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

Important Changes to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2021

428. This part of the statutory guidance is about how schools and colleges should respond to all reports and concerns of child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment, including those that have happened outside of the school or college premises, and or online (what to look out for, and indicators of abuse are set out in Part one of this guidance).

429. Sexual violence and sexual harassment can occur between two children of any age and sex, from primary through to secondary stage and into colleges. It can occur through a group of children sexually assaulting or sexually harassing a single child or group of children. Sexual violence and sexual harassment exist on a continuum and may overlap; they can occur online and face to face (both physically and verbally) and are never acceptable. As set out in Part one of this guidance, all staff working with children are advised to maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’.

430. Addressing inappropriate behaviour (even if it appears to be relatively innocuous) can be an important intervention that helps prevent problematic, abusive and/or violent behaviour in the future

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)

Mrs Rachel Mitchell

(Inclusion Manager & KS1 Phase Leader)

Miss Samantha Meese

(KS2 Phase Leader)

Governors with Responsibility for Safeguarding

Mr Pete Johnson

(Chair of Governors)

Mr Paul Hodgetts 

(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.

      Virtual Online Learning/Keeping children Safe!

This year we have all faced significant challenges brought about by the global outbreak of coronavirus

(COVID-19). Now, more than ever before, we are relying on technology to stay connected. With this increased use of technology in our daily lives, there are undoubtedly greater risks presented.

It has never been more important to equip our children and young people with the knowledge, skills and resilience to navigate the online world. Protecting children and young people from harmful activity online is critical.  It is therefore vital that we provide an education system that enables our learners to embrace technology and contribute positively online.

For many years we have recognised the importance of online safety. However in this third decade of the twenty-first century, learning how to be safe from harm online has become more complex, and the term ‘safe’ is no longer sufficient. We must support our children in becoming safe and responsible online and ultimately, digitally resilient.

We live in a world where misinformation, disinformation and bots pose a significant risk, not just to our safety, but also to our fundamental decision-making. The influence of misinformation and disinformation is vast, and research has demonstrated that disinformation spreads significantly faster, deeper and more broadly than true information. It’s essential we teach our children and young people to become critical thinkers and to always evaluate and check information before they trust it, act on it or share it further. 

It’s also undoubtedly true that the twenty-first century’s most valuable commodity is data and we must accept that cyber security is no longer just the business of major corporate firms. It’s essential for us to all protect our devices and our data to reduce the chances of becoming a victim of cybercrime. These habits start young and are grounded in the very basic habits of cyber hygiene such as strong passwords and understanding the kinds of risks to avoid. 

We are very fortunate here in OLSK to have a monitoring system that keeps us safe, through our ICT provider, DGFL (Dudley Grid for Learning) This allows all who are in our building to keep safe whilst accessing online materials. DGFL has been designed to support the digital resilience of children and young people, their families, practitioners and professionals and the wider school community.  

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/