Safeguarding

Safeguarding

At St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School, safeguarding our children is a priority.   

  • ALL staff and volunteers make and maintain positive and supportive relationships with children which enable children to feel safe and valued
  • Safeguarding has a high status throughout school by being on the agenda at staff meetings/briefings, information being readily available on notice boards, regular updates
  • ALL staff feel confident in approaching DSLs to raise concerns
  • ALL staff and volunteers have an understanding of the four categories of abuse; NEGLECT, EMOTIONAL ABUSE, SEXUAL ABUSE, PHYSICAL ABUSE.
  • All concerns regarding Abuse are logged on CPOMs
  • Any incidents of concern around behaviour are logged on CPOMs
  • Any disclosures immediately to the Designated Senior Officer for Safeguarding. In school this is the Head teacher, Ms Hind .  If the Head teacher is absent then incidents are reported to the deputy DSP.  In school this is the Deputy Head teacher, Miss Murphy.  If neither members of staff are available then incidents are reported to Miss Hunter.  This is then recorded on CPOMs.
What is Abuse and Neglect?

Abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment of a child. A person may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or, more rarely, by others (e.g. via the internet). They may be abused by an adult or adults, or another child or children.

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

Sexual Abuse

Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.

Neglect

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:

  • provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment);
  • protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger;
  • ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-

givers); or

  • ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.

It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Help Keeping Yourself or your child Safe Online

  1. Don’t post any personal information online – like your address, email address or mobile number
  2. Think carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself. Once you’ve put a picture of yourself online most people can see it and may be able to download it,  it’s not just yours anymore
  3. Keep your privacy settings as high as possible
  4. Never give out your passwords
  5. Don’t befriend people you don’t know
  6. Don’t meet up with people you’ve met online. Speak to your parent or carer about people suggesting you do
  7. Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are
  8. Think carefully about what you say before you post something online
  9. Respect other people’s views, even if you don’t agree with someone else’s views  doesn’t mean you need to be rude
  10. If you see something online that makes you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or worried: leave the website, turn off your computer if you want to and tell a trusted adult immediately.