Safeguarding
At Devonshire Park Primary School we understand that keeping children safe is our most important job. All members of staff, including volunteers, and members of the Governing Body fully recognise the roles and responsibilities placed upon them regarding the safeguarding and welfare of pupils at the school. We believe that our school should provide a safe and stimulating environment in which pupils can learn and which promotes the social, physical and emotional wellbeing of each individual pupil.
Mrs Billinge is the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), Mr Matt Nice is the Deputy Safeguarding Lead and Gill Lindfield is the Safeguarding Governor.
On the first of each month a “1st of the month” monitoring check is undertaken by staff to ensure that we are up to date and compliant with statutory safeguarding requirements.
Monitoring takes into account:
The Single Central Record
Premises Walk
The Fire Log
The Website
First Aid Equipment
Single Central Record (SCR)
All Schools must keep a single central record in line with statutory guidance. The single central record must cover the following people:
all staff (including supply staff) who work at the school;
all others who work in regular contact with children in the school, including volunteers.
Generally, the information to be recorded on these individuals is whether or not the following checks have been carried out or certificates obtained, the date on which the checks were completed and who completed the check
an identity check;
a barred list check;
an enhanced DBS check;
a prohibition from teaching check;
further checks on people living or working outside the UK;
a check of professional qualifications; and
a check to establish the person’s right to work in the United Kingdom.
At Devonshire Park Primary School we have a Single Central Record (SCR) which is monitored and kept up to date as/when a new application for clearance is approved; Checking this document is extremely important to us, as we understand that every adult working with our children must be fully vetted and their reference checks be up to date.
Premises Walk
Another part of safeguarding is to carry out a premises walk of the school building. In order for our children to be safe, they must work in a safe environment where any risk to harm has been considered and actions taken to address these potential risks are in place. Feedback from these walks provides the school with a clear overview of areas that require attention or safety issues to be addressed.
Fire Log Check
An important part of the safeguarding monitoring is to ensure that the Fire Log is up-to-date and being maintained. This monitoring includes checking that the weekly alarm test is taking place, false alarm activations, alongside clear and accurate records regarding evacuation procedures.
Website Check
The Devonshire Park website is our main source of communication with parents, carers and community members. It is important that this is kept up-to-date and meets all statutory compliances, and to make sure that this is the case we check our website regularly against a checklist by the DfE.
First Aid
Staff members with responsibility for First Aid conduct a checks of the First Aid Stations and portable First Aid bags around school. We do this to ensure that all stations have the correct items and equipment necessary to treat first aid incidents in school. Any gaps in resources can then be replenished immediately.
CPOMs Review (weekly)
At Devonshire Park we use an online system for recording and tracking all incidents linked to behaviour, safeguarding and child protection; this system is called 'CPOMs'. As part of our checks we review the previous weeks incidents that were recorded on CPOMs and decide if any further follow up is necessary. By following up events through discussions we are able to see how behaviour has changed and if incidents of a similar nature have reoccurred.