What is safeguarding?
Our pupils will tell you that the number one job of adults in school is to keep them safe; this is referred to as Safeguarding. The NSPCC defines safeguarding in the following way:
Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Safeguarding means:
- protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
- preventing harm to children’s health or development
- ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
- taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.
Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.
What do we do at St. Faith's?
Whilst safeguarding is everyone's responsibility in school, we have several key adults who take the lead.
- DSL (Designated Safeguarding Lead) is Mrs. Ellie Guy.
- Deputy DSLs are Mrs. Emily Knott and Ms. Rhian John.
- Our sports coach Marc Gillingham. is also DSL-trained.
Policies linked to safeguarding can be found in the Safeguarding and Pastoral section of our school policies page on this website.
How do we teach the children about staying safe?
Safeguarding features across the curriculum including teaching safe working practices in PE, Design Technology, and Science, as well as more explicitly in our PSHE and computing curriculum. As well as the day-to-day curriculum, we also enrich pupil knowledge and understanding with one-off events including visits from Hampshire Fire and Rescue, the RNLI, and taking part in annual events such as Antibullying Week and eSafety day. Children have been taught about our approach to safeguarding using the following children-friendly poster.