Under the Education Act 2002 (Section 175), school must make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Our Safeguarding personnel in school are Mrs C. Etchie, Headteacher and Mrs J. Ozcan, EYFS lead.
The Children in care (CiC) and the children previous in care (CPiC) lead is George Clark
We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.
The school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.
Parents/carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child's welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Parents/carers should be aware that records of welfare concerns may be kept about their child. School staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with parents/carers, including referrals to other agencies. However, in situations where the child is suspected to be at risk from harm, the law says that schools may take advice from other agencies without informing parents/carers.
In accordance with local information sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service.
The school will seek advice from Social Care if they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/cares will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (the Designated Person for Child Protection) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children.
Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, schools or any person who has care of a child 'may......do what is reasonable in all of the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the child's welfare.' This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to 'hold' a child in school whilst Social Care and the police investigate any concerns further.
The Prevent Strategy
Meridian Primary School is fully aware of its responsibility under the Prevent Duty 2015 and recognises that its responsibilities to prevent and protect children from extremism, fits within its duty of child protection and safeguarding.
As a school, we are aware of the importance of PREVENT training and this is included as part of our Child Protection and Safeguarding annual training and policy.
Our Prevent Lead in school is Mrs C. Etchie, Headteacher.