you are worried, whether it’s a big or little worry, always tell someone who can help.

In England, the Department for Education is the government sector responsible for all child protection policy. On a local level, local safeguarding partners such as the police, the local authority and designated safeguarding groups are in charge of managing any complaints or issues and ensuring that the principles of the Children Act are upheld.

Click here to view all of our safeguarding policies

St Michael's Early Help Offer 

St Michael’s recognises its legal and moral duty to promote the wellbeing of children and keep them safe. School policies at St Michael’s Primary School are robust and applied but all members of our community. We do whatever we need to do to keep our children safe, happy and comfortable to give them the best opportunities to thrive.

A large proportion of safeguarding work we do at St Michael’s is through Early Help. Our children and families get the support and intervention they need, at the time they need it.

“Early Help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life, from the foundation years through to teenage years.” (Keeping Children Safe in Education, Sept 24).

Statutory guidance in the UK highlights the importance of providing early intervention, rather than waiting until a child or family’s situation escalates. Early help services can be delivered to parents, children and whole families but our focus is always to improve outcomes for the child.

Early help can be offered:

• So that problems don’t arise in the first place (prevention)
• So that problems are dealt with early (early intervention)
• So that we support children, young people and their families when they are more vulnerable and have more long lasting needs e.g SEND.

Providing timely support is vital because addressing a child of family’s needs early on can reduce risk factors and increase protective factors in a child’s life. At St Michael’s, we offer a range of Early Help support and during a child’s time at our school many of them, and their families, will access a form of Early Help.

Please click here to view St Michaels Early Help Offer

Useful Links and Documents

Support For Parents and Carers