Stanton Cross Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all of its pupils. Safeguarding is the responsibility of all school staff, governors and volunteers at our school.
We are dedicated to ensuring:
- An environment where children and adults feel safe, secure and happy.
- A place where children can talk about their worries and they are listened to.
- Highly trained staff are able to identify welfare concerns and take appropriate action to address their them.
- Children know who their network of trusted adults are. (Protective Behaviours Hand)
- Every child learns how to stay safe, healthy and happy through a high quality PSHE curriculum and strong school ethos.
- Vulnerable children and families are supported.
If you have any concerns about the welfare of a child in our school please speak to our Safeguarding Designated Leads.
If you are worried about a child outside of school please contact:
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The Police on 999 if you think there is an immediate risk of harm.
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North Northamptonshireshire Children’s Social Care on 0300 126 3000 to report concerns where a child might be experiencing neglect, sexual or emotional abuse.
Safeguarding Curriculum
At Stanton Cross Primary we have a commitment to safeguard all our children and staff. We feel it is important to regularly give messages about how to keep ourselves safe. We work closely with outside agencies to ensure children are equipped with the right information about how to keep themselves safe and away from harm, and who they can talk to for support. We regularly give children the opportunities to discuss their concerns, and value respect and take seriously any concerns that they raise.
At Stanton Cross Primary we feel it is important to equip all of our children with the skills and knowledge to help them keep themselves healthy and safe. This is done through weekly PSHE lesson as well as termly Safeguarding weeks. Safeguarding weeks are an important feature of our curriculum as they ensure we are fulfilling our statutory duties, and allow our children to develop the skills they need to help them in later life. Each week has a different theme, children take part in age appropriate activities, and parents are also invited to take part in activities.
Our Designated Safeguarding Leads
Melissa Albert - Designated Safeguarding Lead
Jessica Griggs - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Stacey Coote - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
Ellie Gedney - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
For more information, please see our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and our Safeguarding Leaflet to find out more. These are in the sidebar on the right along with other important safegaurding documents. Stanton Cross Primary School work in partnership with Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership. For up-to-date news and guidance please follow the links below:
Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership
What we will do when we are concerned about a child
We work closely with the ‘North Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Board’ ensuring that as a school we access current, relevant training for designated staff, we also adopt their policies for keeping children safe.
Occasionally, we need to make a referral to Children’s Social Care when a child is at risk of harm. 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. When a child is at risk of significant harm, the law states that a referral to Children’s Social Care or the Police may be made without the permission from parents / carers.
What is MASH?
To learn more about ths Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and what they do, click here..
Further information for parents
Below are some further details on services and websites that may be of interest.
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a British child protection charity. In addition to the support it gives, it provides information on how you can keep children safe from abuse and other dangers, both online and in the physical world. The NSPCC also delivers the PANTS workshops in schools and the Speak out. Stay Safe - NSPCC service.
To contact the NSPCC helpline call 0808 800 5000.
Childline
Childline offers help and advice about a wide range of issues. On their website you can talk to a counsellor online, send them an email or post on the message boards.
Call them on 0800 1111.
Northamptonshire Children's Trust
Northamptonshires Children's Trust is focused solely on supporting children, young people and families. To speak with them, call 0300 126 7000.As well as our core family support services offered through their helpline, live chat and email support, Family Lives also work in many different areas and offerailored support around issues such as bullying, special educational needs, and support for specific communities. They can be reached at Parenting and Family Support - Family Lives (Parentline Plus); the helpline on 0808 800 2222, or email service at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ,.
Domestic Abuse
In the year ending March 2018, an estimated 2.0 million adults aged 16 to 59 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year (1.3 million women and 695,000 men). Domestic abuse is legally defined as:
“...any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality."
A victim of domestic abuse may experience:
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Psychological, controlling and coercive behaviours
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Physical abuse
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Sexual violence
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Financial control
If you are experiencing or know someone who is experiencing domestic abuse, please come and speak to a member of the designated persons for safeguarding or seek help / advice with the agencies below. All communication is confidential.
