St Michael's C
of E Primary School-
Safeguarding
Staying Safe
Keeping our children safe at St Michael's is our highest priority. Parents and carers send their children to school each day trusting us to provide a secure, caring environment in which they can flourish. Safeguarding is therefore at the heart of school life: we teach children how to keep themselves safe and healthy, while maintaining robust systems and procedures to protect them from harm.
Our safeguarding policies and procedures apply to all staff, governors, professionals and volunteers working in school. We work with the mindset that every child is everyone's responsibility and 'it could happen here'. All staff remain vigilant and we keep safeguarding under continual review and ensure adults understand their responsibility to recognise and respond to concerns.
Child Protection/Safeguarding
Who to Contact in School
Designated Safeguarding Leads: Ms J Gillespie and Ms E Asante
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads: Ms A Aldridge and Ms C Gayle
Safeguarding email: safeguarding@stmichaels.lewisham.sch.uk
The Headteacher oversees safeguarding and reports safeguarding matters to the Governing Body each term. The school also has two designated safeguarding governors: Ms Beryl Fielder and Ms Tilie Bentil-Mensah.
We work closely with outside agencies, including Children's Social Care. Where there are concerns about a child's welfare, information may need to be shared and the school may work in partnership with other agencies. Wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so, concerns will be discussed with parents and carers. We may act without doing so where this could place a child at greater risk or be contrary to the child's welfare.
We actively support the Government's Prevent duty and our wider responsibility to safeguard children from radicalisation and extremism.
Urgent Safeguarding Concerns If you are worried about a child outside school hours or during school holidays, you can contact Lewisham Children's Services directly.
During office hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm): Families First Contact Point (FFCP), telephone 020 8314 6660; email mashagency@lewisham.gov.uk.
Outside office hours: Emergency Duty Social Care Team, telephone 020 8314 6000.
If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call the police on 999.
Lewisham: report a safeguarding concern about a child
Safeguarding map
Our safeguarding map provides a brief overview of the safeguarding arrangements in place at St Michael's. It is designed as an accessible summary and should be read alongside the school's safeguarding and child protection policies.
Whistleblowing
St Michael's is committed to honesty, integrity, openness and accountability. We expect all staff to maintain high professional standards and want everyone working in school to feel able to raise concerns where something appears unsafe, unlawful, unethical or inconsistent with our policies and values.
Please see our Whistleblowing Policy in the policy section of the school website for the full procedure.
Where it is not appropriate to raise a concern with the Headteacher, the concern should be reported to the Chair of Governors, Beryl Fielder, at bfielder3.209@lgflmail.org
Working with Lewisham Safeguarding Services
Lewisham Council has statutory responsibilities for safeguarding children. The Lewisham Safeguarding Children's Partnership (LSCP) brings together the agencies and organisations responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children across the borough.
Lewisham Safeguarding Children's Partnership
The Families First Contact Point (FFCP) provides a single point of access where there are concerns about a child's safety or welfare. It replaces the previous MASH name in Lewisham, although some contact details continue to use the MASH email address.
Lewisham Families First Contact Point (FFCP)
Lewisham also has safeguarding arrangements for adults with care and support needs through the Lewisham Safeguarding Adults Board (LSAB).
Our Curriculum: Keeping Children Safe
An important part of safeguarding is giving children the knowledge, vocabulary and confidence to recognise risks, make safe choices and ask for help. We teach our bespoke Healthy Body, Mind and Spirit Curriculum (BMS curriculum) through weekly HRE - Health and Relationships Education - sessions.
The four core themes of our BMS curriculum are:
- Health and well-being
- Being safe in school, beyond the school gate and in the virtual world
- Relationships
- Living in the wider world
Online safety is also taught through our computing curriculum and reinforced across school life. This helps children understand how to use technology safely, responsibly and respectfully, and what to do when something online worries or upsets them.
See our Healthy Body, Mind and Spirit curriculum overview for further information about our HRE curriculum.
Wake Up Wednesday - The National College
Supporting children to stay safe online works best when school and home work together. We therefore regularly share Wake Up Wednesday resources from The National College with parents and carers.
Wake Up Wednesday provides accessible guides designed to help families understand current online safety issues, including popular apps and games, social media, emerging online risks, mental health and wellbeing, and practical steps adults can take to support children. New parent guides are published as part of The National College's Wake Up Wednesday programme, giving families timely information that can be discussed at home.
We encourage parents and carers to read and discuss the guides with their children. They complement the online safety teaching children receive through our BMS/HRE and computing curricula and help create consistent safety messages between home and school.
Visit The National College Wake Up Wednesday resources
Photographs and Videos
Parents and carers enjoy seeing photographs and videos of children's school experiences, but we are mindful of our duty of care to every pupil. Safeguarding includes the responsible use and sharing of photographic and video images.
At school productions, sports days and other events, we ask parents, carers and relatives to follow the school's instructions about photography and filming. Where photography is permitted, images should focus on their own child and must not be used or shared in a way that could place another child at risk, including publication on social networking sites where other pupils are identifiable.
Occasionally, the local press may be invited to photograph school events and special achievements. We also use photographs to celebrate children's learning on our website, school blog and displays. Parents and carers are asked for photographic permissions when children join the school, and the school uses images in accordance with the permissions provided.
NSPCC
If you are concerned about a child or would like safeguarding advice, you can also contact the NSPCC:
Telephone: 0808 800 5000
Email: help@nspcc.org.uk
For concerns requiring local statutory safeguarding support during office hours, contact Lewisham Families First Contact Point (FFCP) on 020 8314 6660. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.