Safeguarding and Prevent
Downham Feoffees Primary Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment. All staff will be subject to an enhanced check with the Disclosure and Barring Service.
We do all we can to keep your children safe at Downham Feoffees Primary Academy. We use robust systems to ensure that any concerns are fully followed up and acted upon. We ensure that relevant support is given to all children who need it to make sure they are happy and positive in school and beyond. We work in partnership with other agencies to effectively support our children and families.
Our Safeguarding Team
The Designated Safeguarding Lead at Downham Feoffees is the Head of School, Benita Sherrington
The Designated Safeguarding People for Child Protection are:
Benita Sherrington, Lorna Greaves, Jessica Greenwood and Helen Lorimer
The Nominated Academy Councillor for Safeguarding and Child Protection is: Mr. D Francis
Please contact one of the Safeguarding Team if you have any concerns about any children in the school.
Under the Education Act 2002 (section 175/157), schools must “make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children”.
At Downham Feoffees Primary Academy, we will endeavour to provide a safe and welcoming environment where children are respected and valued.
At Downham Feoffees Primary Academy, we believe a strong partnership between school and home enables the children to enjoy and achieve the best they can. We encourage all of our parents and carers to be involved in the life of the school and support their child’s learning.
There are many opportunities to meet teachers, see children’s work, participate in questionnaires and attend concerts, information events and assemblies, plus Friends of Downham Feoffeees (FODA) events and functions. We offer two parent consultations a year, one in the Autumn term and one and Spring term. These are an opportunity to meet the class teacher and look at your child’s works. We encourage the children to participate in these consultations. Staff also meet with parents/carers throughout the year, in response to need. Our Communication Books provide a daily link between home and school, plus weekly newsletters, plus letters and emails, provide a wealth of information.
Safeguarding and Child Protection Statement:
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.
Newsletters are circulated weekly, keeping everyone up-to-date with events, achievements and future diary dates.
We do all we can to keep your children safe at Downham Feoffees. We have a Safeguarding Team which includes Senior Leaders and a Designated Safeguarding Lead. This approach ensures that a member of the safeguarding team is always available should the need arise and, therefore, we are able to keep our children safe in all aspects. We use robust systems to ensure that any concerns are fully followed up and acted upon and ensure that relevant support is given to all children who need it to make sure they are happy and positive in school and beyond. We work in partnership with other agencies to effectively support our children and families.
All staff are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and the school will therefore be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Safeguarding Children Board procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.
The school will be alert to signs of abuse and neglect and will follow the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) procedures to ensure that children receive appropriate and effective support and protection.
We encourage all of our parents/carers to be involved in the life of the school and support their child’s learning, as we believe a strong partnership between school and home enables the children to enjoy and achieve the best they can. 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. We wish to make you aware that records of welfare concerns may be kept about a child. We will seek, in general, to discuss any concerns with you including any referral we may have to make to another agency. However, in situations where the child is suspected to be at risk of harm, the law says that schools may take advice from other agencies without informing parents/carers.
In accordance with 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 are safe and receive the right help and support.
We will seek advice from Social Care when we 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 in such cases, that the member of staff in the school with responsibility for child protection (known as the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Designated Person), 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 Childrens Act 1989, schools or 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 or 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.
Downham Feoffees Primary Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment. All staff will be subject to an enhanced check with the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Below is a link to our local Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. A trust-wide version of this policy is also available to view on the Meridian Trust website.
Prevent Duty Statement
On 1 July 2015 the Prevent duty (section 26) of The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 came into force. This duty places the responsibility on local authorities and schools to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
Downham Feoffees Primary Academy is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its pupils. As a school we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is as important as safeguarding against any other vulnerability.
All staff are expected to uphold and promote the fundamental principles of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We believe that children should be given the opportunity to explore diversity and understand Britain as a multi-cultural society; everyone should be treated with respect whatever their race, gender, sexuality, religious belief, special need, or disability.
As part of our commitment to safeguarding and child protection we fully support the government’s Prevent Strategy.
Report Remove
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