How do we safeguard our children in our school?

Therefore, as guidance suggests, our approach is child centred in line with the whole ethos and practice of our school. This means that we as a staff always consider what is in the best interests of the child.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as
• protecting children from maltreatment
• preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
• ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care, and
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Children includes everyone under the age of 18.

We work under the guidance from the Department for Education called ​‘Keeping Children Safe in Education – Statutory Guidance for Schools and Colleges Part One‘ and the school’s Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy, available at the bottom of this page and in our Policies section as well. 

Key Contacts

The designated lead (DSL) for Child Protection is Emma Cornhill and the Deputy DSL is Sophie Dent. Our designated Governor for Child Protection is Karen Robinson. They are available for you to contact in the event that you have any concerns at all either about a personal situation or any situation where you feel that any child/​person may be at risk from harm. We support all of our families not just our pupils. You can contact them through the school office on the number at the bottom of each website page, on school mobile phone (see Contact Us) or through the email listed under Contact Us. 

Child Protection- how do we keep your child safe?

Because our firm belief that safeguarding is the responsibility of all staff at Fairburn School, we ensure that all the teachers and teaching assistants undergo regular training in Safeguarding, including (but not limited to): Child Protection, Safer Recruitment, First Aid, Prevent (the name given to the training which aims to prevent young children becoming radicalised) and County Lines and other safeguarding risks. 

‘County lines’ is the term used to describe the approach taken by gangs originating from large urban areas, who travel to locations elsewhere such as county towns to sell class A drugs. Gangs typically recruit and exploit children and vulnerable young people to courier drugs and cash.’ (NYCC Safeguarding board)

We particularly keep up to date with local information and training around this because of our specific location being on a North Yorkshire/​West Yorkshire/​East Yorkshire border.

All staff, governors and volunteers have completed a ​‘Basic Awareness’ qualification in Safeguarding. Our latest annual update training took place in September 2022; this training also includes attendees reading and agreeing to the DFE’s Keeping Children Safe in Education (part 1), the school’s Staff Code of Conduct, and the Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy. The Designated Lead and Deputy regularly attend training termly as well as attend NYCC termly safeguarding conferences. Governors and staff have termly training using NYCC One Minute Guides which detail advice and information about a wide variety of safeguarding and child protection issues. 

For further information about any of the areas listed below, please see the linked page at the bottom ​‘Supporting our families’ as well as our policies page.

Intimate Care

Sometimes our staff will have to help you child with getting changed and going to the toilet. Please see the Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy – Personal Care, and the Local Authority Guidance on the Management of Continence Development (including ​‘intimate care’). 

Preventing Radicalisation

The Prevent Strategy Information for Parents (See at the bottom of the page) explains our responsibilities in protecting children from extremist and violent views. It also supports us in promoting and teaching the British values such as tolerance, respect and the celebration of diversity.

Bullying

In our school, our collective definition of bullying is based on that advocated by the Anti Bullying Alliance.

‘The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online’. ANTI-BULLYING ALLIANCE

We work hard to ensure that any instances of bullying are dealt with quickly and followed up over time. Behaviour is monitored all the time and recorded and tracked within school so that vigilance is maintained because staff know that small, innocuous incidents can lead to bullying. We care about all the children at our school and work closely with children and families to give every child the best experience. 

E‑safety

In our modern world, technology poses certain risks that we want to protect our children against. All children within school receive lessons about e‑safety throughout the year. 

Whistleblowing

Should anybody have any concerns regarding the conduct of any adult within our school community, please refer to the school’s Safeguarding & Child Protection and Complaints policy and procedures. 

Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass has been designed to provide early reporting to schools of any domestic abuse incidents that occur outside of normal school hours and that might have had an impact on a child attending school the following day.