Safeguarding

At Mount St. Catherine's Primary School we strive to make sure all our students are safe in school, at home, on line and in the community. Our staff are here to keep young people safe and secure and to promote their personal safety and wellbeing.

Our commitment to safeguarding encompasses ways which we ensure children and young people foster security, confidence and independence. The school has a duty of care and the right to take reasonable action to ensure the welfare and safety of its pupils. If a member of staff has cause to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill treatment, neglect or any other form of abuse, the school will follow child protection procedures and inform Children’s Services of its concern.

A clear policy on Safeguarding is available and is reviewed by staff and the BOG on an annual basis.

There are designated lead staff who monitor the effectiveness of the policy.

If you have a concern that a child is being harmed, is at risk of harm, or you receive a disclosure (intentionally or unintentionally) you must contact one of the designated safeguarding leads as quickly as possible. You will find the names of these members of staff above and on the schools’ Child Protection Policy.

Training

All school staff and volunteers undertake relevant safeguarding training upon starting in position and receive bi/annual updates as appropriate.

To help keep safe online we remember the SMART rules

SMART stands for:

Secret – Always keep your name, address, mobile phone number and password private.

Meeting – someone you have contacted by cyberspace can be dangerous. Do not meet anyone unless your parents are present.

Attachments – Opening attachments, e-mails or files from people you don’t really know or trust can get you into trouble – they may contain viruses or nasty messages.

Reliable – Information on the internet may not be reliable. Someone on-line may be lying and not be who they say they are. Stick to the public areas in chat rooms and if you feel uncomfortable simply get out of there!

Tell – your parent or carer if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried.

You can get more information from this website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/curations/stay-safe

NSPCC Keeping Safe Project: Online Safety Links

We use the preventative education resources from NSPCC Keeping Safe project for teaching our students about online safety. Please find below some of the videos used in lessons.

Video 1: Keeping Safe Online Introduction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aISwEUkttF0&feature=youtu.be

Video 2: What are Children Doing Online?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTZGrqMxV4k&feature=youtu.be

Video 3: Be Share Aware: Useful Resources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y39l9z50lzg&feature=youtu.be

Video 4: Share Aware: Keeping Children Safe Online

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/share-aware/

Video 5: NSPCC and O2: Keeping Kids Safe Online

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-we-do/about-us/partners/nspcc-o2-online-safety-partnership/

Video 6: Net Aware: Social Networks, Apps and Games

https://www.net-aware.org.uk/