Leighton is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment.

'SEE IT, SAY IT, STOP IT’

Safeguarding is the responsibility of all members of our school community. The welfare of our children is of the greatest importance and our staff are trained frequently to ensure they are able to recognise and report concerns effectively.

We work closely with many agencies to ensure we support families in accessing child protection/TAF processes as necessary. For more information about our safeguarding processes at Leighton, please visit the ‘Safeguarding’ page.

If you have any concerns about a child, please use the link below to contact Peterborough Children’s Social Care. Alternatively, please contact Mrs Geldart (DSL) vgeldart@leightonprimary.net 

https://peterborough-self.achieveservice.com/service/Childrens_Services_online_referral_form

The school's safeguarding policy provides clear direction to all members of our school community about expected practice in dealing with safeguarding issues. 

There are three main aims to our Safeguarding Policy:

1. Prevention: by creating a positive school atmosphere and providing high quality teaching and pastoral support to pupils;

2. Protection: by following agreed procedures and ensuring staff are appropriately recruited, trained and supported to respond appropriately and sensitively to Safeguarding concerns;

3. Support: by providing support for pupils and school staff and for children who may have been or are being abused.

For further support and guidance with anything in relation to safeguarding and child protection at Leighton Primary School, please contact one of the Designated/Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads below:

Mrs Amy Woolner - HT - Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mrs V Geldart - AH - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mrs Kirsten Bilby - SENDco - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 (as amended), *the Education
(Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, the Non-Maintained Special
Schools (England) Regulations 2015, and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and
Learning Act 2009 (as amended) to have arrangements in place to safeguard and
promote the welfare of children.

We will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued. The school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board’s procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.

Parents/carers should know that the law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse.

Parents/carers should know that records of safeguarding concerns may be kept about their child. They should be informed that school staff will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with them including referrals to other agencies. Local procedures state that “Consent should always be sought from an adult with parental responsibility for the child/young person before passing information about them to Children’s Social Care, unless seeking consent would place the child at risk of significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing a child about a disclosure made.” This includes allowing them to share information without consent, if it is not possible to gain consent, if it cannot be reasonably expected that a professional gains consent, or if to gain consent would place a child at risk. Where there is a need to share special category personal data, the Data Protection Act 2018 contains ‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows professionals to share information. In accordance with legislation and local Information Sharing protocols, we will ensure that information is shared securely and sensitively. Information will only be shared with other services where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to ensure that children and young people are safe and receive the right service. In all circumstances, the safety of the child will be the paramount concern.

Schools will contact Children’s Social Care when they have reasonable cause to suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. Occasionally, concerns are passed on which are later shown to be unfounded. Parents/carers will appreciate that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead) was carrying out their responsibilities in accordance with the law and acting in the best interests of all children. Under Section 3 (5) of the Children Act 1989, any person who has care of a child “may….do what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case for the purpose of safeguarding promoting the child’s welfare”. This means that on rare occasions, a school may need to “hold” a child in school whilst Social Care and the Police investigate any concerns further.

Please find the link below for further information about support available for children through the NSPCC website.

Additional NSPCC resources for families to help keep children safe

The NSPCC have shared some important information below on wider NSPCC resources and support to help keep children safe. We will put this information on to the school website so parents can access this at any time.