Safeguarding
‘Nurturing the well-being of ourselves and others’ is one of the key elements in our school vision and making sure that everyone in our school community is safe is a crucial part of achieving this. At Malin Bridge Primary, we have a Safeguarding Team but also regard identifying and overcoming all barriers to learning as an important part of the partnership between school and families. Information about our approach to pastoral support, e-safety and our policies and procedures can be found below.
There are also posters displayed around school to help advise you of what to do if you have a safeguarding concern.
For more information about the safeguarding of children in Sheffield, please go to the Safeguarding Sheffield Children website. It was created by the Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board and has an information section for children, young people and families. You can also use this link to take you directly to their policies and procedures.
Safeguarding children
Staff in school, by law, have a duty to report any concerns that they may have that any child may be suffering significant harm, particularly as a consequence of possible abuse. It is a Department for Education requirement that each school in the country nominates a senior member of staff who will have special responsibility for Child Protection. In Sheffield, this member of staff is known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead and must have been in receipt of advanced safeguarding training. Please see our safeguarding poster for details about who this is and the other members of this team.
Chorus Education Trust has a policy on safeguarding which is shared across all the trust schools.
As a school, we have close contacts with the School Health Service, Children’s Services and the police, any or all of whom may become involved if abuse is suspected or alleged. The school has a responsibility to collate basic information such as who has parental responsibility for a child, and to pass this information to the relevant agencies if requested. In the event of an investigation into possible child abuse, the school has a duty to cooperate with the investigating agencies to the best of their ability in order to promote the welfare of the child. Whilst the school will always attempt to work in partnership with parents and carers and try to ensure that they are fully informed of, and participate in, any action concerning their child, if there is a conflict of interest; the welfare of the child must be the paramount consideration.
The trust takes very seriously the appointing of new staff and follows the ‘safer recruitment’ advice from the Local Authority. Our staff and volunteers are DBS checked to ensure all our pupils stay safe. Should you wish to discuss child protection and the safety of your child, or indeed any other topic involving your child, please feel free to contact any member of the safeguarding team or our safeguarding governor.
Pastoral care
The pastoral care of our pupils is everyone’s responsibility, starting with class teachers who are supported by teaching assistants and other support staff. At Malin Bridge Primary we also have a Health & Wellbeing Manager and Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) who supports children and their families. If you would like to speak to our DSL, he can be contacted via the school office or by email.
Looked-after children
Our designated teacher for looked-after and previously looked-after children is Chris Hague. Please contact him if you have any questions.
Online safety
Whilst the use of computers and phones to access online material can be incredibly useful and enhance a child’s education, it can also cause serious damage to mental health and relationships. The issues outlined in this document also affect adults. Monitoring how your child accesses online material can be frustrating; it takes knowledge, time and persistence. The document below provides guidance on online safety relating to how children access some of the most well-known social media platforms and browsers for searching content on the internet.
Although it is vital to stay up to date with the latest developments and to understand the contents of this document, the most effective way of ensuring your child’s safety is still to talk to them openly and honestly about their lives online, without judgement. This will allow you to help them on their journey to becoming a safe user of the internet. Just like all social interaction, children will learn from their mistakes. It is important that they are able to make those mistakes in a supportive environment, with trusted adults to help them if things ever go wrong.
If someone has acted inappropriately towards your child online you can report it to CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) by clicking this link.
For further support and guidance, please feel free to contact the Malin Bridge Online Safety Coordinator.
We also recommend the National Online Safety leaflets shown below. (Click to download a copy.)
The Malin Bridge Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy can be found on our policies page.
Our full booklet covering safeguarding at Malin Bridge can be found by clicking on the image below.
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