Safeguarding
All adults working with or on behalf of children have a responsibility to safeguard children.
Through their day to day contact with pupils and direct work with families, education staff have a crucial role to play in noticing indicators of possible abuse or neglect, and in referring concerns to the appropriate agency.
No area can be more important for a school, and the school community, than the safeguarding of the children in their care.
‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ sets out the role of Local Authorities/schools:
- protecting children from maltreatment;
- preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
- ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and
- taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
At St John’s the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Melanie Walker and the Deputy is Ellen Watson. The link governor is Mike Akerman, who is Co-Chair of Governors. The role of the DSL is to ensure that all staff are informed of the relevant policies and procedures, and to ensure that the agreed procedures are followed. The DSL will also liaise with other agencies and ensure staff have appropriate training.
The Integrated Front Door (IFD), formerly known as CHECS, is now known as Together for Families, Family Support and Advice Line. To access services, support and advice for children and their families, from Early Help through to Safeguarding and Child Protection please call: 0300 123 5012 (Option 3). All calls will be RAG rated RED/AMBER/GREEN to ensure families get the support they need.
The Prevent Duty came into effect from 1 July 2015 and as a public body we are subject to the duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of our functions, to have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.' Staff and governors regularly complete Prevent training. The Cheshire Constabulary contact details linked to Prevent are: [email protected] / 01606 363119.
If we suspect a child to be suffering, or likely to suffer, due to radicalisation we would contact Together for Families, Family Support and Advice Line: 0300 123 5012 (Option 3) and complete a Prevent referral on the stopadultabuse.org.uk website. The government Prevent Duty Guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance/revised-prevent-duty-guidance-for-england-and-wales
Please find below the statutory guidance from the Department for Education in relation to Keeping Children Safe in Education. Please also find further documents including our Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy, our Whistleblowing Policy and the document Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026.