Safeguarding
At Pelham, the safety of the children in our care is paramount. We recognises our duty to ensure arrangements are in place for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and to carry out this duty through our teaching and learning, pastoral care and extended school activities. All members of the school community work together to establish and maintain a safe and stimulating environment where children feel secure, are encouraged to talk to adults they can trust and are listened to.
At Pelham our Safeguarding Team includes the following staff:
- The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) – Emma Greer - Headteacher
- Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead - Kim Harrision – Inclusion Manager
- Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead - Janis Grinyer – Inclusion Assistant Manager
- Sarah Lyne - Deptuy Headteacher
- Anthony Burns - Assistant Headteacher
All officers have received appropriate training and are responsible for the completion of the required paperwork and ensuring that confidential records are stored securely. It is the responsibility of the designated members of staff to have discussions with Social Care, when concerns arise regarding the safety of a pupil in this school, and to make appropriate referrals to the Children and Families Safeguarding Hub. All such pupils are closely monitored and where extra concerns arise these are passed on to the appropriate agencies.
Designated Governors
Our school has designated a Safeguarding Governor (Carl Rautenbach) who will act as the link between the governing body and the designated officers. The safeguarding governor will review safeguarding procedures & practices. Where safeguarding concerns arise regarding a member of staff, the governor will liaise with the Chair of Governors.
Staff recruitment
In line with the guidance for Safer Recruitment, the Headteacher and two other governors, have completed Safer Recruitment training. All staff, including volunteers who have access to children in our school, have been carefully selected and screened and all have had an enhanced enhanced Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check prior to commencing work. Details of all appointments/checks are held in a central record.
All staff are trained to recognise the signs of abuse and understand their responsibilities when a child may be at risk of harm. Training of all staff is updated in line with guidance and also forms part of new staff induction procedures.
Parents
This school believes in working closely with parents and in most cases where we have a concern about a pupil, the parents will be informed. The school can signpost and refer to a wide range of support services through the Headteacher and/or Inclusion Manager.
Children
Through assemblies and PSHE lessons, children have a clear understanding of how to keep themselves safe.
Internet safety
Digital Citizenship is an integral part of our school curriculum throughout the year. Additionally, at the beginning of the academic year, all pupils are formally reminded of how to stay safe and be responsible online. The school runs regular e-safety workshops for children and parents
Preventing Radicalisation and Extremism
In line with recent legislation (July 2015), which requires schools to have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’, Pelham follows the Merton Safeguarding Board’s guidance, which is available on their website together with a parental guidance leaflet: http://www.merton.gov.uk/health-social-care
Helpful links and Documents
Click on the links below for a range of resources to support parents and children in understanding and seeking support in both online safety and safeguarding from all the major providers.
The Government has provided a useful collection of advice and informationentitled, Advice to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm. It can be accessed by clicking here.
Merton Safeguarding Children Partnership: This website is mobile friendly and it allows Partners, Practitioner, Parents and Young People to access important information about the work of the Safeguarding Children Partnership and key documents to improve the effectiveness of the work being done to ensure that every child in Merton is safe, supported and successful. The website address is https://www.mertonscp.org.uk/
https://www.lgfl.net/online-safety/resource-centre
Follow this link to view the E-Safety Guidance page.
Worried about a child? Click here to link to the NSPCC
The school's Safeguarding Policy can be viewed or downloaded from the Policies link, under the Parent tab above
Operation Encompass
The school are part the Operation Encompass program. Operation Encompass is a police and education early information safeguarding partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support to children experiencing domestic abuse.