Grindleford Primary School Designated Safeguarding Lead is Kate Gemmell, Executive Head Teacher, mrsgemmell@grindlefordprimaryschool.co.uk

Grindleford Primary School Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is Holly Moore, Teacher, miss moore@grindlefordprimaryschool.co.uk

The children’s safety is of paramount importance. Any visitors to the school during the day are only admitted through the school’s main entrance and all are required to sign in.
All our children should be brought directly into the school playground by their parents or carers, where they will be welcomed by the staff.  Similarly, parents also collect their child directly from the playground at the end of the school day. Parents are requested to always tell a member of staff before taking their child home, or if someone different is collecting their child. We do not allow children under the age of sixteen to collect the children. Staff are always available to meet parents at the end of the school day.

Safeguarding Children

Parents should be aware that the school is required by law to take any reasonable action to ensure the safety of its pupils. In cases where the school has reason to be concerned that a child may be subject to ill-treatment, neglect or any other form of abuse, the Headteacher is obliged to follow the Child Protection Procedure established by the Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Board and inform Derbyshire County Council of the concern. Please let us know at once if your child has an accidental injury so that misunderstandings do not arise. The school has a comprehensive Safeguarding Policy which is available on request from the main school office or downloaded from the link on the policies page under Governance.

Safeguarding policy and Online Safety Policy available on the policies page.

Early Help

The Governors and staff at Grindleford Primary School have a responsibility to promote the safeguarding and welfare of all children in our care.

Early help means providing support to our children and families as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in the child’s life.  We understand just how complicated family life can be.  From time to time, there may be situations where just a little extra help and support can avert a crisis.  This can be temporary and fairly short term support, such a single event leading to difficulty or longer term.

We can help in many ways and we pride ourselves in knowing our children and families.  If things are not right at home, please come in and talk to us in confidence.  We can then target additional support, discretely to support your child/children and often, the entire family.

We have a number of systems in place to help and we seek at all times to work in collaboration with families, with openness and integrity and understanding and with the needs of your children at the centre of what we do.

Early Help is everyone’s responsibility.  You can speak with any member of our team who would be happy to pass on your concerns to the Headteacher / Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Early Help is designed to support and add additional support to our ongoing, curriculum offer which is designed to help our pupils prepare for adulthood and stay safe.

Universal support for children’s wellbeing (informal – not early help)

It is very clear that one of the best methods of supporting pupils is through building good relationships with our pupils and their families so that pupils know and understand the concept of ‘a trusted adult’.  This is a message that is reinforced through our curriculum offer, particularly through:

• Personal Social Health and Education (PSHE)
• Citizenship
• Online safety
• Relationship and Sex Education (RSE)

Through these lessons, children are encouraged to share and discuss worries with adults in school and to seek support.

Sometimes it is difficult to confide in an adult.  There is a ‘worry box’ in every classroom and children are also aware that they may use the worry box to seek support from a trusted adult, secure in the knowledge that the adult will be discrete and follow up any concern with a child.

We use the Coram Education and Wellbeing curriculum as a basis for our PSHE curriculum https://www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk/ along with any additional sources of up to date curriculum information, particularly the PSHE Association.  We have regular PSHE themed assemblies which support and inform children on how to articulate any worries that they may have and that all staff will take their concerns seriously.

Early help is offered in situations where some gentle help and support may be sufficient and is not to be confused with Child Protection.

Child Protection is everyone’s business, if you have any immediate concerns about a child’s safety, you should contact Starting Point on 01629 533190 and request urgent help. You can also contact Mrs Gemmell (Designated Safeguarding Lead) or Miss Moore (Deputy Designated Lead).

Grindleford Primary School take their responsibility for Child Protection and Safeguarding seriously and ensure that all staff have a clear understanding of the role they play in keeping children safe, which includes being trained on how to recognise, respond and report abuse and neglect in all its forms.

What is Early Help?

Our Early Help offer is designed to support parents and families who need help or advice of any kind. It can be considered as a first ‘level of support’ for our pupils and families.

If you are concerned about your child or their progress, the first line of support is always the class teacher.  However, if you need additional or ongoing support, we may suggest that you discuss your concerns in confidence with our designated safeguarding lead (DSL).

Early Help support may include completing an assessment form, being signposted to external agencies or being referred to our school Family Support Worker (FSW) Mr Eric Millington.

What kind of help can we offer?

Early help offers are voluntary and designed to be supportive of the individual need.  Some examples that we can offer may include:

• Breakfast Club
• 1:1 pastoral support for parents and children
• Family Support work in and out of school
• Key adult meet and greet
• Learning interventions
• After school activities
• Behaviour Support for parents and children
• Foodbank vouchers and delivery
• Referral to outside agencies
• Signposting to other sources of familial help to include bereavement, financial support etc

Examples of professionals that school may refer to for advice and guidance

• Early Help Team
• Children and Young Peoples Services
• Counselling Services
• Parental Courses
• School Nurse
• Speech and Language Services
• Educational Psychologist
• Young Carers

Further support:

Derby and Derbyshire Emotional Health and Wellbeing support –https://derbyandderbyshireemotionalhealthandwellbeing.uk/parent-carer

An assessment will be made to identify if the support needed is to support through formal processes such as:

• Team around the family
• Child in Need (CIN)
• Child Protection (CP)