At Our Lady and St Kenelm RC School we safeguard all of our children and it is everyone's responsibility.

Our Lady & St Kenelm Catholic Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All staff share in this commitment.

Safeguarding and Child Protection (Keeping Children Safe in Education)

Your child’s welfare is of paramount importance to us. It is our statutory duty of care to safeguard your child. We will also seek external support if we have any concerns about your child, and in some instances, this may mean that we consult with other agencies before we contact you.
 
The Dudley Safeguarding Children Board has laid down the procedures we follow. If you want to know more about this procedure, please speak to the Headteacher, an SLT member, or a DSL.
 
At OLSK, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and we expect all staff, governors, parents, volunteers and visitors to share in this commitment.

If you want to know more about this procedure or you have a concern about a child, please speak to the Headteacher, Mrs C Finnegan (Designated Safeguarding Lead), Mrs Turner, the Deputy Headteacher, Mrs Fairfax, and Mr Hyde, who are all Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads (DDSLs).

Children's Advice & Support Service
 
Children's social care services in Dudley, provides a single point of contact for professionals and public members who want to access support or raise concerns about a child.

We want to keep all children and young people in Birmingham safe from harm. If you are concerned about a child, please contact Dudley Front Door, who will listen, assess your concerns, and take action if the child is at risk.

To report a concern about a child or to request support for a child or family,  go to: 

Multi Agency Safeguarding Front Door ....Dudley Front Door

Dudley Children’s Front Door is a multi-agency team of staff providing a single point of contact for professionals and members of the public requesting support or raising concerns about a child. Our Front Door Advisors and Social Workers use restorative principals to understand concerns and explore what help has already been provided to children and families. Understanding the experiences of parents and carers helps us to understand which services will help to meet their needs and by working closely with our partners across Dudley, we strive to ensure that children and families receive the right kind of help at the right time.

The Children’s Front Door and Partnership's service achieves this by providing information and advice or signposting families to our Early Help services.  This service also includes our MASH/EDT, Family Group Conferencing  and our Targeted Early Help Teams as well as our SEND Designated Social Care Officer (DCSO)

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For children in need of support, or in need of protection or in need of becoming looked after we work directly alongside families utilising the Family Safeguarding Model

Councillor Ruth Buttery, cabinet member for children and young people said:

The family safeguarding model is a way of keeping families together where it is safe to do so.

When agencies work together to provide support, parents are motivated to identify the changes needed within their own families and take charge of their futures for the benefit of their children.

We are the 19th council to adopt this model in the country and we recognise the importance of agencies working together and putting children at the centre of everything we do. This model should help us achieve better outcomes for our children.

Family Safeguarding Model encompasses a broad range of services including:

Early Help delivered through 5 Family Hubs and Start for Life,  Youth Justice Service,  Youth Service and Integrated Early Years, 

The primary function of Family Safeguarding Model is the delivery of Early Help in Dudley. This aims to support children, young people and families at an early stage so that the escalation of any possible or potential problems can be avoided.  We have made excellent progress over the last three years in delivering a robust Early Help Offer which is built around a solid foundation of five family centres that act as local, community-based hubs that serve to coordinate the effective and timely delivery of Early Help support in Dudley. The Early Help Strategy 2021-2025 will build on these successes with an even stronger emphasis on building family resilience and enabling a more “self-serve” approach which families had told us that they want.

Although there are many specialisms that make up Family Safeguarding Model, the team share a common goal of being able to offer the right support at the right time for all families that require help in Dudley. Our teamwork is second to none and partnership working is our forte. As a team we are constantly evolving and we are about to embark on a new phase of our journey. We have recently been working closely with the Early Intervention Foundation through the Early Years Transformation Academy to develop our approach to children’s first 1001 days and have a newly formed Integrated Early Years team to support in driving this work forward. 

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Leads for other Safeguarding matters:

Single Point of Contact (SPOC): Mrs C Finnegan

Educational Visits Co-Ordinator: Mrs C Finnegan

Looked- After Children Lead: Mrs C Hale (SENCO)

Mental Health Lead: Mrs C Hale (SENCO)

Operation Encompass key adult: Mrs C Finnegan

OLSK's Early Help Offer

What is Early Help?
Early Help means providing help for children, young people, and families as soon as problems start to emerge or when it is likely that issues will negatively impact children’s outcomes.
Early Help…
•    is for children of all ages and not just the very young,
•    can be very effective in supporting a child, young person, and their family to step down from statutory services and prevent the escalation of issues.
•    is important because there is clear evidence that it results in better outcomes for children.
Dudley Safeguarding Children’s Trust recognise that Early Help is a term that describes much of the everyday work of schools.

 
Early Help in Dudley
All partner organisations working with children and families in Dudley aim to improve children’s lives by partnering to raise aspirations, build achievement, and protect the most vulnerable.
This is based on the belief that:
•    Children, young people and families develop resilience if there are protective factors in place, such as a positive relationship with an adult, good literacy and communication skills, good school attendance, and parents in or actively seeking/ready for work
•    Children’s needs are best met when help is offered in a universal setting within a socially mixed group and early on when problems start to emerge
•    Children and young people’s needs are best met when addressed in the context of the whole family, meaning that parents/carers/siblings’ needs are addressed with consent as part of a holistic and integrated Early Help response
Early Help services should support and strengthen families so that they can thrive.

