Our Staff and Safeguarding

We believe that all staff should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment that promotes the social, physical and moral development of every child.  We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent, effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at our school.

No single professional can have a full picture of a child’s needs and circumstances and, if children and families are to receive the right help at the right time, everyone who comes into contact with them has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action.

We have a Single Central Record (SCR) to ensure all staff and volunteers have the required checks and certificates.  Staff are trained annually to ensure they are updated on all current legislation and are clear on what to do if they have a safeguarding concern.  Our staff also complete additional training, refreshers throughout the year.   

All of our governors and staff contribute to:

• Providing a safe environment for children to learn;

• Identifying children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm and taking appropriate action with the aim of making sure that they are kept safe both at home and in the education setting.

To achieve this, we:

• Aim to prevent unsuitable people from working with the children;

• Promote safe practice and challenge any poor or unsafe practice;

• Identify instances where there are grounds for concern about a child’s welfare and initiate or take appropriate action to keep them safe;

• Contribute to effective partnership working between all those involved in providing services for our children.

 All staff, Governors, volunteers and contractual staff are required to read the directed sections of the key document for safeguarding: 

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023

Our recruitment processes are robust and in line with the guidelines set in Keeping Children Safe in Education September 2023, (KCSiE Sept 23). 

All of our selection panels include at least one member that has successfully completed their Safer Recruitment Training.

How to Report a Concern

There are a number of ways by which you can report a concern about a child in our school. You can:

• Phone and ask to speak with a member of the Senior Leadership Team or a Designated Lead for Safeguarding on 01702 219435. 

• Email the school office on admin@greatwakering.essex.sch.uk

The following options are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week, if your concern needs a response outside of school working hours:

• If you feel someone is at immediate risk of significant harm please contact the Police on 999.

• If you have non-urgent information, related to the wider community please contact the Police on 101.

If your concern is specific to a child or young person please phone the Essex Children and Families Hub on 0345 603 7627 (Mon-Thurs 5.30pm-9am. Fri & Bank Holidays 4.30pm-9am)

Out of hours: 0345 6061212

Email: Emergency.DutyTeamOutOfHours@essex.gov.uk

• If you are a child or young person you can speak with Childline on 0800 1111.

• If you are an adult worried about a child you can speak to a trained helpline counsellor with the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.

• If you are a professional concerned about a child in the workplace you can speak to an NSPCC trained practitioner via their Whistleblowing Advice line on 0800 028 0285.

If you have shared a concern with someone listed above other than the school, please inform a member of the School Safeguarding Team as soon as possible, to ensure that the school is aware of any concerns regarding children that attend Great Wakering Primary Academy.

Visitor’s Safeguarding Procedures

A safeguarding Leaflet is available to all visitors from the main office

• All visitors must sign in at Reception.

• All visitors will be issued with an appropriate pass which must be displayed at all times.

• Visitors will be under the supervision of a designated member of staff whilst on site.

• Visitors are not permitted to use personal digital equipment to record images of pupils. Please ensure mobile phones etc. are switched off whilst on school property.

• If you are seeking an urgent appointment, please speak to the school office who will arrange for you to see a member of the Safeguarding Team.

• All visitors must sign out at Reception and return their visitor pass before leaving the site.

Safeguarding in the Curriculum

Our curriculum and values give pupils opportunities to experience life in all its diversity, to acquire resilience, knowledge, understanding and skills that significantly impact on personal development, behaviour, welfare and safety, equipping every child with the knowledge and skills required for personal safeguarding.

Our PSHE curriculum covers all areas of Safeguarding including Sex and Relationships Education, Drugs and Alcohol Education, anti-bullying, relationships, citizenship and health education.

In addition to our safeguarding procedures, we ensure your child’s safety by:

• Maintaining good relationships with parents- we have an open-door policy and a dedicated Family Liaison Officer so that parents may raise concerns in confidence at any time.

• Access to other agencies – we work alongside South Essex Extended Services and maintain good relations with other support agencies.

• Ensuring the safe recruitment of staff – including training of interview panel, CRB disclosures and all DBS checks, implementation of a Code of Conduct

• Regularly reviewing policies for child protection, behaviour, safeguarding and many other related policies.

• Health & Safety – we ensure that we are compliant with all the HSE regulations and take on advice and regular updates from ECC

• Site security – our school has security doors on the main entrance. All visitors report to the main office in order to gain access to the site.

• Pupil voice – we regularly canvass pupils on their views regarding their safety.

• E safety – this is an integral part of our computing curriculum.

• High expectations of behaviour – our behaviour policy outlines the school’s systems for sanctions and rewards. This is followed consistently by all staff. Bullying, homophobic and racist remarks are not tolerated.

Policies

The following school policies can be found under the ‘Academy Documents’ tab. They all link to the safeguarding of children.

• Anti-Bullying

• Attendance

• Behaviour & Relationships

• Child Protection

• Child on Child Harmful Sexual Behaviour

• Code of Conduct

• Drugs Education

• Educational Visits

• E-safety

• Equalities Information & Objectives

• Health, Safety & Wellbeing

• Intimate & Personal Care

• Physical Intervention

• Prevent

• RHSE

• Safer Recruitment

• SEN - Special Educational Needs

• Staff Code of Conduct

• School Security

• Sex & Relationships

• Young Carers

Should you require a copy of any of our policies, the school office will be happy to assist.