Child Protection, Safeguarding and E-Safety

St. Mary’s RC Primary and Nursery School is committed to safeguarding and safer recruitment, for all it’s pupils. 

We aim to protect the children at all times and to give all staff involved clear guidance as to their legal and professional roles and to enable good practice throughout the school which is understood by pupils, parents/carers and staff.

Every child who participates in the activities of St Mary’s should be able to participate in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from abuse. This is the responsibility of every adult involved in this organisation. We recognise however, that child abuse is a very emotive and difficult subject. It is important to understand the feelings involved but not to allow them to interfere with our judgement about any action to be taken.

St Mary’s recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people by protecting them from physical, sexual or emotional abuse, neglect and bullying. It is determined to meet its obligation to ensure that St Mary’s provide opportunities for children and young people to do so, with the highest possible standard of care.

Policies and Procedures

St. Mary’s RC Primary and Nursery School has policies which deal with safeguarding, child protection and safer recruitment, which are written in accordance with Tameside Safeguarding Children Board (TSCB) Child Protection Procedures and which comply with the DFE’s safeguarding children and safer recruitment statutory guidance.

Please find our Child Protection Policy on the school policies page

Help and advice for parents

As parents, you want to make sure that your children develop healthily and thrive. We’re here to help you with advice on how you can build strong relationships with your children and keep them safe. 

In this regard we will post news articles and resources that we think useful. These will appear in our main news feed as they are added, and can be found in our Resources Library, or more specifically on the Safeguarding news page. 

parenting handbook 2020

What to do if you are worried

  • If you are unsure that a child may be suffering but are worried, please contact Tameside Children’s Social Care 0161 342 4150.
  • If you are concerned that a child has suffered harm, neglect or abuse, please contact Tameside Children’s Social Care 0161 342 4150.
  • In an emergency outside normal office hours, please contact Tameside Emergency Service 0161 342 2222, 0161 342 3009 or the Policy on 0161 872 5050

The Difference Between Safeguarding and Child Protection

People sometimes wonder what the difference is between the terms safeguarding and child protection.

In practice, Safeguarding is the policies and practices that schools and Governing Bodies employ to keep children safe and promote their well-being. This means everything from security of the buildings, to the safe recruitment of staff and everything in between.  This diagram sets out what Safeguarding means in schools:

 

As you can see, Child Protection is one aspect of Safeguarding.  Child Protection is a term used to describe the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.

The main school policies are available here or by contacting the school directly.

E-Safety Advice

e-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at St. Mary’s R.C. Primary School . We have extensive security measures in place in school, which are monitored both internally and externally, to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material. Any e-Safety incidents are recorded and managed.  e-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online.

We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.

It’s essential to be realistic – banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.

Search engines

Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:

Research searching

nICE
CBBC
Kids Yahoo

Google offers a safer search option for children searching on the Internet. You can find out how to do this here.

Image searching

Pics4Learning
picsearch

Gaming

When children are accessing games via Xbox LIVE, privacy settings can be set up.  To read more, click here.

Websites for more information

Please click on the icon to go to the relevant site

CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and ‘e’ world. Often it is referred to as an online 999. By clicking on the button, young people and parents can get advice on a range of issues such as viruses, hacking and dealing with bullying online.

Vodafone have produced a Digital Parenting Magazine which informs parents about the various technologies children are accessing today. There is information on Facebook settings, Xbox 360 settings, Blackberry settings, jargon busting and many more ‘How to Guides’. They are well worth a read and some are attached below for you to download. 

The “Thinkuknow” website is brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre.

Kidsmart gives you lots of advice on how to stay safe online.

New e-Safety Portal for Parents and Schools – Internet Matters

Internet Matters is a new online portal designed for parents to access simple, easy and practical advice about online safety for their children, right through from pre-school to teens. It provides tips on protecting children from online grooming, cyberbullying, privacy and identity theft and inappropriate content. Internet Matters is a not-for profit organisation set up by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media. 

ParentINFO is a collaboration between ParentZone and CEOP.  There are useful guides and articles on helping your child stay safe online.

The NSPCC also has useful information and child friendly videos to in talking to children about how to safe online

Parental Engagement Plan 2022 2023 Primary Schools