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

Safeguarding in School

Worstead Primary School is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children at all times. We expect all staff, governors and volunteers to share this commitment, and training, monitoring and reporting procedures are in place to ensure this commitment is realised. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility in school.

We aim to provide a safe environment that is conducive to learning. We also aim to identify children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, and take appropriate steps to keep them safe in school and at home when required.

As part of our duty to provide a safe and secure environment for our children and to promote the welfare of our pupils, all visitors to the school are required to report to the school office first, for security reasons.

We have safer recruitment procedures in place, as well as a range of policies and procedures to ensure that your child is safe while at school.

Safeguarding and the Curriculum

As part of our overall curriculum, we aim to educate children about safeguarding issues, particularly using the internet and social media safely, drugs, relationships and sex education. Safety issues and subjects are discussed and safe practices are also taught, for example through the safe use of play and PE equipment.

Safeguarding Support

We have four Designated Safeguarding Leads:

Mr Read (Executive Headteacher), Mr Boast (Executive Deputy Headteacher), Miss Coby and Mr Suckling. They have received training and updates from the Local Authority to allow them to use the information that has been shared, in confidence to make sure that the right support is available for children and their families, who have been involved in or witnessed a domestic violence incident. They are bound by strict procedures and confidentiality in how they deal with such matters. We also have a designated Safeguarding Governor, Janet Butler, who monitors our safeguarding and child protection processes alongside the governing body.

If you have any questions regarding the safety of a child during term time, please contact one of the designated safeguarding leads via the school office.

Click find our safeguarding policy below.

If you need assistance outside of school hours, at a weekend or during a school holiday you can contact the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) 24 hours a day.

You can do this via their website at: www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/report-abuse/ by telephone: 0808 800 5000, by text: 88858 or by email: help@nspcc.org.uk

If you think a child is in immediate danger do not delay: CALL 999 straight away.

Operation Encompass

Our school takes part in a jointly run operation between Norfolk County Council, Norfolk Police and our school, called Operation Encompass. Encompass has been set-up to help schools to provide support to children who have been present at incidents of domestic violence. We know that children can be significantly physically or emotionally harmed when they are involved in, present or witness to domestic violence.

The school will receive a confidential phone call from the Encompass team at CADS before 9:00am on the first school morning after any domestic incident where a child at their school has been involved in, present or witness to domestic violence.

If you have any concerns or questions then please contact one of the above DSLs and we will be happy to discuss this further.