Safeguarding
Safeguarding and Child Protection
Safeguarding is Everyone's Responsibility.
The Mead Infant and Nursery School is committed fully to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people and expects all staff, and visitors to share this commitment.
The health, safety and well-being of every child are our paramount concern. We listen to our pupils and take seriously what they tell us.
We recognise that for children, high self-esteem, confidence, supportive friends and clear lines of communication with a trusted adult, helps prevent the chances of them being abused.
Designated Safeguarding and Child Protection Leads
Mrs T Creasey
Lead Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Mrs A Bedford
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Mrs Z Fagan
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Photo coming soon.
Mr D Spick
Child Protection and Safeguarding Governor
Key Documents
Reporting a Concern of Abuse or Neglect
Everyone has a duty to keep children safe from abuse and neglect
If you are concerned about a child’s welfare whilst you are in school, please record your concern, and any observations or conversation heard, and report to one of the DSLs as soon as possible the same day. Do NOT conduct your own investigation.
If your concerns relate to the actions or behaviour of a member of staff (which could suggest that s/he is unsuitable to work with children) then you should report this to the Headteacher (or the Chair of Governors if the concern relates to the Headteacher) – who will consider what action to take.
If you are concerned about a child and it is outside of the school, it is important that you report your worries to the correct agency.
The following link will direct you to Surrey C-SPA (Single Point of Access)
Children's Services Contact Information where you will find key contact information and a secure email address to use.
To phone the Surrey C-SPA, please call:
0300 470 9100 (Mon to Fri 8:00 - 18:00)
01483 517898 (Out of hours)
You can also report you concerns to the NSPCC who will offer you support and advice if you are feeling worried about a child’s safety:
Child Sexual Abuse
It is important to understand the difference between healthy and developmentally expected sexual exploration and play in children, and behaviour that is not appropriate and can cause harm to others or increase a child’s vulnerability. The Lucy Faithfull Foundation explains the differences and suggests ways of responding to these behaviours.
Traffic light tool for age appropriate sexual behaviour
The NSPCC suggest a simple way that parents can teach their children to look after their own bodies and help keep them safe from sexual abuse.
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
Child Sexual Exploitation, or CSE, is a form of sexual abuse which sees children/young people being manipulated or coerced into sexual activity for receiving something such as gifts, money, food, attention, somewhere to stay etc.
Technology is very often used to groom victims. This may occur through social networking sites and mobile phones with internet access. CSE has gained a large amount of media attention over the last few years as lots of services involved with children and young people have noticed a big rise in cases involving CSE.
Charities such as NSPCC and Barnardos have been campaigning to raise the profile of this form of child abuse. Information regarding CSE can be found here by following the link to PACE.
PACE (Parents Against Child Sexual Exploitation) is a national charity that works with parents and carers whose children are sexually exploited. PACE offers one-to-one telephone support, national and local meet-ups with other affected parents and information on how parents can work in partnership with school, police and social care:
Female Genital Mutation (FGM)
Female Genital Mutilation is classified as a form of Child Abuse in the UK. It therefore makes the procedure of it a serious Child Protection issue. It is illegal for anyone to perform FGM in the UK or to arrange for a child to be transported to another country for the procedure. The maximum sentence for carrying out FGM or helping it to take place is 14 years in prison.
If you think that a girl or young woman is in danger of FGM, you must contact the Police. You should contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (020 7008 1500) if she’s already been taken abroad. The Daughters of Eve website helps to raise awareness of this issue and sign-posts those affected by it to supportive services. The NSPCC offers a free and anonymous FGM 24 hour helpline. Call 0800 028 3550 or email fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk.
Preventing Radicalisation
From 1 July 2015 schools are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, in the exercise of their functions, to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.
Our school is clear that extremism and radicalisation should be viewed as safeguarding concerns. We value freedom of speech and the expression of beliefs and both pupils/students and adults have the right to speak freely and voice their opinions. Our ethos seeks to build pupils’ resilience to radicalisation by promoting fundamental British values and enabling them to challenge extremist views.
DfE guidance on the Prevent Duty can be found here:
Prevent Duty Guidance for Schools
The NSPCC have information for parents/carers about radicalisation and dangers associated with extremism. There are also links to other supportive services on the NSPCC web page:
NSPCC- Protecting Children from Radicalisation
Information and resources to download for Parents/Carers can be found here:
On-line Safety
Children and young people spend a lot of time on the internet. They may go online to research information for homework or to play games and chat with friends.
The internet holds a huge amount of useful information and is a great way of learning about new things and keeping in contact with friends and family. It can also be a very dangerous place, so it is important that children are protected and monitored when they are online.
In school children are taught the rules of e-safety as part of our Computing and PSHE curriculum using Smartie the Penguin and Digiduck stories.
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) has lots of information about how to keep your children safe online. The link to the website is below:
The NSPCC also offers lots of helpful tips and advice which parents can use to keep their children safe on the internet and social networks. The link below outlines the risks and dangers children face when using the internet:
Childnet International has a wealth of information for parents and carers on keeping your child safe online. The link to the website can be found below:
https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers
At The Mead Infant and Nursery School all are expected to read and adhere to our E-safety Policy
When children first join the school, parents are expected to read, sign and adhere to out E-safety Rules and Agreement.
Stranger Danger
Whilst the risk posed by strangers is rare, it’s really important to make children aware of simple tips they can follow to keep themselves a little safer.
This video on Stranger Danger is designed to highlight a few key points, to be used to help you have that important conversation with your child. It is aimed at children aged 4 - 11 years. For parents, carers, families, teachers, schools and centres for young people to use to raise awareness and generate discussion that helps children keep safe.
We would advise you to talk to your child about who their safe adults are and where there are safe places near you if help is needed. It’s also important to think about safety on the internet and use of mobile phone apps and games that have ‘chat’ functions as this can be just as dangerous as a stranger in the street.