Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined by the Department of Education as:
- protecting children from maltreatment;
- preventing impairment of children's health or development;
- ensuring children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care;
- taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone's responsibility. All those who come into contact with children and their families have a role to play in keeping children safe.
In order to promote and ensure the safeguarding of children, we adopts policies and procedures in order to ensure the safety of all children. This page is arranged in order to allow parents and visitors to be aware of such procedures.
The Safeguarding Team at Hamstead Primary School consists of:
Designated Safeguarding Lead - Mrs S Kaur (Deputy Headteacher)
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads - Mrs J Tudor (SENDCo) and Mr Fowler (Headteacher)
Nominated Governor for Safeguarding - Mrs L Howard (Chair of the Governing Board)
A Guide to Good Practice
Consistent with procedures followed by Sandwell Children’s Trust
Safeguarding and Child Protection for Settings
Child abuse can take place in families irrespective of class, culture, race, and religion or income group. Abusers may be strangers but they are more likely to be trusted people close to the child, including carers, other professionals, relatives or friends as well as parents.
It is because of this that all staff in school need to have a clear understanding of what to do if they think a child might be abused or neglected and what happens if a parent is suspected of abusing a child.
Before staff report any suspected abuse, parents will normally be contacted beforehand to share our intention to report the concerns. However, this contact with parents is not always appropriate. For example, if the child may be placed at an increased risk of significant harm then the call will not take place. Staff in school will always follow the direction and advice of Sandwell Children’s Trust when deciding to contact parents.
If we think that a child in our care might have been neglected or abused we have a duty to report it to The Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). Once reported, Agencies based at the MASH will securely collate information within the MASH from all available sources to make an informed decision concerning any required intervention.
Safeguarding Policies and Procedures
