St Benedict’s Catholic Primary School fully recognises its responsibilities for child protection.

The school’s main aim is to provide a safe, secure and stable base for children and help to protect them from harm. The welfare of our children is of paramount importance to all the adults who work in our school. To achieve this aim St Benedict’s will:

• Ensure safer recruitment and vetting practises are followed, therefore checking the suitability of staff and volunteers who wish to work with our children.
• Raise awareness of safeguarding/child protection issues to staff, parents and children.
• Provide an environment where children feel safe, are encouraged to talk and are listened to.
• Help equip children with skills needed to keep themselves safe
• Develop, implement and review policy and procedures in relation to child protection.
• Train and raise awareness of all staff, defining their role and responsibilities in reporting possible cases of abuse.
• Ensure there is effective communication between staff on child protection matters.
• Identify children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.
• Report cases or suspected cases of abuse to Social Care.
• Work in partnership with parent/carer and other professionals to support and help protect children who have a Protection Plan.
• Establish a safe environment in which children can learn and develop.
• Employ the services of an Education Safeguarding Consultant.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs C Severs

The  Deputy Nominated Persons are Mrs R Bickerstaff, Mrs Brockbank and Mrs S Dickinson

The Nominated Safeguarding Governor is Mrs J Short

If you have any concerns related to any of our children, please contact one of the above named persons.

What is safeguarding?

It might be difficult to accept, but every child can be hurt, put at risk of harm or abused, regardless of their age, gender, religion or ethnicity.

Safeguarding legislation and government guidance says that safeguarding means:

• protecting children from maltreatment
• preventing impairment of children’s health or development
• ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
• taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes

and

“the action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm – is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and families has a role to play.”
Working together to safeguard children (HM Government 2013)

Parents, carers and staff all have the safety and wellbeing of our children at the centre of the decisions they make, both in and out of School. Keeping children safe is everyone’s responsibility. Members of the public, as well as staff in helping agencies, can play a vital role in helping to protect children from abuse or neglect.

USEFUL LINKS

For children who live in Redcar & Cleveland

Contacting Redcar & Cleveland Multi Agency Children’s Hub  

If you are worried about a child or young person, and feel they are at risk of being abused, neglected or at risk of being harmed, please contact:

Redcar & Cleveland Multi Agency Children’s Hub (MACH)

Telephone –  01642 130 700

Email – [email protected]

The Multi Agency Children’s Hub (MACH) is a partnership between Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, Cleveland Police and Health Partners.

The MACH Team are available:

Monday to Thursday from 8:30am to 5:00pm

Friday from 8:30am to 4:30pm.

Getting help and support out of office hours

The Emergency Duty Team provides an out-of-hours response to emergency situations involving child protection and the care of a child.

The Emergency Duty Team is available outside of *normal service hours, bank holidays and weekends. They can be contacted via telephone number: 01642 524 552

Out of Hours Emergency Duty Team – Tel: (08702) 402994

KCSIE 2024

NSPCC

The NSPCC helpline will provide support to:

• children and young people who want to share current and non-recent experiences of sexual abuse and harassment
• children and young people who want to talk about being involved in or witnessing any incidents
• anyone who works or volunteers in a school setting and needs support and guidance
• adults who have experienced non-recent abuse
• parents and carers who are concerned about their own child or other children.

Young people and adults can contact Report Abuse in Education on 0800 136 663 or email [email protected]

The link to the NSPCC article is at https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/news/2021/april/sexual-abuse-in-education-helpline-launched

NSPCC National Helpline
Tel: (0808) 8005000