Safeguarding

Safeguarding

This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Our Safeguarding Policy seeks to support the child’s development in ways that will establish security, confidence and independence in protecting themselves and provides clear guidelines and expectations for all staff, pupils and parents to help achieve these goals. It should be regarded as central to the well-being of the child and therefore is an intrinsic part of school life and the curriculum.

At Hill View the Designated Safeguarding Lead is Clare Oakes

Deputy Safeguarding Lead is Richard Jackson

We provide our policy to all staff, and all staff follow it. It can be found in the policies section of the website.

Our governing board takes a proportionate, risk-based approach to determining the level of information our school gives to temporary staff and volunteers.

Our policy

• Describes procedures which are in accordance with government guidance
• Refers to locally agreed multi-agency arrangements put in place by the 3 safeguarding partners (the local authority, the clinical commissioning group for the area, and the chief officer of police for the area)
• Is updated annually
• Is available publicly (either via the school website or other means)
• Reflects the fact that additional barriers can exist when recognising abuse and neglect among children with special educational needs and disabilities
• Covers peer-on-peer abuse, including:
  • Procedures to minimise the risk of peer-on-peer abuse
  • How allegations of peer-on-peer abuse will be recorded, investigated and dealt with
  • Clear processes as to how victims, perpetrators and any other child affected by peer-on-peer abuse will be supported
  • A clear statement that abuse is abuse and should never be tolerated or passed off as “banter”, “just having a laugh” or “part of growing up”
  • Recognition of the gendered nature of peer-on-peer abuse (i.e. that it's more likely that girls will be victims and boys perpetrators), but that all peer-on-peer abuse is unacceptable and will be taken seriously
  • The different forms peer-on-peer abuse can take, such as:
    • Sexual violence and sexual harassment
    • Physical abuse such as hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, hair pulling, or otherwise causing physical harm
    • Sexting (also known as youth produced sexual imagery), and our school’s approach to it
    • Initiation/hazing type violence and rituals
• Is individual to our school and features relevant information unique to our school’s context
• Features guidelines specific to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and reflects the requirements for the statutory framework for the EYFS, including covering the use of mobile phones and cameras in the setting.

 

PREVENT

The Government’s revised Prevent strategy was launched in July 2015. With the associated Duty last updated in 2021. Its key objectives are to challenge the ideology that supports extremism and terrorism and those who promote it through safeguarding. It uses a multi-agency approach, similar to that used for dealing with safeguarding issues such as Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) to prevent vulnerable people from being drawn into extremism and terrorism.

This approach ensures that Prevent achieves its purpose of safeguarding vulnerable individuals who are at risk of radicalisation from extremist groups. 

As part of Hill View Primary School's ongoing safeguarding and child protection duties we are fully behind the government's Prevent Strategy.

At Hill View we build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting British values and enabling our pupils to challenge extremist views.

 The statutory guidance refers to the importance of Prevent awareness training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. The Home Office has developed a core training product for this purpose – Prevent Awareness online Training. All our staff have completed this training, understand what Prevent is about and how to deal with any issues they may see inside or outside school.

 

Operation Encompass

In conjunction with Cheshire Police, Hill View Primary School is involved in an initiative called Operation Encompass. The purpose of Operation Encompass is to safeguard and support children and young people who have been involved in, or heard or witnessed a domestic abuse incident.

Following such an incident, children will often arrive at school distressed, upset, worried and unprepared. Operation Encompass aims to ensure that appropriate school staff (called Key Adults) are made aware early enough to support children and young people in a way that means they feel safe and included.

At Hill View the Key Adults are Mr Jackson, the Headteacher and Mrs Oakes, the Deputy Headteacher.

This is a valuable initiative that means we can continue to support and help children and families within our community when they need it the most. You can find out more by clicking the link below or by contacting one of the key adults. 

Operation Encompass

Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

PREVENT