Safeguarding

Safeguarding children is the responsibility of everyone.

As such all the staff in our school have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This duty is placed upon school by Section 175 of the Education Act 2002.

In our school our Designated Safeguarding Lead is our Deputy Headteacher Mrs Owens. Mrs Owens leads a large safeguarding team that meet weekly to review any concerns that we have. The team is made up of Mrs Owens DSL, Mr Milner DDSL(Headteacher), Miss Howarth (SENCO), Mrs Giles (SEMH Learning Mentor) and Miss Rimmer (SEN Learning Mentor).

If we are concerned that a child may be at risk from significant harm (abuse) or is being abused, our school is required to refer our concerns onto social care and the police if necessary. In some circumstances this may happen without the consent or knowledge of parents/carers.

Our school also has a responsibility to act upon other concerns that we may have about a child’s welfare in circumstances where there are no suspicions of child abuse. Examples of this may be when a child is demonstrating inappropriate behaviour, is involved in bullying, is failing to come to school or where difficulties at home are having an effect upon the child’s well-being. However this list is by no means exhaustive.

In Stockport there is an expectation that school will always discuss these issues with parents/carers before deciding upon a course of action to support the child.

Our school has a safeguarding policy which explains all the above in much more detail. If you would like to see the policy please contact school to find the best way to access it easily.