The Role of Schools
 
Day to Day Support
Most families can happily get on with their lives without outside help. If they need help, universal services, such as schools, usually provide it.
 
Focused Pastoral Support
However, all families can have times when difficulties arise, and they either may not recognise them or know how to start putting things right. Schools support families in addressing these difficulties through more focused pastoral support, including bringing in support via an external agency.
 
Early Help Assessment
For those children and families whose needs and circumstances make them more vulnerable or where schools need the support of other agencies to meet the needs of the family, a coordinated multi-agency approach is usually best. In Dudley, this is achieved by undertaking an Early Help Assessment and assigning a Lead Practitioner to work closely with the family to ensure they receive the required support. Schools should be a key partner in any multi-agency work to support families
 
The following four commitments are the core elements of Our Lady & St Kenelem Catholic Primary School’s Early Help Offer.
By implementing these commitments, OLSK  aims to ensure the following:
•    Pupils, parent/carers and staff are clear on the Early Help support available through the school
•    Clarity for partners, supporting improved multi-agency working
•    Delivery approaches of Early Help support for more vulnerable families are up to date with local offers
•    Commitment to the personal development and well-being strand of the Ofsted Framework

The following lists show what Early Help Support is available at Our Lady & St Kenelm Catholic Primary School:

Safeguarding Curriculum

Great importance is placed on identifying opportunities in the taught curriculum for children to learn about safeguarding. Our broad curriculum allows pupils to experience life in all its diversity, acquire knowledge, understanding, and skills that significantly impact personal development, behaviour, and welfare, and equip every child with the knowledge and skills required for personal safeguarding.

Great importance is placed on identifying opportunities in the taught curriculum for children to learn about safeguarding. Our broad curriculum gives pupils opportunities to experience life in all its diversity, to acquire knowledge, understanding, and skills that significantly impact personal development, behaviour, and welfare, and to equip every child with the knowledge and skills required for personal safeguarding.

Safeguarding, child safety issues, and child protection will be addressed throughout the curriculum, especially through RSHE, Computing and Online Safety, Citizenship, Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), and British values.

We use various resources and approaches to teach children how to stay safe, build resilience, and manage risks.

The curriculum, particularly the RSHE curriculum, emphasises relationships, building confidence and resilience in pupils and developing preventative strategies to ensure their protection and that of others. Opportunities are provided for pupils to develop the skills and strategies to stay safe from abuse, including age-appropriate discussions about healthy relationships. Clear advice and guidance are built into the curriculum to ensure that pupils understand that there is a range of contacts they can turn to for advice and support and that they know where and how to report abuse.

Safeguarding for Parents

The following is a list of useful websites offering free advice and support on a range of topics tailored to parents and carers:

 Child Accident Prevention Trust: Free child safety advice for parents and carers - https://capt.org.uk/pages/category/safety-advice-injury-types/

Family Lives: Offers core family support services, working in many different areas and providing tailored support around issues such as bullying, special educational needs, and support for specific communities - https://www.familylives.org.uk/

Get Safe Online: Advice for parents and carers on how to take a balanced approach to your children’s online safety - https://www.getsafeonline.org/personal/article-category/safeguarding-children/

Kooth: A digital mental health and wellbeing company working to provide a welcoming space for digital mental health care, available to all -https://www.kooth.com/ 

NSPCC: Support and tips to help you keep your children safe. From advice on children’s mental health to staying safe online, support for parents and what to do if you’re worried about a child - https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/

Thinkuknow: Thinkuknow aims to help protect children and young people from the threat of online child sexual abuse and exploitation - https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/

YoungMinds: Lots of practical advice and tips on supporting your child – from how to encourage your child to open up about their feelings to dealing with mental health services - https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/

Prevent Duty

What is the Prevent Strategy?

The Prevent strategy is a government strategy designed to prevent people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist or extremist causes. We have prepared a leaflet to explain our approach to this strategy, which can be found on our website or at our school reception.

Many things we already do in school to help children become positive, happy members of society also contribute to the Prevent strategy.

These include:

• Exploring other cultures and religions and promoting diversity

• Promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, as well as British values such as democracy
• Developing critical thinking skills and a strong, positive self-identity
• Challenging prejudices and racist comments
• We will also protect children from the risk of radicalisation, for example, by using filters on the Internet to make sure they can’t access extremist and terrorist material or by vetting visitors who come into school to work with pupils.

At Our Lady & St Kenelm Catholic Primary  School, we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values. 

The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent awareness training, which equips staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and challenge extremist ideas. At our school, all teaching and support staff have completed training.

