Safeguarding
Safeguarding and Child Protection Statement
Histon and Impington Park Primary 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 Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy sets out how the school's Academy Council (AC) discharges its statutory responsibilities relating to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who are the pupils at the school. The policy applies to all staff, paid and unpaid, working in the school including AC members.
The Keeping Children Safe in Education document provides additional guidance for staff, academy council members and other stakeholders to support them in ensuring that they do their upmost to ensure that children are safe when at school or at home.
Concerned parents/carers may contact the school. In addition to this parents can also seek advice at any time from the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.
Designated Safeguarding Lead and Prevent Lead-Mr Jonathan Newman
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads- Miss Lisa Moule and Mrs Katrina Brown
Schools* are strongly advised to inform parents/carers of their safeguarding and child protection procedures and the requirement to refer concerns to Social Care. The following information can be used in the school’s brochure/prospectus and on websites:
Under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 (as amended), *the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, the Non-Maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2015, and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (as amended) to have arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.
The school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board’s procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.
Parents/carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Parents/carers should know that records of safeguarding concerns may be kept about their child. They should be informed that school staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including referrals to other agencies.
Local procedures state that “Consent should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, unless seeking consent would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made.” This includes allowing them to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, if it cannot be reasonably expected that a professional gains consent, or if to gain consent would place a child at risk.
Where there is a need to share special category personal data, the Data Protection Act 2018 contains ‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows professionals to share information.
In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.
Schools will contact Children’s Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children.
Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, any person who has care of a child “may….do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding promoting the child’s welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social Care and the Police investigate any concerns further.
* The word ‘school’ is used throughout but this would include all educational settings e.g. Academies, Pupil Referral Units, Further Education establishments and Independent schools.
Schools* are strongly advised to inform parents/carers of their safeguarding and child protection procedures and the requirement to refer concerns to Social Care. The following information can be used in the school’s brochure/prospectus and on websites:
Under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 (as amended), *the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, the Non-Maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2015, and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (as amended) to have arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.
The school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board’s procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.
Parents/carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Parents/carers should know that records of safeguarding concerns may be kept about their child. They should be informed that school staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including referrals to other agencies.
Local procedures state that “Consent should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, unless seeking consent would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made.” This includes allowing them to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, if it cannot be reasonably expected that a professional gains consent, or if to gain consent would place a child at risk.
Where there is a need to share special category personal data, the Data Protection Act 2018 contains ‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows professionals to share information.
In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.
Schools will contact Children’s Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children.
Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, any person who has care of a child “may….do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding promoting the child’s welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social Care and the Police investigate any concerns further.
* The word ‘school’ is used throughout but this would include all educational settings e.g. Academies, Pupil Referral Units, Further Education establishments and Independent schools.
Our Safeguarding policy is available below and in our policies section in this tab.
Prevent Duty Statement
On 1 July 2015 the Prevent duty (section 26) of The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 came into force. This duty places the responsibility on local authorities and schools to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
Histon and Impington Park Primary School is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils. As a school we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is as important as safeguarding against any other vulnerability.
All staff are expected to uphold and promote the fundamental principles of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We believe that children should be given the opportunity to explore diversity and understand Britain as a multi-cultural society; everyone should be treated with respect whatever their race, gender, sexuality, religious belief, special need, or disability.
As part of our commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government's Prevent Strategy.
E Safety
Always encourage your children to be careful when they are using the internet. It can help them to keep in touch with friends and help their education – but it can also cause harm – to them and to others.
Remember help is always available at school if you are having any problems online.
Encourage your children to talk to you or their teacher or another adult at school.
Tips for staying safe online:
- Make sure you reinforce to your children that they keep new online friends strictly online. If someone they don't know asks them to be an online friend make sure they know that they need to tell you or another familiar adult about it.
- Make sure that both you and they know how to use the CEOP Button and how to report it to the CEOP Centre if they or you are concerned about someone’s online behaviour towards you.
If you or anyone you know is worried about Child Exploitation, Online Protection or anything related to Internet safety please click the link below which will take you to the CEOP reporting website:
There are also some good resources for families to look at on 'Think you Know' site below.