Safeguarding

At Bishops Down Primary School and Nursery we take looking after your children very seriously. Their needs come first. This page outlines what ‘Safeguarding’ means for your children, the Safeguarding steps the school takes (including the school's involvement with Operation Encompass and its Prevent Duty), and what you should do if you have a concern for a child.

Everybody in our school is responsible for safeguarding and can be approached if you have a concern. There are adults in school who have specific responsibilities for Safeguarding children and they are known as the Key Adults or Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs), and parents can share any concerns for a child's wellbeing with these adults at anytime. In our school these adults are:

Mrs Laura Johnson - Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

Mrs  Emily Lightbody  - Deputy DSL

Miss Julie Avery    - Deputy DSL

No concern is too small to be shared, so please contact us if you have a worry. We are here to help and support families, and early prevention of issues developing is always the preferred action to take. Keeping your children safe means many things, but broadly includes:

• Ensuring the health and safety of all children
• Making sure that the adults who work here have undergone all relevant safety and security checks
• Protecting children from deliberate harm
• Being an anti-bullying school
• Being proactive against racist behaviour

Protecting our children from harassment and discrimination includes:

• Caring for children’s personal needs
• Caring for pupils with medical conditions
• Protecting children from drug and substance misuse
• Children enjoying safe educational visits
• Keeping children safe when they use the Internet
• Using safe physical intervention when necessary
• Making sure our school is secure.

If you have any questions regarding safeguarding at Bishops Down Primary School, please do not hesitate to contact a DSL through the school office admin@Bishops-Down.kent.sch.uk. If for any reason you cannot see us, let your child's class teacher know or send an email for the attention of school DSL.

Any allegation which may indicate that an adult behaved in a way that has: harmed a child, or may have harmed a child; possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; or behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates s/he is unsuitable to work with children must be reported to the Head teacher. The matter is then reported to the LA Safeguarding Authority and to the Chair of Governors if necessary. Confidentiality will be upheld as far as possible at all times. Our Child Protection Policy provides contact information if you have a concern (see policies).

Key contact information for reporting a safeguarding issue regarding a child, or children, are as follows:

Call 03000 41 11 11 (Out of hours call: 03000 419191)

Email: social.services@kent.gov.uk

text relay: 18001 03000 41 11 11

https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/protecting-children

If you have a safeguarding concern and are worried about a child (when school is closed), and think they may be in immediate danger contact Kent Safeguarding directly. https://www.kscmp.org.uk/guidance/worried-about-a-child. If you need to make contact out of working hours please call the Out of Hours Kent Services on 03000 419191 or contact the NSPCC on 0800 800 5000.
If the child is in immediate danger, call 999.

Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass is a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. Information is shared by the police with a school's trained Key Adult (DSL) prior to the start of the next school day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident thus enabling appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.

Children experiencing domestic abuse are negatively impacted by this exposure; domestic abuse has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience and can lead to emotional, physical and psychological harm. Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by enabling immediate support, making a child's day better and giving them a better tomorrow.

Operation Encompass believes that children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right and should be acknowledged as such.

Further information can be found at the website: Home : Operation Encompass

The Background to Operation Encompass:OE-Safeguarding-Futures-Oct-24-.pdf

What graduated support looks like:OE-Booklet---Continuum-of-Support.pdf

Prevent Duty

he Prevent duty requires all schools to "have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism", under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. The duty covers all types of extremism, whether political, religious or ideological.

What does it mean for Bishops-Down Primary and Nursery School?

We need to protect our pupils from the risk of radicalisation, as part of our wider safeguarding duties and duty to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils. 

To do this, we will:

• Promote the fundamental British Values in our curriculum 
• Make sure our school is a safe space for pupils to discuss sensitive topics, including terrorism and extremism
• Ensure we have robust safeguarding procedures to identify children at risk 
• Engage with Kent County Council's risk assessment to determine the potential risk of individuals being drawn into terrorism in our local area 
• Make sure we have measures in place to protect pupils from harmful online content, including setting up appropriate filtering and monitoring systems
• Make sure our staff receive training to help them identify pupils at risk, challenge extremist ideas, and know how to act if they have a concern