Keeping Children Safe
The health, safety and well-being of our children is of paramount importance. Downton Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment.
We believe that we all have the right to be happy, to be safe and to learn regardless of age, gender, race, culture, sexual identity or disability. We will ensure that all suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
All staff and volunteers working at our school have a responsibility to report concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL).
Paula Carlton DSL Sandra Pollard DDSL Megan Ford DDSL
What is Safeguarding?
Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
Preventing harm to children’s health or development
Ensuring children grow up with provision of safe and effective care
Taking action to enable all children and young people
‘The welfare of the child is paramount’ (The Children Act, 1989)
Across every year group we teach the children how to keep themselves safe and ensure safeguarding is woven through our curriculum provision.
Our PSHE scheme, Jigsaw, addresses key safeguarding themes in an age-appropriate way e.g. sexual harassment, child-on-child abuse and domestic violence. At Downton we also carefully consider each cohort and adapt planning to suit the needs of our pupils. For details of how safeguarding is covered through the scheme, please click on the PDFS at the bottom of the page.
At Downton Primary School we raise pupil awareness about sharing worries or anxieties through child-friendly safeguarding posters. These are displayed in classrooms and throughout the school.
On-line safety advice for parents
We have recently held an e-safety and cybersecurity workshop for parents, which was led by the NSPCC and childnet.
For further information about e-safety look at our monthly newsletters here.
If you are concerned about the safety or wellbeing of a child either in or out of school please talk in the first instance to Paula the headteacher, who is the designated child protection lead for the school. In emergencies contact the police for advice.
If there are any concerns about your child's safety a referral may be made to agencies who can provide help; you will be kept closely involved in this process, unless it is deemed unsafe to do so..
The school governor with responsibility for safeguarding is Ron Hart - he can be contacted via the school office.
Please click here for our September 2024 Safeguarding policy.
Please click here to view the full range of safeguarding policies.
Click here for a leaflet that explains what radicalisation and extremism are, the signs to look out for and where to get help if you need it.
The government has launched a website for parents and schools ‘Educate Against Hate’ www.educateagainsthate.com which provides useful information about radicalisation and extremism.
If you have any concerns please talk to your child’s teacher or to contact the school.