Our school ensures children learn in a safe, caring and enriching environment. Children are taught how to keep themselves safe, on and offline, to develop positive and healthy relationships and how to avoid situations where they might be at risk, including by being exploited.
Our school has a statutory responsibility to share any concerns it might have about a child in need of protection with other agencies, and in particular police, health and children’s services. Schools are not able to investigate concerns but have a legal duty to refer them. In most instances, the school will be able to inform the parents/carers of its need to make a referral. However, sometimes the school is advised by Children’s Social Care or the police that the parents/carers cannot be informed whilst they investigate the matter. We understand the anxiety parents/carers understandably feel when they are not told about any concerns from the outset. The school follows legislation that aims to act in the best interests of the child

You contact our safeguarding team by email [email protected] or by phone (0116 276 8812).

TMET Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy v 16.0

Our Safeguarding Team

Primarily, all staff have a responsibility towards safeguarding our all children and families. However, as a point of contact at the school, our safeguarding team is made up of our Principal, Mrs Henson who is our Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Other DSL trained staff are Mrs S Tales, Mrs S Audley, Miss P Bains, and Miss A Pirbhai who act as deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads.

Mrs J Henson: Principal and Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mrs S Tales: Vice Principal and Deputy DSL

Mrs S Audley: Assistant Principal and Deputy DSL

Miss P Bains: Assistant Principal and Deputy DSL

Mrs A Pirbhai: SENCO and Deputy DSL

PREVENT’ is short for ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’. The overall aim of Prevent is to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism by raising awareness of the

The Prevent strategy

is a government strategy designed to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It:

responds to the ideological challenge we face from terrorism and aspects of extremism, and the threat we face from those who promote these views
provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure they are given appropriate advice and support
works with a wide range of sectors (including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, online and health)

What is radicalisation?

It is when a person starts to support terrorism or forms of extremism that leads to terrorism.

Spotting the signs of radicalisation

  • isolating themselves from family and friends.
  • talking as if from a scripted speech.
  • unwillingness or inability to discuss their views.
  • a sudden disrespectful attitude towards others.
  • increased levels of anger.
  • increased secretiveness, especially around internet use.

What to do if you have a concern

https://educateagainsthate.com/

http://www.ltai.info/

https://www.commonsense.org/education/uk/digital-citizenship/lesson/my-social-media-life

Operation Encompass is a project that is running in various parts of the United Kingdom.

It is an initiative to enhance communication between the police and schools where a child is at risk from domestic abuse.

The purpose is to ensure schools have more information to support the safeguarding of children. When police have attended any domestic abuse incidents at the homes of children, their schools are informed before the next school day begins. One of our Designated Safeguarding Leads will be informed when any domestic abuse incident has been reported to the police and one of our pupils was in the household. It will not give any details about the incident. By knowing that the child has had this experience, the school is in a better position to understand and be supportive of the child’s needs and possible behaviours.

This project has been introduced as domestic abuse in a household has a significant impact on children, even if they do not directly see what is happening. Children are impressionable and being exposed to such behaviour not only damages the welfare of a child but normalises such behaviours which poses further risk.

The information shared is used to ensure the school can provide appropriate support to our pupils. The information will remain confidential and only shared on a strictly need-to-know basis, for example with the class teacher. It will not be shared with any pupils.

Operation Encompass is already a well-established part of our school’s safeguarding procedures.

For more information, please view this FAQ and the processes for schools in Leicester.

From the 19th of September 2022 Operation Encompass has begun a phased rollout across the Police Force sharing with the school incidents that they have attended where they feel there has been an impact upon a child’s physical, emotional or mental well-being.

As part of the Operation Encompass Information Sharing Platform our Police Force will also share with the Designated Safeguarding Lead information about police attended incidents where they feel that there has been a tangible impact upon a child is physical, emotional or mental well-being.

This information is shared so that our school can better understand children’s living experience and can support, nurture and care for them more effectively.

Our DSL has attended a briefing about this information sharing and has disseminated information to the safeguarding governor and to all members of staff.

