“Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as: protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.“ KCSIE
Communication with Parents
Priory Park Community School will always discuss concerns with parents/carers and consent for any referrals should be sought unless to do so would:
- Place the child at risk of significant harm or further risk of significant harm;
- Place a vulnerable adult at risk of harm; and
- Compromise any enquiries that need to be undertaken by children’s social care or the police.
The school will endeavour to ensure that parents have an understanding of the responsibilities placed on the school and staff for safeguarding children.
In the best interests of safeguarding children there may be occasions when the school has to consult with other agencies without a parent or carer’s prior knowledge. Our first concern and responsibility is the child’s welfare and we have a duty to protect children first and always. Such consultation may result in a formal referral which could prompt visits from social care and/or the police. We fully understand that this can be a very distressing set of circumstances. Our school will follow the procedures required by the Dudley Safeguarding People Partnership.
Our school will employ the services of an interpreter if required.
Mr Hucknall is the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and Mrs Kirby, Ms Dixon and Mr Playford are the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSL) and can be contacted on 01384 813640.
Curriculum
Child safety issues and child protection will be addressed through the curriculum where appropriate, especially through our Learning4Life programme, Computing and E-Safety, Citizenship, Sex and Relations Education (SRE) and British values.
We use a variety of resources and approaches to teach the children how to keep themselves safe, build their resilience and manage risks.
The curriculum, and in particular the personal, social and health education development strand of the curriculum, includes an emphasis on relationships (relationships and sex education), building confidence and resilience in pupils and in developing preventative strategies to ensure their own protection and that of others. Opportunities are provided for pupils to develop the skills and strategies they need to stay safe from abuse, including age appropriate discussions about healthy relationships, their bodies and being able to say no to requests that they do not want to carry out. Clear advice and guidance is built into the curriculum to ensure that pupils understand that there is a range of contacts they can turn to for advice and support and that they know where and how to report abuse.
Child Sexual Exploitation
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is a form of sexual abuse which sees children/young people being manipulated or coerced into sexual activity for receiving ‘something’ such as; gifts, money, food, attention, somewhere to stay etc. Technology is very often used to groom victims. This may occur through social networking sites and mobile phones with internet access. CSE has gained a large amount of media attention over the last year as lots of services involved with children and young people have noticed a big rise in cases involving CSE.
Charities such as NSPCC and Barnardos have been campaigning to raise the profile of this form of child abuse.
County Lines
County lines is when a young person is sent to sell drugs normally in a rural town. They get their train ticket paid for and are provided with a place to stay where they remain untill the drugs are sold. They would then need to pass their earnings onto the drug dealer. In some situations they are mugged by the drug dealer and then owe the drug dealer the money that was stolen. This means it is very difficult to get out of the situation of having to go away to sell drugs.
Female Genital Mutilation
In April 2014 every school in England received new safeguarding guidelines and detailed information on identifying and responding to Female Genital Mutilation. FGM is a procedure carried out on young girls between the ages of infancy and 15 years of age.
Female Genital Mutilation is classified as a form of Child Abuse in the UK. It therefore makes the procedure of it a serious Child Protection issue. It is illegal for anyone to perform FGM in the UK or to arrange for a child to be transported to another country for the procedure. The maximum sentence for carrying out FGM or helping it to take place is 14 years in prison.
There is lots of information and support available online for parents/carers concerned about this subject or if you know someone who is at risk:
- Contact the Police if you think that a girl or young woman is in danger of FGM and is still in the UK.
- Contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (020 7008 1500) if she’s already been taken abroad.
The NSPCC has detailed advice on how to spot the signs, symptoms and effects of FGM and provides support for people who are concerned about a child or who have been affected themselves. The link to the website is below.
Report a concern about a child or young person
If you are concerned about a child or young person please call the telephone numbers below.
- During office hours call the children’s services service on 0300 555 0050 selecting option 4 (9:00 – 5:00 Mon-Fri).
- Out of office hours contact the Emergency Duty Team on 0300 555 8574.
- In an emergency call 999.
If you contact Dudley safeguarding you will speak to a professional who will listen to your concerns. They may take a few details and might need to contact you again but your concern will be dealt with quickly and appropriately.
You do not need to provide your name or give contact details if you do not wish to do so. Anonymous calls will not be ignored.
If you are not happy with the service you receive please contact children’s services corporate complaints by emailing complaints.socialcare@dudley.gov.uk or call 0300 5552345.
Alternatively you can contact the NSPCC on 0800 800 5000 or email them by visiting their website https://www.nspcc.org.uk/
Online Services
