Earlsheaton Infant School

In our school there are two distinct parts of our Safeguarding role.

The first is to ensure the continuing safety of our children and families and our staff. This is led by the Head Teacher, Mrs Kelly, who is the Designated Safeguarding Lead. She must ensure all concerns are taken seriously, logged and followed up. Mrs Kelly works closely with Social Care, the Early Help team and Designated Safeguarding Leads in other schools. She attends Safeguarding meetings, provides reports and supports children and families involved in any child protection cases. Mrs Kelly is supported by Mrs Hill, who is our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. 

We also have a keen regard to Health and Safety in school. We have a comprehensive bank of Risk Assessments that are reviewed every year to ensure we consider any dangers in our day to day practice and what measures we can put in place to reduce any risks identified. In addition, any out of the ordinary classroom activity will have a risk assessment completed before it takes place. We have a governor responsible for Health and Safety; this is Mrs Hill, our School Business Manager.

The second part of our safeguarding role is to ensure our curriculum teaches our children about all the different ways they can keep themselves and thier friends safe, at an age-appropriate level. There are new threats emerging all the time that we keep informed about so that we are best placed to spot any out of character behaviour amongst our children. Although we don't explicitly teach the Prevent terrorism materials, we look out for any signs that our children may be becoming influenced and possibly radicalised by what they are hearing in the wider community- this includes ALL extreme views, be they political, religious, environmental or discriminatory in any way. We are also vigilant for anything that might suggest they are aware of County Lines drugs issues, perhaps through talking about something an older relative or friend is involved in. 

At the moment our key teaching comes through our PHSE/RSE work, using the Jigsaw scheme. Here children learn about their rights and how they should expect adults to treat them. They learn about appropriate relationships, bullying, self esteem and resilience. They learn how to spot when something isn't right with a friend and how to help them tell a trusted adult. 

An area that is becoming more and more prominent is online and cyber safety. We teach how to keep personal data safe, to know what to do if you find something that upsets or frightens you online, how to deal with someone who tries to upset, bully or coerce you into something you know is wrong, such as taking and sharing photos. We look at AI and fake news and do our best to make children aware that not everything they will see or hear online is real. 

Finally we cover who a trusted adult might be in school or outside, safe use of prescribed medications, healthy eating, strategies for developing and maintaining good mental health, the benefits of exercise and stranger danger.