Pokesdown Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare and safety of all children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent, effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school.
We ensure that there are systems in place for every child’s voice to be heard and maintain an ethos where children feel secure and safe, are encouraged to talk, and are listened to. Children are aware that there are adults who they can approach if they are worried or in difficulty.
Anyone who has a concern about a child should report it to the BCP Safeguarding Hub.
Call 01202 123334 between 8.30am and 5.15pm Mon to Thurs or 8.30am-4.45pm on Friday. Outside of these hours call 01202 738256. If it is an emergency call the police on 999.
Pokesdown Community Primary School takes the safeguarding of all pupils seriously and recognises it is everyone’s responsibility.
The Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) leaflet below outlines what safeguarding is, what schools must do as well as the different types of abuse and how to recognise them.
It is a useful reference leaflet which is available in several languages. Should you need it translated into another language please let us know by contacting the school office.
If you want to discuss a safeguarding issue please speak to Mrs Bayliss, Designated Safeguarding Lead or one of Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads - Mrs Carol Cothay, Miss Sara Gee or Mr Adam Biddle.
Our Designated Safeguarding Governor is Mr St John.
If you would like general advice and the support available in the BCP area the Family Information Directory is a good source of support. For more information please look at the link to the Pan Dorset
Safeguarding Children Partnership Parent and Carers page.
https://pdscp.co.uk/parents-and-carers-2/
Operation Encompass and Domestic Abuse
In order to be safe it is important that children are protected from witnessing domestic abuse. Managing situations can be difficult for parents and advice and support is available from the following link.
Help for those who have experienced domestic abuse (bcpcouncil.gov.uk)
Our school is part of Operation Encompass. This is a police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership which supports children and young people who experience Domestic Abuse.
Operation Encompass means that the police will share information about Domestic Abuse incidents with our school soon after they have been called to a domestic incident. All Key Adults (Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputies) have attended an Operation Encompass local briefing as well as national online training. The Operation Encompass information is stored in line with all other confidential safeguarding and child protection information.
Online and Internet Safety
The safety of our children online is so important to us at Pokesdown. Our children use the internet much more than previous generations and the safe use of the internet brings many challenges for parents and schools. Please see our latest internet safety letter from our CEOP online ambassador - Mr Hamblion. If you need any support - please contact him via the school office.
Current advice for parents and carers from Dorset Police Safer Schools and Communities Team (SSCT) is also available for download at the bottom of this page and covers a range of topics.
The following links are also a useful starting place for specific issues
The 2022 edition of ‘Digital Parenting’ magazine from Vodafone is also an excellent, accessible resource. It can be downloaded from here. The whole Vodafone Digital Parenting site is well worth a visit for current information and advice.
Also, take a look at the link Educational Resources - UK Safer Internet Centre which has many useful resources for parents.
Prevent Duty
Our school recognises it has a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. This duty is known as the Prevent duty.