Safeguarding

The safety and well-being of the children at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is of utmost importance. Our Safeguarding Lead in school is Mrs Freeman (Headteacher) and the Deputy Safeguarding Leads are Mrs Wyke (Senior Teacher) and Mrs Gilfoyle (Learning Mentor). These staff members have undertaken Designated Safeguarding Lead Training. Our Safeguarding Governor is Mr Gerard Lawrenson.

All other members of the school staff are regularly trained and updated in safeguarding and child protection. All disclosures from children or disclosures from adults are taken seriously, recorded and investigated thoroughly in line with Lancashire County Council's Safeguarding and Children Board guidelines. We work with all relevant agencies to reduce risk and promote the welfare of children.

Child on Child Abuse

We are committed to a whole school approach to ensure the prevention, early identification and appropriate management of Child on Child Abuse within our school and beyond. In cases where Child on Child Abuse is identified we will follow our Safeguarding and Child Protection procedures, taking a contextual approach to support all children and young people who have been affected by the situation. As set out in Part One of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), all staff working with children are reminded to maintain an attitude of "it could happen here".

Prevent

As part of St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School's on-going safeguarding and child protection duties we are fully behind the Government's Prevent Strategy.

From 1 July 2015, all schools are subject to a duty under Section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have "due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism". The duty is known as the Prevent Duty for Schools.

At St. Joseph's, we build pupils' resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British Values and enabling our pupils to challenge extremist views. You can find out more about our work on British Values under the Curriculum section of our website.

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. All our staff and governors have successfully completed the online training course called Channel on what Prevent is about and how to deal with any issues they may see inside or outside school. Our governors are also informed of any updates on an annual basis.

Operation Encompass

At St Joseph’s we are committed to keeping our children safe and are please to make known our  involvement with Operation Encompass.

Until recently there were no procedures for reporting Domestic Abuse incidents to schools which means that our children are left without the support and nurture when they need it most. Operation Encompass has been created to address this so that by 9.10am on the next school day the school’s Key Adult will be informed that the child or young person has been involved, heard or witnessed a domestic incident. This knowledge, given to schools through Operation Encompass, allows the provision of immediate early intervention through silent or overt support, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.

At St Joseph’s the Key Adult is Mrs MacDougall (Acting Headteacher). Should you require any further information regarding Operation Encompass do not hesitate to contact Mrs MacDougall, Mrs Byrne or Mrs Gilifoyle.