Here are St Joseph’s RC Primary we are committed to prioritising the safety of all within our school community. Safeguarding our children, staff and visitors is a fundamental part of our work.  Within our school, we follow clear policies and procedures to ensure that children are safe from harm.

Designated Safeguarding Leader and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

The Designated Safeguarding Lead in school is our headteacher, Mr A Schilling.

We also have two Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads in school who can help if there is a time when Mr Schilling is not available. The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are Mrs R Vernon (Child Welfare Officer) and Mrs J Gore (Deputy Headteacher).

Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy 2024 25

Early Help

Early help support for families

Early help is about helping children, young people and families deal with any issues as early as possible.

It’s available to families with a child up to the age of 19, or a child up to the age of 25 if they’ve got special educational needs or disabilities.

How can I get Early Help Support?

The best way to get early help support is to talk to a professional who knows you already. This could be your child’s doctor, teacher, support worker, school nurse, health visitor or early intervention and prevention worker.

They’ll be able to talk to you about what additional help you may need and how to access it.

  • Speak to a professional who already knows your child to ask for early help support
  • Alternatively, you can contact us using the details on our website to ask for early help support (see link below to web site)
  • Rochdale’s Early Help Team(opens in new tab)The best way to get early help support is to talk to a professional who knows you already. This could be your child’s doctor, teacher, support worker, school nurse, health visitor or early intervention and prevention worker.

Among Us – important safety information for parents

Among Us WUW(opens in new tab)

Safe After School

This year Rochdale LA launched a campaign to educate and advise parents about safeguarding checks for providers of clubs, child-care, any unregulated activities. We provided all children with a leaflet to help with this campaign. Rochdale LA have provided more resources and information now and with the summer holidays upon us, we thought that this was a timely opportunity to share with you.

The link below takes you to a video which explains all about the campaign and provides much useful and enlightening information for parents –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9jQLm9vTaU

Below is a link to a parent / carer leaflet –

https://www.rbscp.org/UserFiles/Docs/Safe%20After%20School/Leaflet.pdf(opens in new tab)

The link below provides you with some useful questions that you could and should ask anyone with whom you are leaving your child –

https://www.rbscp.org/UserFiles/Docs/Safe%20After%20School/Questions.pdf(opens in new tab)

If you would like any further information, please contact Mrs Dunne or Mrs Vernon at school.

Let’s work together to keep our children safe after school!

Operation Encompass

As part of  St Joseph’s RC Primary School’s commitment to keeping children safe we have signed up to implement the principles and aims of the Encompass Model.

In signing up to Encompass the Governing Body and Senior Leadership Team:

• Endorse the Encompass Model and support the Key Adults in our school to fulfil the requirements of the Rochdale Encompass Protocol

• Promote and implement Rochdale Encompass processes and use these in accordance with internal safeguarding children processes

• Recognise the sensitive nature of the information provided and ensure that this is retained in accordance with the principles of data protection

Signature 1                                                                              Signature 2

 

Mrs M Schofield                                                                       Mr A Schilling

Chair of Governors                                                                 Head Teacher

Op Encompass Procedure – approved by RBSCB(opens in new tab)

Operation Encompass April 2019

What to do if you are Concerned

If you are concerned about a child’s wellbeing, please share your concern with Mr Schilling , the Head teacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead, at the earliest opportunity. Contact the Headteacher on 01706 369340 or contact the school office: office@stjosephsrcprimary.rochdale.sch.uk

If your concerns relate to the actions or behaviour of a member of staff or volunteer in school, then you should report this to the Headteacher who will consider what action to take and seek relevant advice.

If the concern relates to the Headteacher, refer the matter to the Chair of Governors.

KCSIE-Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025

“Keeping Children Safe in Education” DFE Revised Document 2025

This DFE document places the following statutory duties on all schools:

  • Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families and carers has a role to play in safeguarding children. In order to fulfil this responsibility effectively, all professionals should make sure their approach is child-centred. This means that they should consider, at all times the best interests of the child.
  • Staff should be vigilant to signs of abuse and to whom they should report concerns to.
  • Schools should have procedures in place which are disseminated to all staff for handling suspected or actual cases of abuse of pupils, including procedures to be followed in case of allegations against persons in a position of trust.
  • Every school should have a designated senior person who is a member of the senior management team as the person responsible for coordinating safeguarding/child protection work within the school and with other agencies.
  • Staff at all levels should receive training to raise their awareness of signs and symptoms of suspected or actual abuse at least every three years.
  • All schools should share information and work in partnership with other agencies where there are concerns about a child’s welfare.
  • Children included everyone under the age of 18.
  • No single professional can have a full picture of a child’s needs and circumstances. If children and families are to receive the right help at the right time, everyone who comes into contact with them has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking action.

Click here to download the full document.

Online Safety

While there are huge benefits to being online in order to stay connected to friends and family, it’s important to have regular conversations with your children about staying safe online and encouraging them to talk to you if they see anything worrying.

What harms might my child experience online?

You may have concerns about specific harms that your children experience online including: abuse, criminal exploitation, exposure to radicalising content, consensual and non-consensual sharing of images/videos, cyber-bullying, exposure to age-inappropriate content and harmful content.

Where can I go for help?

These resources will support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices:

NSPCC

The following are useful website if you are concerned at all about the safety of a child:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/(opens in new tab)

https://www.childline.org.uk/

Reporting Criminal Content

https://www.iwf.org.uk/

Prevent

Report online material promoting terrorism or extremism- your report will be treated anonymously.

PREVENT