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St Mary's Catholic Primary School

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Safeguarding

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Safeguarding Statement

The Governors and staff of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School take seriously our responsibility to promote the welfare and safeguard all the children and young people entrusted to our care.

We have a Child Protection Policy and procedures in place and all staff, volunteers and governors must ensure they are aware of these procedures. Our policies are available for parents to read.

The Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) in our school are:-

Designated Safeguarding and Prevent Lead

Michele Blunt - Headteacher

michele.blunt@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk

Deputy DSLs

Angela Thorogood - Senior Teacher

angela.thorogood@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk

Nicola Samson - Senior Teacher nicola.samson@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk

Sarah Clark - SENCO

sarah.clark@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk

Safeguarding Governor: Anne Locke - anne.locke@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk

If you are concerned about a child’s welfare, please record your concern and report to one of the DSLs as soon as possible. Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with his/her parents/carers first unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.

If your concerns relate to the actions or behaviour of a member of staff (which could suggest that s/he is unsuitable to work with children) then you should report this to the Headteacher Mrs Blunt.

DfE published an update to the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) statutory guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education-2

Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy 2025-26

Internet Safety Day

Internet Safety Day 6^th February

All children will be taking part in our Safer Internet Day assembly led by Mrs Johnson and our digital leaders. This year's theme is 'Inspiring Change. Making difference, managing influence and navigating change online.' We have also taken part in the BBC's Live Lesson on internet safety.

Online Safety Workshop for parents

We will be offering two live workshops for parents to attend, to support your understanding of how to keep your children safe online. These will be led by the NSPCC.

Our workshop will:

• Help you understand how kids experience the online world

• Show you resources and tools that could help keep them safe

• Empower you to guide them on their journey

We will be offering two sessions, which can be accessed virtually online. To receive the login details, please contact office@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk and indicate which session you wish to attend.

Session 1: 26^th February 5-6pm

Session 2 tailored SEND session for parents and carers of children with additional needs: 28th February 10 - 11am

NSPCC Factsheets

Online Safety - Has something happened online that has made you feel worried or unsafe? If you have been a victim of online abuse or you’re worried about somebody else, you can contact CEOP (Child Exploitation Online Protection) and let them know. How can CEOP help you? (click here)

CEOP helps to keep children and young people safe online. CEOP helps thousands of children and young people every year who have been in a similar situation to you. If something scary or bad has happened to you online we will talk to you to find out what has happened and to help you keep safe.

If you make a report to us it will be read by one of our Child Protection Advisors who will make contact with you. Make a report to one of CEOP’s Child Protection Advisors

What Is Bullying?

Bullying is different from the typical disagreements or conflict that occur between friends, siblings or classmates.

It’s bullying if:

Someone is being hurt, harmed or humiliated with words or behaviour.

The behaviour is repeated, two or more times though it can be a single incident that involves more than one perpetrator or several victims.

It is being done intentionally.

The person being hurt finds it difficult to defend themselves from the behaviour.

The pupil(s) who are doing it have more power. – Power can be many things such as, social status, being older, being physically bigger or stronger or when a group of pupils gang up on others.

Bullying can be face to face, and online using a range of technology.

What to do if you have a concern:

1. Report your concern to your child's class teacher.

2. Contact Mrs Blunt our Designated Safeguarding Lead: michele.blunt@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk

3. Contact Miss Simpson our Welfare Officer: chloe.simpson@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk

Parents may find these websites helpful:

Childline:

Bullying can happen anywhere and be about anything. Advice about different types of bullying, and how you can get help and support.

Family Lives:

Family Lives offers a confidential and free* helpline service for families in England and Wales (previously known as Parentline).

NSPCC:

Advice for parents and carers to help keep children safe from bullying, wherever it happens.

Anti-bullying Week 2024

On 12th November, St Dominic Class led an assembly to tell all of us about the theme for Antibullying Week this year, which is 'Choose Respect'. We learnt about how important it is for us to treat other people as we would like to be treated ourselves.

We had Odd Socks Day too, celebrating the fact that we are all different. This week we designed posters for a competition.

'Buddy Don't Bully' - March 2023

We were lucky enough today to be visited by Jake Tarrant, Eventer, Equine TV personality, Commentator, Instructor and an everyday anti-bullying ambassador. Jake has a simple message that he shares online:

#BuddyDontBully

The children created posters that we put up around school as part of our continuing work with the Diana Anti-bullying Award.

Anti-Racist Training

In March 2023, our Anti-bullying Ambassadors attended further training for anti-racism as part of our work towards the Diana Anti-bullying Award.

The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly 2022

On October 3rd, pupils across the school joined in the ‘Big Anti-Bullying Assembly’, sponsored by The Diana Award and Nationwide Building Society.

Via an assembly, pupils were reminded about the need for mutual respect in our school and communities. Together, we pledged to put an end to bullying, to celebrate diversity and to create communities of kindness.

Anti-Bullying Week - November 2022

On Monday 14th November, we had Odd Socks Day at school to celebrate the fact that we are all unique. Anti-Bullying Week was launched in our whole school assembly. The theme this year was 'Reach Out'. We were reminded about the importance of reaching out to help somebody who might be being bullied, or reaching out ourselves if somebody is bullying us.

Also during the week, group of pupil representatives from years 4, 5 and 6 went off to Gravesend to take part in The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Ambassador Training.

ONLINE SAFETY

The internet is essential in 21st century life for education, business and social interaction. As children move up through the school their access to various types of technology increases and it stands to reason that their exploration and curiosity increases too. The positives of the digital world overwhelmingly outweigh the negatives but children, schools and parents all need to be aware of various online risks.

At St Mary's we follow the SMART Rules:

If you would like to share any information or require any further support please do not hesitate to contact us: safeguarding@st-marys-whitstable.kcsp.org.uk .

Your help is still needed to prevent children accessing inappropriate material at home by way of filters and parental controls. Look below at our extensive list of links and resources for Parents/Carers, Teachers and Young People to help you with your child’s online safety at home.

5 Internet Safety Tips for Kids

Sharing photos, posting comments, playing video games -- these are just a few of the ways that kids interact online, but sometimes there are risks. Learn fiv...

Supporting children and parents with internet safety.

Being safe online (e-safety) is increasingly important as both adults and children alike live their lives through the internet. We ensure that children are reminded of the THINK rules (see below) before starting a lesson using the internet. However, most of the internet access that children have is outside of school and therefore we want to ensure all our families are aware of the importance of keeping safe online.

Overview of key parental controls

Parental Control Booklet

Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.

Thinkuknow. An Introduction to Parents and Carers

This presentation introduces parents and carers to the ThinkuKnow education programme. It highlight some of the resources available for children and reminds...

If you make a report to us it will be read by one of our Child Protection Advisors who will make contact with you. Make a report to one of CEOP’s Child Protection Advisors

For further information regarding the safeguarding of children, please go to the following websites:

https://saferinternet.org.uk/

https://www.kidscape.org.uk/

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

https://CHILDNET PARENT INFO