Safeguarding
Manor Field Infant School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all of our children.
We require all staff to undergo annual safeguarding training, and all visitors to the school read and understand our policies and procedures. All staff and volunteers who work with our children are required to have an up to date DBS check in place.
As part of our Stay Safe Days which take place in September each year, all pupils are taught about road safety, fire safety, people who help us and online safety.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
The Designated Safeguarding Lead is a senior member of staff, from the leadership team who takes lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection within our school. The DSL will carry out their role in accordance with the responsibilities outlined in Part One of ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’.
The DSL will provide advice and support to other staff on child welfare and child protection matters. Any concern for a child’s safety or welfare will be recorded in writing and given to the DSL.
During term time the designated safeguarding lead and or a deputy will always be available (during school or college hours) for staff in the school or college to discuss any safeguarding concerns. If in exceptional circumstances, a DSL is not available on the school site in person, we will ensure that they are available via telephone and/or any other relevant media.
The DSLs at Manor Field Infant and Nursery School will represent our school at child protection conferences and core group meetings. Through appropriate training, knowledge and experience our DSL will liaise with Children’s Services and other agencies where necessary, and make referrals of suspected abuse to Children’s Services, take part in strategy discussions and other interagency meetings and contribute to the assessment of children.
The DSL will maintain records and child protection files ensuring that they are kept confidential and stored securely.
The DSL is responsible for ensuring that all staff members and volunteers are aware of our policy and the procedure they need to follow. They will ensure that all staff, volunteers and regular visitors have received appropriate child protection information during induction and have been trained within the school to the agreed school’s safeguarding training package provided by Children’s Services.
The DSL will obtain details of the Local Authority Personal Advisor appointed to guide and support a child who is a care leaver.
The DSL(s) will work with the headteacher and senior leaders, taking lead responsibility for promoting educational outcomes by knowing the welfare, safeguarding and child protection issues that children in need are experiencing, or have experienced, and identifying the impact that these issues might be having on children’s attendance, engagement and achievement.
This will include understanding their academic progress and attainment and maintaining a culture of high aspirations for this cohort and supporting teaching staff to provide additional academic support or reasonable adjustments to help children who have or have had a social worker reach their potential.
We recognise that a child’s experiences of adversity and trauma can leave them vulnerable to further harm, as well as educationally disadvantaged in facing barriers to attendance, learning, behaviour, and mental health. The DSL will use the information that they hold about children with a social worker to make decisions in the best interests of the child’s safety, welfare and help promote educational outcomes. The DSL will ensure that staff, know who these children are, understand their academic progress and attainment and maintain a culture of high aspirations for this cohort; supporting teaching staff to identify the challenges that children in this group might face and the additional academic support and adjustments that they could make to best support these children.
The DSL will take the lead responsibility for understanding the filtering and monitoring systems and processes in place at the school.