Our Lady & St Kenelm Catholic Primary School's Commitment to Safeguarding Children on all Recruitment Material

OLSK must create a culture of safe recruitment and adopt recruitment procedures that help deter, reject or identify people who might harm children. As part of doing that, all recruitment material should indicate a commitment to the safeguarding and welfare of all children. These recruitment materials include:

• Job Advert
• Application form
• Job Description
• Person Specification
• Invitation to attend the interview
• Questions to ask in the interview

Job Advert

On the job advertisement, state commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. For example:

‘The School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate is subject to an enhanced DBS Checks and satisfactory references.

Job Description

As part of the job description, state that ‘everyone who works at … our Lady & St Kenelm Catholic Primary School is committed to promoting the safeguarding and welfare of children’. In practice, this means:

• Being aware of OLSK's policies and procedures regarding Child Protection.
• Becoming aware of the signs and symptoms of abuse by attending relevant courses.
• Reporting all cause for concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead
• Ensuring the safety of all pupils in the school learning environment, indoors and outdoors.
• Carrying out risk assessments in consultation with the teaching staff before activities.

Person Specification

The essential attributes highlighted on the Person Specification linked to the job should request:

• Commitment to developing awareness of Safeguarding procedures, such as partaking in child protection and E-Safety training
• Positive References
• Current DBS Checks
• Awareness of Safeguarding procedures

Application form  

• Ask for details of two senior referees who are unrelated to the applicant.
• Ask for ‘any convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings that are not “protected” as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013) by SI 2013 1198.

Invitation to Interview

Include request to bring proofs of identity, evidence of qualifications and right to work in the UK.

During the Interview

• Take copies of documents
• Ask specific questions and keep a record of questions and answers given. Look out for

– Give me an example of when you have had a safeguarding concern about a child. What happened?

– Tell us about a time when you took action to help protect a child. 

– Describe the procedures that need to be in place to protect children. 

– How in your work or life so far have you tried to ensure that children are protected?

– Give me an example of when you had safeguarding concerns over a child.

– Give me an example of how you dealt with bullying behaviour.

– Give me an example of how you have managed poor pupil behaviour.

– What do you think makes SS John and Monica's safe and supportive?

We look out for answers that show no or little understanding or appreciation of children’s needs or expectations, inappropriate language about children, unclear boundaries with children, and answers that imply adults and children are equal or that they are more concerned for personal gains than there is for the children’s interests.

DSPP have published its Dudley’s Local Assessment Protocol which can be accessed here: https://dudleysafeguarding.org.uk/children/professionals-working-with-children/safeguarding-children-procedures/

It is important that all those with worries about a child or young person in Dudley have confidence that they will be listened to and their concerns responded to. This document sets out the arrangements for how we do this in Dudley. It is intended to be as clear and simple as possible. It is about how decisions are made.

Dudley’s Local Authority and its partners work together to decide what is the right help and support to meet the needs of children and young people; the right time to provide it and the right length with the right intensity of it. Only by having the strongest possible arrangements can we deliver on our passion – to make Dudley an even greater place for children and young people to thrive; where all, including those who are vulnerable, disadvantaged, have special educational needs or disability have the best possible life.

We know that every child and young person has a unique life story and experience. Our arrangements always put the child at the very centre of all that we do. Nevertheless, this document sets out some of the circumstances where the Local Authority and its partners take particular care in coming to a decision about what help and support is required. These circumstances include where a child or young person: is a Young Carer; has a Special Educational Need or Disability; is an Unborn; is in hospital; has specific communication needs; is an asylum seeker; is at risk of harm outside of the Home; is at risk of female genital mutilation; is in the youth justice system or is a child or young person returning home from care or a Care Leaver.

Finally, this document sets out the arrangements by which any one with concerns that a decision of the Local Authority and its partners is wrong and will not meet the needs of a child can raise a disagreement in the confidence that their voice will be heard and their worries responded to.

We believe helping everyone to know and understand our arrangements is the right thing to do and will help children and young people in Dudley get the right help at the right time to thrive. This document maps out as openly and transparently as possible what should happen and when.

Dudley Safeguarding People Partnership

The role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

We are committed to safeguarding and meeting the needs of all of our children.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is: 

Mrs Christine Finnegan 

(Headteacher)

Our Deputy Safeguarding Leads are:

Mrs Anna Turner 

(Deputy Headteacher)

Mr Joshua Hyde

(KS2 Phase Leader)

Mrs Samantha Fairfax

(KS1 Phase Leader)

Governor with Responsibility for Safeguarding

Mr Pete Johnson

(Chair of Governors & Safeguarding Governor)

Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families has a role to play in safeguarding children. School and college staff are particularly important as they are in a position to identify concerns early and provide help for children, to prevent concerns from escalating.

Schools and colleges and their staff form part of the wider safeguarding system for children. This system is described in statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018.

Schools and colleges should work with social care, the police, health services and other services to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. 

Each school and college should have a designated safeguarding lead who will provide support to staff members to carry out their safeguarding duties and who will liaise closely with other services such as children’s social care.

Online Safety Home learning

EYFS: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/early-years/

5-7s: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/5-7s/

8-10s: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/8-10s/