Keeping our children safe

at

Cutthorpe Primary School

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in our school is the responsibility of the whole school community. All adults working in this school (including visiting staff, volunteers and students on placement) are required to report instances of actual or suspected child abuse or neglect to the Designated Safeguarding Lead who is a member of the school’s leadership team.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is: Mr James Dowse
The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead: Mrs Margaret Tokunaga

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is also the first point of contact for external agencies that are pursuing Child Protection investigations and co-ordinates the school’s representation at CP conferences and Core Group meetings (including the submission of written reports for conferences). When an individual concern/incident is brought to the notice of the Designated Safeguarding Lead, they will be responsible for deciding upon whether or not this should be reported to other agencies as a safeguarding issue. Where there is any doubt as to the seriousness of this concern, or disagreement between the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the member of staff reporting the concern, advice will be sought from the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, the LA’s Strategic Lead Officer for safeguarding in education services or the Early Help Service (MAT Team) Duty Manager. If a child is in immediate danger or is at risk of harm, a referral will be made to children’s social care and/or the police immediately. Anyone can make a referral. Where referrals are not made by the designated safeguarding lead, the designated safeguarding lead will be informed, as soon as possible, that a referral has been made.

Online Safety

Education supporting children how to stay safe whilst working on line is of paramount importance in our curriculum. Online safety is revisited throughout each year group using our computing scheme, Purple Mash and through stand-alone online safety focus days. 

Pants

As part of our ongoing safeguarding education for the children, annually we discuss the NSPCC’s underwear rule in our Life Skills lessons. During these discussions, we will aim to teach our pupils the following important safety skills without giving explicit information or telling scary stories. We use the ‘PANTS’ acrostic, which is like a green cross code for staying safe from sexual abuse.

PANTS stands for:

• Privates are private
• Always remember your body belongs to you
• No means no
• Talk about secrets that upset you
• Speak up, someone can help

The lessons introduce a range of ideas, all delivered in a way that’s fully age appropriate.

These include:

• naming parts of the body
• “appropriate” and “inappropriate” touching
• your child’s right to say no to things that make them feel upset or uncomfortable
• who your child can turn to if they ever feel upset or worried