If you would like to speak to someone in confidence about domestic abuse, you can call the Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0800 802 0028.

If you feel you would benefit from speaking to someone at school regarding domestic abuse, please contact a Designated Safeguarding Lead via the school office.

Local support:

UAVA

Housing and homelessness support for domestic abuse (leicester.gov.uk)

FreeVA Support – Free from Violence & Abuse

National helplines:

Domestic Violence Assist | DV ASSIST

Home – Women’s Aid (womensaid.org.uk)

Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men | Men’s Advice Line UK (mensadviceline.org.uk)

Home – Victim Support

At Rowlatts Mead Primary Academy, all children will be taught about the importance of safe and healthy relationships through our curriculum. This begins with turn taking, avoiding gender stereotypes, and enabling children to express their thoughts and feelings in the EYFS and is built on every year in school to reach topics, such as, consent and healthy online relationships by the end of Year 6.

Through the strong PSHCE curriculum at Rowlatts, all children will be equipped with the skills they need to make good quality choices regarding relationships as they progress into adulthood. These lessons, alongside safeguarding support, will ensure children are confident in articulating their thoughts and opinions; particularly, surrounding what constitutes a healthy relationship.

Please find the progression map here which documents when and how children will be taught what constitutes healthy relationships and addresses domestic abuse in each year group – PSHE LTP

Please note: the phrases domestic abuse/violence are not used in lessons; the focus is on teaching children about what constitutes a healthy and safe relationship.

Online Safety Policy TMET-Online-Safety-Policy-v7.0

E-safety is an integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at school. We also want to help our parents and children improve their own understanding of e-safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.

At Home

As a parent you’ll know how important the internet is to children – they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves. It’s a highly creative place of amazing opportunities. But the technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting and you might worry about the risks your child can face online – such as bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing illegal or inappropriate content.

e-safety-parent-checklist (awaiting link)

The above checklist may help you start to protect your children online and decrease the risks they face. Or you can engage with your children regarding their use of the internet while at home. Here are some conversation starter ideas:

  • Ask your children to tell you about the sites they like to visit and what they enjoy doing online.
  • Ask them about how they stay safe online. What tips do they have for you, and where did they learn them? What is OK and not OK to share?
  • Ask them if they know where to go for help, where to find the safety advice, privacy settings and how to report or block on the services they use.
  • Encourage them to help. Perhaps they can show you how to do something better online or they might have a friend who would benefit from their help and support.
  • Think about how you use the internet as a family. What could you do to get more out of the internet together and further enjoy your lives online

At School

As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of Computing skills, we provide access to the internet only in teacher supervised sessions. We strongly believe that the use of the web and email is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. But because there are always concerns about children having access to undesirable materials, we have taken positive steps to deal with this risk in school. Our school internet access provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials. We also have monitoring software, which monitors the sites that children go on, as well as the content that children are searching for and writing about. This is checked regularly to ensure that the safety of the children is increased.

For more information about private fostering please view/download the Advice for Parent/Carers leaflets.

w0454-private-fostering-dl-parents

w0454-private-fostering-dl-carers

CLEVER NEVER GOES is the new campaign that teaches children how to stay safe from abduction whether they are outside or online.

It’s the modern, child-friendly alternative to the out-dated and fundamentally flawed ‘Stranger Danger’ message. Rather than fearing the worst in everyone they don’t know, Clever Never Goes helps children to recognise specific situations that are unsafe and gives them the tools to respond.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W41WIxo3dzo

For further information, click here:

https://clevernevergoes.org/

As a school, we take an active role in our local safeguarding network in line with the contextual safeguarding recommendations of KCSIE 2023.

In school, we maintain a vigilant culture to build up as broad a picture as possible of factors affecting our children both at school and outside of school. We work closely with other professionals directly, or signpost support, so that we can meet the needs of our children and, where necessary, the family.

By being vigilant and working with other professionals, we are able to target support through identification of any local social conditions that may affect children’s welfare and ultimately provide the support needed.