Safeguarding In School

"Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility"

As a school we are committed to keeping all our children and staff safe, both in and out of school. Working together in partnership with our pupils' parents, agencies, the Local Authority and the  The Safeguarding Partners (a team of key professionals from three sectors: the local authority; the clinical commissioning group for any area that falls under the local authority; and the chief officer of police for any area that falls under the local authority).

We put safeguarding at the centre of all we do. Through clear safeguarding policies and procedures, continual staff professional development and a home/school partnership, we are committed to safeguarding all children in our care.

Within school, we have two designated safeguarding leaders; Mrs Cox (Designated Safeguarding lead - DSL) and Mrs Griffiths Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead - DDSL). If you have any concerns about a child that is in our care, these are the people you would need to speak to directly. Their details are below.

Staff take part in regular statutory and non-statutory continued professional development on various safeguarding themes and the DSL shares key updates and training throughout the year, ensuring that their knowledge and understanding is up to date and supports best practise in school at all times. 

For our Child Protection Policy and Manual, please go to our policies page for more information.

Keeping Children Safe In Education (KCSIE)

This is statutory guidance from the Department for Education (DFE) issued under Section 175 of the Education Act 2002, the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, and the Non-Maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2015. Schools and colleges in England must have regard to it when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. For the purposes of this guidance children includes everyone under the age of 18.

Please see the link below for Part 1 of KCSIE September 2024.

How else do we safeguard in school?

Click on the newsletter to read more!

Head Teacher's Safeguarding Newsletter 2024

Safeguarding Our Children on Site

Safeguarding our children when in school is of paramount importance. We meet and greet our children at both gates on a morning and close these when all children and adults have left site. We ask that if you come into school, you ensure the gates are closed securely behind you. During the day, you can only access school via the front gate. All other gates are locked. Please then report immediately to the office and press the bell button on the office buzzer to notify someone you are there. Doors are securely locked and you will not be able to enter school unless someone lets you in from inside. Please never use the children's door on a morning, as this is for children and staff only. 

During breaktimes and lunch, our staff supervise pupils outside and ensure that communication is clear. One member of staff is positioned at the gate at all times and visitors must show ID upon arrival and they are radioed ahead so the office is aware and the staff.

Time Out of School

We ask that you sign children in and out, if you are taking them during the school day or if they are late arriving and you must state the reason. This is for safeguarding reasons.

Pupil attendance, includes punctuality as well as absences, and this area is monitored robustly, to ensure that we support pupils and families where we can and that we have children in school and learning when they should be.

The Head teacher, Mrs Cox, is the Attendance officer in school. If you are having problems with any aspect of attendance, please speak to her. When monitoring attendance, if your child's attendance drops below 90%, this is classed as persistent absenteeism and the Attendance officer will ask to speak with you to look at reasons and how school can support to improve attendance. Working together is key.

Remember, notifying the school as soon as you are able to about your child being absent from school is the parent/carers responsibility and must be done. We have a 24 hour answer machine and you can email the class teacher or admin@wistow.n-yorks.sch.uk to notify us of the absence. Please state who you are, your child's name and the reason for absence.  Should we fail to hear from you, we will contact other people on your contacts list and if we have no answer, we will contact other agencies if we are unable to do so, in order to ensure your child is safe.

Parking In and Around School

We ask that parents and carers be respectful of our neighbours and follow the highway code in where they park. During school start and finish times, we ask that they are aware of the number of children and families leaving school and they drive with extra care. We teach children about road safety in school, please ensure that you are also reinforcing and modelling this with your children when coming to and leaving school, as the roads can be busy.

Please be vigilant!

Should you see anyone acting strange outside or near school, please let school know immediately and if

the danger is immediate, call the police. 

It is vital that we work together to keep our children, school and community safe.

Operation Encompass

Operation Encompass is a police and education early information safeguarding partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support to children experiencing domestic abuse.

Operation Encompass ensures that there is a simple telephone call or notification to a school’s trained Designated Safeguarding Lead /Officer (known as key Adult) prior to the start of the next school day after an incident of police attended domestic abuse where there are children related to either of the adult parties involved. 

Information is shared with a school’s Key Adult (Designated Safeguarding Lead or Officer) prior to the start of the next school day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident. This sharing of information enables appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.

The Go-To NHS Website - Supporting Young People and their Families

I would like to make you aware of a resource called The Go -To for Healthy Minds in North Yorkshire. This is a new site from the NHS, which is aimed to support and help the emotional and wellbeing of children in North Yorkshire. It also has resources for parents and carers and professionals. There are some really useful things on the platform and it covers areas such as wellbeing, friendship, staying safe and more. The parental support and information is also incredibly useful.

Take a look on the Additional Information for Parents drop down tab, for more support and resources for mental health and wellbeing.

It is so important to keep your child safe in all areas of life and technology is a huge part of everyone's daily life. Take a moment to look at the SMART rules we teach our children about in school and ensure that you have set up appropriate security measures for your child at home when online and using their own gadgets that access the internet. We talk to our children about why it is important for parents and carers to know what they are accessing and being able to talk to them if worried. We must all work together to safeguard our children.

More websites to support keeping your child safe, please take a look:

Please remember, should you have a safeguarding concern, please speak with Mrs Cox or Mrs Griffiths as soon as possible.

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.