Safeguarding
Safeguarding and Child Protection
Whitwell Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent, effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school. To ensure prompt communication between staff, we use CPOMS; an online system that allow us to monitor safeguarding, well-being and pastoral issue. this enable swift communication between all parties in a secure way.
We follow the procedures set out by the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (https://ddscp.org.uk/) and take account of all guidance issued by the Department for Education.
School Safeguarding Team
If you want to know more about our procedures, please speak to one of the following:
Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL): Mrs Sarah Tomlinson (Head Teacher - 01909 720251)
Deputy DSL: Mr Tim Stirling and Miss Karen Sleight – 01909 720251
Pastoral Manager - Mrs Kara Lindley – 01909 720251
Safeguarding Governor: Mr Tom Munro
Anti-bullying Coordinator: Miss Karen Sleight
Anti-bullying Governor: Mr Tom Munro
Chair of Governors: Mr Tom Munro
Online Safety Lead: Mr Tim Stirling – 01909 720251
Cause for Concern
Our first priority is of course your child’s welfare and school is required to take any reasonable action to ensure the safety of its pupils. However there may be occasions when we have reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill-treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse. We will ensure that our concerns about a child are discussed with his/her parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare. In this case school is obliged to follow the Child Protection procedures established by the Derbyshire Area Safeguarding Committee and inform the Social Services of the concern.
If you are worried about a child's safety please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Tomlinson or contact Call Derbyshire 01629 533190 straight away.
Our Early Help Offer
Whitwell Primary School works to provide Early Help to those children and families in the school community with emerging needs, which may not be appropriate for Social Services intervention. Early help means providing support to our children and families as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life.
We understand just how complicated family life can be. From time to time, there may be situations where you need some extra help and support.
If things are not right at home, please come and talk to us.
We can help in many ways.
Our Aims
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To work to families' strengths... |
...especially those of parents / carers and to take time to understand their needs fully. |
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To focus on preventing problems... |
...before they occur and try to offer flexible, responsive support when and where it's required. |
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To base all we do on evidence… |
...of both what is needed and of what works and be brave enough to stop things that are wrong. |
Successful Early Help Will Mean:
| Children: |
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| Parents and Carers: |
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Useful Contacts
Families can sometimes need support from a wide range of agencies. We recognise that other agencies will be able to support children and families based on their specialised work. Therefore, our role is often to signpost families to the resources that will best support their needs.
Useful Documents
- Child Protection and Safeguarding Sept 23.pdf
- Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2023_-_part_one.pdf
- Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2023.pdf
- Working Together to Safeguard Children - July 2018
- Information Sharing - July 18
- Prevent Duty Departmental Advice - June 2015
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Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership For further information and support for parents.
If you would like further information about keeping your child safe, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has lots of advice and guidance. Please see the link below.