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Safeguarding and Child Protection

Designated Children Protection Leaders are

  • Mrs Reynolds – Head Teacher - 01733 574717 - office@norwoodschool.co.uk
  • Mrs Cockerill – Deputy Head Teacher - 01733 574717 - office@norwoodschool.co.uk

Child Protection Governor is

  • Mrs Lisa Andrews - 01733 574717 - - office@norwoodschool.co.uk

Prevent Lead Officer is

  • Mrs Reynolds - Head Teacher

Prevent Lead Governor is

  • Mrs Lisa Andrews

Under the Education Act 2002 (section 175/157), schools must ‘make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children’.

We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.

Safeguarding and Child Protection Statement      

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.

Wher e 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.

Operation Encompass

At Norwood Primary we are working in partnership with Cambridgeshire Police and
Peterborough City Council to identify and provide appropriate support to pupils who have experienced domestic abuse in their home; this scheme is called Operation Encompass.
In order to achieve this, Cambridgeshire’s Education Safeguarding Team will share police
information of all domestic incidents, where one of our pupils has been present, with the
Designated Safeguarding Lead(s) (DSL)/Domestic Abuse (DA)Lead. On receipt of any
information, the DSL/DA Lead will decide on the appropriate support the child may require.
The Operation Encompass information is stored in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information. All information sharing and resulting actions will be undertaken in accordance with the ‘Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Joint Agency Protocol for Domestic Abuse – Notifications to Schools, Colleges and Early Years settings’.

Norwood School's Response to Children Missing in Education

Norwood School recognises that children missing from education can act as a vital warning sign to a range of safeguarding issues. Where there are concerns that a pupil missing from education is linked to a safeguarding issue, action will be taken in line with the Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.

In line with the Children Act 2004, the school will follow appropriate procedures when carrying out reasonable enquiries, such as the DSL conducting discussions with neighbours, relatives or landlords, to determine whether a child may be at risk of harm.

For the purpose of this policy, “reasonable enquiries” are defined as limited, investigative powers that the school may action to determine a child’s whereabouts and whether they may be in danger.

The DSL will record that they have completed these procedures and, if necessary, make a referral to CSCS or the police.

Where the whereabouts and safety of a child is unknown, the school, in conjunction with the LA, may carry out the following actions:

  • Make contact with the parent, relatives and neighbours using known contact details
  • Check local databases
  • Check data transfer systems
  • Follow local information sharing arrangements, and make enquiries via other local databases and agencies where possible
  • Check with UK Visas and Immigration and/or the Border Force
  • Check with agencies known to be involved with the family
  • Check with the LA and school from which the pupil moved originally
  • Check with the LA where the pupil lives, if this is different to where the school is located
  • Check with the Ministry of Defence Children’s Education Advisory Service in the case of children of service personnel
  • Conduct home visits via an appropriate team, following local guidance concerning risk assessments, and make enquiries with neighbours or relatives, if appropriate

Please note: This list is not exhaustive – the school and LA will use their judgement towards what reasonable enquiries are appropriate, once all the facts of the case have been taken into account.