School Safeguarding Team
If you want to know more about our procedures, please speak to one of the following:
Mrs Deborah Meredith – Headteacher & Designated Child Protection Officer
Miss Emma Brown, Mrs Lyn Malik and Ms Caroline Sutherland – Deputy Designated Child Protection Officers
Our Pastoral Manager Mrs Tammy Snape is also always available to support you with any worries. Text or ring her on 07922 576932
Cause for Concern
Our first priority is of course your child’s welfare and school is required to take any reasonable action to ensure the safety of its pupils. However there may be occasions when we have reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill-treatment, neglect or other forms of abuse. We will ensure that our concerns about a child are discussed with his/her parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that such a move would be contrary to the child’s welfare. In this case school is obliged to follow the Child Protection procedures established by the Derbyshire Area Safeguarding Committee and inform the Social Services of the concern.
If you are worried about a child’s safety please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Meredith or Mrs Snape, or contact Call Derbyshire 01629 533190 straight away.
If you would like further information about keeping your child safe, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has lots of advice and guidance. Please see the link below:
If you or anyone you know is worried about Child Exploitation, Online Protection or anything related to Internet safety please click the link below which will take you to the CEOP reporting website:
Safety on the Web
Gamesley Primary School encourages parents and children to visit the CEOP website (Child Exploitation & Online Protection) to build knowledge of how to stay safe online;. This website has lots of fun activities from which children can gain vital information on staying safe.
Please click the link below to go straight to this site:
What we recommend and teach the children about Personal Security Guidelines
Pupils should:
- Never reveal personal information, either their own or others, such as home addresses, telephone numbers and personal e-mail addresses etc.
- Not use photographs of themselves on their web pages unless the parent/guardians have given permission to do so.
- Never meet people in person that they have contacted on the internet without a parent/guardians permission.
- Notify their teacher whenever they come across information or messages that are dangerous, inappropriate, or make them feel uncomfortable.
- Be aware that the author of an e-mail or web page may not be the person they claim to be.
Pupils are responsible for appropriate behaviour on the schools computer network just as they are in the classroom or in the school playground. Communications on the network are often public in nature. General school rules and the Behaviour Policy apply and it is expected that users will comply with the guidelines of this policy.
Throughout each year children are taught a series of Internet -Safety lessons the build their knowledge of how to stay safe online.
Parental Support
Pupils could potentially have unfiltered, unsupervised internet access at home. All parents should be aware of the concerns and benefits of school internet use. The links below include lots of information that will help you to keep your children safe on line:
Every school must have a Child Protection Policy – often referred to as the school’s Safeguarding Policy. The aim of the policy is to ensure that our school has effective measures in place to safeguard your children from the potential risk of harm and that the safety and wellbeing of the children are of the highest priority in all aspects of our school’s work. Having the policy in place ensures that all members of our school community:
- Are aware of our responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and child protection
- Know the procedures that should be followed if we have a cause for concern
- Know where to go to find additional information regarding safeguarding
- Are aware of the key indicators relating to child abuse
- Fully support the school’s commitment to safeguarding and child protection.
Safeguarding is not just about protecting children from deliberate harm. It presents schools with a wide range of issues that they need to be prepared for.