Safeguarding

The Safeguarding Team at South Marston CE Primary School

Safeguarding is described by the NSPCC as the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. This is a top priority for everybody at South Marston CE Primary School. We are strongly committed to protecting and safeguarding children and expect all staff and volunteers to uphold this commitment.

Safeguarding means:

Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
Preventing harm to children's health or development
Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

Child protection is part of the Safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.

At South Marston we believe that Safeguarding is everybody's responsibility. We have a dedicated Safeguarding Team who oversee the Safeguarding procedures across the school.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Marie Hendry, who works in line with the requirements of the role as set out in Annex B of Keeping Children Safe In Education Sept 2021.

Our Deputy DSL's are Mrs Eleanor Mitchell and Mr Tim Miller. They will be available in the absence of the DSL.

Where possible, concerns about the safety and well-being of a pupil/ student will be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, or deputy DSL, in a timely manner.

If the concern suggests that a pupil/ student is at risk of significant harm or in immediate danger this will be reported to the DSL as a matter of urgency.

If you are ever concerned about the safety or wellbeing of any child, please speak directly to:

A member of the Safeguarding Team named above
Any member of the staff team at school
MASH (Social Services) on 01793 466903

Duty of Care

All staff at South Marston have a duty of care to report concerns when they arise. If a member of staff has a concern about a child, they will report it to the Designated Safeguarding or the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. Parents and carers will be informed of such concerns unless to do so would increase the risk to the child.

A written record of any concern will be kept on file and shared with other Safeguarding professionals as necessary. Written records and any other documentation related to Safeguarding will be transferred to the children's new schools when they leave South Marston. South Marston CE Primary will not keep copies of any documents transferred to new schools.

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023

NSPCC Safeguarding Children and Child Protection

NSPCC Child Protection in the UK