Safeguarding
The Willows Catholic Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We have a number of policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Child Protection Policy which can be viewed in the policies section on our website.
Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies, when there are concerns about a child’s welfare. We will ensure that our concerns about our pupils are discussed with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Mrs Plant (Learning Mentor). Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Mr Sharrock (KS2 Leader) and Mrs Aris (KS1 Leader). The Governor with responsibility for safeguarding in our school in Mr Harrison. Mr Knight is the lead for online safety in school.
If you are concerned about a child then The Lancashire Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) can be contacted on 03001236720 or out of hours 03001236722. If you think a child is in immediate danger – don’t delay call the police on 999.
Early Help at The Willows
Working with you and your family
At The Willows Catholic Primary School we are keen to help every family within our school community. We recognise the challenges that families face bringing up children. Family life can be complicated and sometimes you may need some support. If you have a problem at home, please get in touch with Mrs Plant – we can support you in lots of ways.
What is Early Help??
The purpose of Early Help is to support the well-being of children and families by tackling emerging needs at the earliest opportunity and prevent them from getting worse. This means working with you to identify any support you may need and gain access to additional services that can promote positive outcomes.
Effective Early Help may be delivered at any point in your child’s life about any issue which is impacting or could affect their development and well-being, including education and health.
We will ensure that we:
- Gain your consent and are open and honest.
- Seek your views and opinions.
- With your consent, work jointly with other professionals and services already working with your family.
- Empower you to gain positive outcomes.
- Allocate a lead person to help co-ordinate any support put in place.
- Consider the age and stage of your child’s development to make sure that actions are appropriate and inform our expectations and concerns.
- Keep you and your child involved and informed.
Early Help services should support and strengthen families so that they can thrive.
Where can I get Early Help?
If you feel you and your family might need support to solve some problems, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Plant via the school office (01772 684371) or by email samantha.plant@willows.lancs.sch.uk
What will happen when I ask for Early Help?
Mrs Plant will give you a call to either complete a home visit or you could come into school, and we will talk about the problems you’re experiencing. She will ask what help and support you think you might need. This is called an Early Help Assessment.
An Early Help Assessment is nothing to be worried about. It’s just a conversation to work out how to help you determine what it is you feel you need support with and how this can be done. You can talk about things that are going well and things that you’re proud of as well as things that you are finding a challenge.
We will also discuss your child or children in your family to make sure we understand how they are feeling and anything they think they might want some help with.
What happens next will be different for every family. If an Early Help Assessment is carried out and actions are identified, we will then call Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings. Again, this is nothing to be worried about. It just ensures we have a regular meeting with all professionals involved to get the best outcome for the family. You have control over what happens next and can say what you want.
Remember, it’s your choice to have Early Help. If you have any questions please contact Mr Wylde or Mrs Plant . Advice and support provided to families by Mrs Plant or any member of the school team is confidential, however, any safeguarding concerns will be managed in accordance with our school’s safeguarding policy. Should you wish to view this, a copy of this is available on our website under our safeguarding tab.
Operation Encompass
As part of The Willows’ commitment to keeping children safe, we are proud to be part of Operation Encompass.
Operation Encompass is a unique Police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people exposed to domestic abuse.
Being part of Encompass means two key adults; Mr. Wylde and Mrs. Plant, will receive a notification of Lancashire Police before the start of the next school day when a child has been involved in or exposed to a domestic abuse incident the previous day. The information is given in confidence to the these key adults and will enable us to provide the best possible support for the child.
If you have any questions or wish to know more about our involvement in Operation Encompass please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Wylde.
Prevent Duty
The Prevent duty requires all education providers ‘to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. This includes safeguarding children, young people and adult learners from extremist ideologies and radicalisation.
Most importantly, providers should consider the needs of children, young people and adult learners at each stage of the safeguarding process. Providers should consider radicalisation concerns in line with their existing safeguarding processes, skills and experience.
Safeguarding children, young people and adult learners who are vulnerable to radicalisation depends on effective partnership.
To comply with the Prevent duty, schools, colleges and further education independent training providers must show evidence of:
- productive co-operation, in particular with local Prevent staff, the police and local authorities
- co-ordination through existing multi-agency forums
Each local authority has its own referral routes for safeguarding children, young people and adult learners from radicalisation and extremism. Effective partnerships will ensure that you understand these processes.
