Safeguarding Information | Hollinswood Primary School and Nursery

Safeguarding Policy

Hollinswood Primary School & Nursery is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, governors and volunteers to share this commitment. In addition all staff, governors and regular volunteers are expected to attend statutory training to keep up to date of all relevant safeguarding polices and procedures.

We have a Safeguarding Policy and procedure in place. All staff (including support and supply staff, regular volunteers and Governors) must ensure that they are aware of these procedures. Parents, carers, and pupils are welcome to read the policy which can be found on the website under the Polices section and from the school offices. Alternatively you can just click the link here. Child Protection and Safeguarding in Schools Policy - September 2023-2024

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a young person’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the pupils’ welfare.

Our Safeguarding Team:

Online Safety

The requirement to ensure that children and young people are able to use the internet and related communications technologies appropriately and safely is addressed as part of the wider duty of care to which all who work in schools are bound. Our school online safety policy helps to ensure safe and appropriate use. The development and implementation of such a strategy involves all the stakeholders from the headteacher and governors to the senior leaders and classroom teachers, support staff, parents, members of the community and the pupils themselves.

However, the use of these new technologies can put young people at risk within and outside the school. Some of the dangers they may face include:

Access to illegal, harmful or inappropriate images or other content
Unauthorised access to/loss of/sharing of personal information
The risk of being subject to grooming by those with whom they make contact on the internet.
The sharing/distribution of personal images without an individual’s consent or knowledge
Inappropriate communication/contact with others, including strangers
Cyber-bullying
Access to unsuitable video/internet games
An inability to evaluate the quality, accuracy and relevance of information on the internet
Illegal downloading of music or video files
The potential for excessive use which may impact on the social and emotional development and learning of the young person.

Many of these risks reflect situations in the off-line world and our online safety policy is used in conjunction with other school policies (eg behaviour, anti-bullying and child protection policies).

As with all other risks, it is impossible to eliminate those risks completely. It is therefore essential, through good educational provision to build pupils’ resilience to the risks to which they may be exposed, so that they have the confidence and skills to face and deal with these risks.

The school has provided the necessary safeguards to help ensure that we have done everything that could reasonably be expected of us to manage and reduce these risks. Our online safety policy explains how we intend to do this, while also addressing wider educational issues in order to help young people (and their parents/carers) to be responsible users and stay safe while using the internet and other communications technologies for educational, personal and recreational use.

Hollinswood Primary School & Nursery takes seriously its duties to assist parents and help them with online safeguarding resources. For information and support in these areas the following websites below are available for all staff and parents to view. The sites are for all age groups, parents and carers. which will form the basis and assist with e safety education, support and policy in our school.

South West Grid for Learning (https://swgfl.org.uk/) - A not-for-profit charitable trust, providing a wide range of products, services and solutions designed specifically for education.
Think you Know (https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/) - Advice for children and parents on safer internet use
Parents Protect (https://www.parentsprotect.co.uk/) - An information and resources website which aims to raise awareness about child sexual abuse, answer questions and give adults the information, advice, support and facts, they need to help protect children.
Lucy Faithfull (https://www.lucyfaithfull.org.uk/) - UK-wide child protection charity dedicated solely to preventing child sexual abuse.
Stop it Now (https://www.stopitnow.org.uk/) - A child sexual abuse prevention campaign and Helpline. It is run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, the only UK-wide child protection charity dedicated solely to reducing the risk of children being sexually abused.
Parent Info (http://parentinfo.org/) - Expert information to help children and young people stay safe online.
“Facebook Checklist” produced by the UK Safer Internet Centre