- Women’s Aid - 08454 103123
- Wellingborough Police - Report online or 101 non-emergencies / 999 in an emergency
- May Day Trust in Wellingborough - 01933 227314
- Home-Start Wellingborough and district- 01933 272729
- Northamptonshire rape crisis - 01604 250721 or the helpline-03002225930
- National Domestic Violence Helpline – 24 hour free phone 0808 2000 247
- Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service- www.ndas.co/resources Use this page for more information on services available in Northamptonshire and nationally
- Refuge, the largest UK domestic abuse organisation for women Empowering women to live without violence & fear. Refuge is the largest domestic abuse organisation in the UK. Supporting thousands of women & their children overcome the physical, emotional, financial impacts of abuse.
Child Exploitation and Online Protection
The government recently launched a website to support parents. The website has been developed with ParentZone and CEOP, the police command responsible for child exploitation and online protection. Parent Info is a collection of articles, tips, expert advice and resources designed to help parents keep up with what their children are doing on-line. For example, the site currently includes information about staying safe on minecraft, mental health, and building online resilience.
You can find further information here: https://parentzone.org.uk/parent-info
Prevent & Radicalisation
Designated Prevent Officer: Mrs Melissa Albert
From 1 July 2015 all schools , registered early years childcare providers and registered later years childcare providers are subject to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. This duty is known as the Prevent duty. It applies to a wide range of public-facing bodies.
At Stanton Cross Primary protecting children from the risk of radicalisation is seen as part our schools’ wider safeguarding duties, and is similar in nature to protecting children from other harms (e.g. drugs, gangs, neglect, sexual exploitation), whether these come from within their family or are the product of outside influences. We strive to provide a safe space in which children, young people and staff can understand the risks associated with terrorism and develop the knowledge and skills to be able to challenge extremist arguments. The statutory guidance on the Prevent duty summarises the requirements on schools in terms of four general themes:
- RISK ASSESSMENT - being able to demonstrate both a general understanding of the risks affecting children and young people in the area and a specific understanding of how to identify individual children who may be at risk of radicalisation and what to do to support them. As with managing other safeguarding risks, staff should be alert to changes in children’s behaviour which could indicate that they may be in need of help or protection.
- WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP - Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) are responsible for co-ordinating what is done by local agencies for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in their local area. Safeguarding arrangements should already take into account the policies and procedures of the LSCB. Effective engagement with parents / the family is also important as they are in a key position to spot signs of radicalisation. It is important to assist and advise families who raise concerns and be able to point them to the right support mechanisms.
- STAFF TRAINING - schools should ensure that the Designated Safeguarding Lead undertakes Prevent awareness training and is able to provide advice and support to other members of staff on protecting children from the risk of radicalisation.
- IT POLICIES - for schools to ensure that children are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet in schools. Schools should ensure that suitable filtering is in place. More generally, schools have an important role to play in equipping children and young people to stay safe online, both in school and outside. Internet safety will usually be integral to a school’s Computing curriculum and can also be embedded in PSHE and SRE.
Building children’s resilience to radicalisation
Stanton Cross Primary aims to build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by providing a safe environment for debating controversial issues and helping them to understand how they can influence and participate in decision-making. We already promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and, within this, fundamental British values. In addition, Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) is an effective way of providing pupils with time to explore sensitive or controversial issues, and equipping them with the knowledge and skills to understand and manage difficult situations. PHSE is used to teach pupils to recognise and manage risk, make safer choices, and recognise when pressure from others threatens their personal safety and well-being. We strive to teach pupils to develop effective ways of resisting pressures, including knowing when, where and how to get help. We encourage pupils to develop positive character traits through PSHE, such as resilience, determination, self-esteem, and confidence. Citizenship helps to provide pupils with the knowledge, skills and understanding to prepare them to play a full and active part in society. It should equip pupils to explore political and social issues critically, to weigh evidence, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments. In Citizenship, pupils learn about democracy, government and how laws are made and upheld. Pupils are also taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.
Taken from: The Prevent duty Departmental advice for schools and childcare providers June 2015