At Lightcliffe C of E Primary we are committed to the safety and wellbeing of the children in our care. Safeguarding your child involves many aspects of school life and staff work together as a team to ensure that your children are safe and happy. This commitment includes staff, governors, volunteers and contractors working on the school site.
Mrs Dunkley (Co-Headteacher), our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), and Mrs Hustler (Co-Headteacher), Deputy DSL, should be contacted about any child protection concerns. Mrs Brooke (EYFS Leader) is also a Deputy DSL and can be contacted about any urgent Safeguarding matters if Mrs Dunkley and Mrs Hustler are unavailable. Our Pastoral Care Leader, Mrs Swift, is also DSL trained and supports our DSLs. Mr Richard Monrois our Safeguarding Governor.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment and these can be found on our website.
All DSL trained staff attend refresher training every two years and Mrs Dunkley and Mrs Hustler are also Safer Recruitment trained. Mrs Dunkley is kept up to date by attending half-termly Abbey MAT safeguarding meetings, and termly Calderdale networks run by Steve Barnes who is Calderdale’s School Safeguarding Advisor. At these meetings DSLs are kept up to date with best practice and procedures, current issues in Calderdale, resources and workshops available to schools and meet members of staff from supporting agencies. Issues covered include online safety, peer on peer abuse, domestic abuse, attendance, child criminal exploitation (CCE), child sexual exploitation (CSE), county lines, the Prevent agenda, female genital mutilation (FGM), children looked after (CLA) and Young Carers.
All staff and volunteers undergo the necessary safeguarding checks and are asked to read and agree to follow relevant safeguarding policies and procedures. School staff and volunteers also receive annual training delivered by Mrs Dunkley or a member of Calderdale’s School Safeguarding Team.
As DSLs, Mrs Dunkley and Mrs Hustler deal with any safeguarding concerns, make referrals to Calderdale’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Team (MAST) and Early Help and attend child protection meetings and conferences.
Sometimes we need to make referrals, share information and work in partnership with other agencies such as Family Support, school nurses (Locala)and the police, when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about children are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that this would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
Attendance is monitored and any concerns we have about your child’s attendance or punctuality will be discussed with parents/carers.
If you have a child protection concern or are worried about a child, you can contact the following agencies:
Calderdale’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Team (MAST): To report a safeguarding concern and make referrals.
01422 393336
MASTadmin@calderdale.gov.uk
NSPCC: For advice and support and to speak to professional councillors
0808 800 5000
help@nspcc.org.uk
Or:
Contact our DSL or Deputy DSLs
We have a yellow button on our website homepage which you can use to report a concern to school.
We use a variety of resources including inviting a number of organisations to deliver assemblies and run workshops to teach the children how to be safe and what to do if they are worried or feel unsafe.
These include:
NSPCC
Young Carers
Anti-bullying
drug and alcohol awareness
road and railway safety
WY Fire Service: Fire and water safety
National Online Safety
Barnardos
School of Kindness
first aid training
Bike ability
Healthy Minds
Open Minds
SCARF Coram Life Education
Your child receives online safety lessons at school as part of the PSHE and Computing curriculums.
There are a number of resources and sources of information that help you support your child keeping safe online including:
NSPCC: Support for parents | NSPCC
Internet Matters Get children's tech Set Up Safe with new guides | Internet Matters
O2 Whereto start | Online Safety | O2
The teaching of physical wellbeing and social, emotional and mental health underpins our PSHE and RSHE curriculum and links in with many aspects of school life including Thrive.
As the Lead for PSHE and RSHE, Wellbeing and Mental Health, Mrs K Dunkley works with the Pastoral Care Leader, Mrs D Swift, and Mrs M McDonald as SENDCo, to support the needs of the children. Mrs Swift is a Thrive Practitioner and has undertaken training in a number of areas including children’s mental health, supporting behaviour issues, attachment, bereavement and loss, self-harming and suicidal awareness. Mrs Dunkley and Mrs Swift also attend Calderdale Wellbeing Networks which keeps us up to date with the latest support and services available in Calderdale.
As a school, we work with a number of outside agencies to support this work including Noah’s Ark, and Open Minds who deliver a range of workshops for children and parents, and we are continuing to develop the partnership we have with these and other agencies.
If you feel that your child needs any support with their wellbeing, please contact school and we will work with you to provide the appropriate support, sign post you to where you can access support from other agencies or make a referral if needed.
